The People Speak Radio

I moved out because I wasn’t the most famous. If the Manson Family had come, I wouldn’t have been Sharon Tate; I would have been one of the supporting victims, and who wants that? Janeane Garofalo moved into my old room. Anyway, ‘Cho’ written in blood on the wall doesn’t look as cool as ‘Garofalo.’

Still in her early twenties, Cho hit the college circuit, where she immediately became the most booked act in the market and garnered a nomination for Campus Comedian of The Year. Arsenio Hall introduced her to late night audiences, Bob Hope put her on a prime time special and, seemingly overnight, Margaret Cho became a national celebrity.

In 1994, she starred in a short-lived ABC sitcom called All-American Girl. Says Margaret:

There were just so many people involved in that show, and so much importance put on the fact that it was an ethnic show. It’s hard to pin down what “ethnic” is without appearing to be racist. And then, for fear of being too “ethnic,” it got so watered down for television that by the end, it was completely lacking in the essence of what I am and what I do. I learned a lot, though. It was a good experience as far as finding myself, knowing who I was and what direction I wanted to take with my comedy.

In 1999, Margaret chronicled her experience on the sitcom in an off Broadway one-woman show called I’m The One That I Want. The show was extremely well received, toured the U.S, and was made into a concert film and a best-selling book of the same name. The film, which garnered incredible reviews, broke the record for the most money grossed per print in movie history. After the success of her first show, Margaret launched Notorious C.H.O. in 2001, a smash-hit 37-city national tour that culminated in a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall. Notorious C.H.O. was also recorded and released as a feature film, hailed by the New York Times as “Brilliant!” Both films were acquired by Showtime Cable Networks in 2004 and are currently airing on their channels. Margaret embarked on her third sold-out national tour, Revolution, in 2003. The tour ultimately grossed 4.4M and was heralded as “Her strongest show yet!” by the Chicago Sun Times. The concert film premiered on the Sundance Channel in 2004 and was released on DVD later that year. The CD of Revolution was nominated for a Grammy for best comedy album of the year for 2003.

In 2004, Margaret took her politically charged State of Emergency tour through the swing states of the Presidential election. Lauded as “Murderously funny!” by the New York Times, State of Emergency eventually evolved into her fourth national show, Assassin. Her most political and topical work to date, Assassin toured the US, Canada and Australia and was filmed at the Warner Theatre in Washington D.C. The concert film premiered in select theatres and on the gay and lesbian premium channel Here! TV in late 2005and is now available on DVD.

In addition to her busy touring schedule, Margaret has proven herself an established writer and blogger; her second book, a collection of essays on all subjects political and pop, I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight was published by Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Group (2005). She has also completed her first narrative feature; Bam Bam and Celeste, written by and starring Margaret, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in late 2005 and has since played at the AFI Fest, Frameline, Fusion, and the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.

In 2007, Margaret hit the road with 80’s legends Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry & Erasure along with indie faves The Dresden Dolls and The Cliks to host the True Colors Tour, benefiting the Human Rights Campaign. A true entertainment pioneer, Margaret also created and starred in The Sensuous Woman, a live variety show featuring vaudevillian burlesque and comedy, which she took for an extended off-Broadway run last fall.

This year Margaret is returning to her stand-up roots with a brand new tour, Beautiful, debuting in Australia at The Sydney Theater on February 27, 2008. This will mark the first time that Margaret has premiered a new show abroad. Margaret quips, “I love Australia! The audiences are so smart and rowdy, it’s really exciting. I love that they just voted out Bush’s boyfriend, John Howard. How thrilling!” Immediately following the Australian dates, Margaret will launch a national U.S. run of Beautiful, beginning on March 6 in Hawaii and running through June. Ticket and show info is available on her tour page. In describing what Beautiful means to her, Margaret explains:

I want to explore the nature of beauty. What is funny and scary about it, why we often don’t feel beautiful because our society’s standards are so rigid and unattainable. A DJ once asked me, “If you woke up tomorrow and you were beautiful, what would you do? If you were, blonde, blue-eyed, 5 foot 11, and weighed 100 pounds, what would you do?!?” Well, I probably wouldn’t get up in that case, because I’d be too weak to stand. If that is his only idea of beauty then I feel really sorry for him. I want everyone to feel beautiful and I want to do it with laughter. Why not feel good about ourselves?

Margaret was the recipient of the first ever Best Comedy Performance award at the 2007 Asian Excellence Awards. She also recently received the First Amendment Award from the ACLU of Southern California, and the Intrepid Award from the National Organization for Women (NOW). She has also been honored by GLAAD, American Women in Radio and Television, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), and PFLAG for “making a significant difference in promoting equal rights for all, regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender identity.”

I didn’t mean to be a role model. I just speak my truth. I guess speaking from your heart really creates a huge impact, and if I can encourage people to do that, then I would love to be a role model. If I could encourage people to use their voices loudly, then that’s my reward. I don’t care about winning an academy award; I don’t care about mainstream acceptance, because it’s never going to be what I want it to be. I just want to do my work and love it.

Some of Gadsby’s theories, and those of the 9/11 Truth Movement, were looked into by Popular Mechanics in a 2005 article and a subsequent book. The magazine found that the theories had no merit and called them “poisonous.”

“What we saw was that the errors and misrepresentations of the conspiracy movement were not simply innocent errors,” said Jim Meigs, editor in chief of Popular Mechanics. “In many cases, they were very, very deliberate distortions.” Meigs asked McCain to write the forward to the book, and the senator agreed.

Gadsby theorized that McCain was either lying or was lied to. He said he respects McCain, so he was clinging to the notion that the state’s senior senator was lied to.

Although he did not get to meet Senator McCain he did receive a reply which read in part:

“My staff and I are always open to new, scientifically substantiated information that helps explain how and why the tragedies of September 11th occurred. I welcome any additional new information you may wish to present on the subject and will make my staff available to listen to your concerns.”

Also, as a result of his hunger strike, Arizona State Senator Karen Johnson, a Republican from Mesa, visited Gadsby and delivered a letter to McCain’s office asking him to meet with Gadsby and she praised his efforts in front of the Arizona State Senate with him present. All of this has gained alot of coverage in Arizona’s The Republic, as well as a major news radio station and two television stations, and countless 9/11 and non-9/11 sites on the internet.

Professor Gadsby’s courageous hunger strike is a testament to those non-violent peaceful methods of protest used by Gandhi and just as effective today as they were back then. A day by day account of his efforts can be found at:

http://hungry4truth.com/

“As a professor of Religious Studies and of Islam, it was apparent immediately that the reasons given for the attack were suspect: ‘they hate us because we are free’. This was my first clue that the event was being spun, if not greatly distorted… then I learned of the buildings and their apparent ‘collapsing’.

A picture’s worth a thousand words, WTC7 sealed it for me. If this could be satisfactorily explained, I would put down my protest banners and go home.” — Professor Blair Gadsby

Johnson has joined forces with local 9/11 activists who for more than two weeks have been staging a protest outside the Phoenix office of presidential candidate U.S. Senator John McCain. One protestor, college professor Blair Gadsby of Scottsdale, began a hunger strike on May 26 to bring attention to the need for Congress to re-open the investigation into 9/11. Gadsby plans to fast until Senator McCain agrees to meet with experts who will present evidence that the WTC buildings came down through controlled demolition. Senator Johnson has invited Gadsby to the Senate to listen to her Floor speech.

“The U.S. government is constantly interfering with states in matters that are none of its business,” said Johnson. “Yet when it comes to the one really significant job the Constitution assigns to the government — defending our nation – the federal government failed miserably. Not only did they fail to put up any sort of a defense after the first plane struck the North Tower (Tower 1), but they failed to mobilize the air defense system, they failed to protect the President, who sat reading in a public school for 20 minutes while the attacks continued, and they failed to defend our most important military installation – the Pentagon. The public is sick to death of do-nothing politicians in Congress who forget what their job is the minute they arrive in Washington. Finding out what happened on 9/11 and bringing the perpetrators to justice is the job of Congress and the Executive branch. We need to know what happened to Building 7. We need to get answers to the many unanswered questions that still exist. We need an investigation – especially of the new evidence. It’s time for Congress and our President to act.”

Senator Johnson is urging all concerned citizens to sign a Petition at http://www.ae911truth.org requesting an independent scientific investigation of the attacks on 9-11.

Attempting to probe the biggest story of the new century, Will Thomas wrote the first book on 9/11. Published in December 2001, All Fall Down: The Politics Of Terror And Mass Persuasion was reissued in hardcover the following year. Will’s most recent book, Days Of Deception: Ground Zero and Beyond remains one of the most thoroughly documented reports on the agents and agendas behind the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Produced by 9/11 Truth Vancouver from their recent conference, a DVD of his public presentation documenting the stand down of US air defenses on September 11, 2001 will soon be available online.

Based on more than eight years of research after breaking this story on Art Bell’s Coast To Coast radio show in January 1999, his recently updated book, Chemtrails Confirmed 2007 remains the definitive book on chemtrails. It will soon be updated again and available once again as an e-book electronic download online.

Drawn in part from his first-hand experience of a Desert Storm and its aftermath, Scorched Earth examines the impacts of the world’s military on the environment. Based on the true stories of Gulf War veterans, Bringing The War Home is the first book to fully document the origins of Gulf War Syndrome, as well as some promising treatments.

Will’s 30-minute video documentary Eco War won the 1991 US Environmental Film Festival award for “Best Documentary Short”. Excerpts from this “front-lines” chronicle of a three-man environmental emergency response team in Kuwait aired in an eight-part CBC Gulf War mini-series, and have been shown on CNN and NBC television, as well as Noam Chomsky’s feature film, “The Corporation”.

A former pilot, ocean sailor and frequent radio talk-show guest who resigned his US Navy Reserves commission during the Vietnam War because he refused to bomb families not unlike his own, Will Smith currently lives and works among the Gulf Islands of British Columbia.

Activism

Despite his involvement with space programs and defense, he emerged as an early public critic of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, also aka “Star Wars”) during the Ronald Reagan administration. On The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, he called it “the ultimate military lunacy, easily overwhelmed and vulnerable”. Bowman founded the Institute for Space and Security Studies, and its publication Space & Security News (1983) (ISSN 1071-2569), and authored two books on the subject of SDI. He is also a critic of an outgrowth of the SDI program, the Bush administration’s proposed National Missile Defense.

For several years he has been active with Veterans for Peace and Vietnam Veterans Against the War as a speaker. He had also been a member of the Peace Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

In 1998, Project Censored cited Bowman’s article “Our Continuing War Against Iraq,” in the May 1998 issue of Space and Security News as one of the few (along with Bill Blum of the San Francisco Bay Guardian and Dennis Bernstein) covering what they deemed the fifth most censored story, “U.S. Weapons of Mass Destruction Linked to the Deaths of Half a Million Children.” The WMDs referred to are the biological samples sent to Iraq from the United States up to 1989, and use of depleted uranium during the Gulf War.

Bowman holds the belief that the US government was complicit in the September 11, 2001 attacks. On September 11, 2004 in New York City, Bowman said “…the official conspiracy theory of 9/11 is a bunch of hogwash. It’s impossible”. On the 2006 9/11 + The Neo-Con Agenda Symposium, he stated: “I’m an old interceptor pilot, I know the drill, I’ve done it. I know how long it takes, I know the rules… and… critics on the government story on 9/11 have said: “Well, they knew about this, and they did nothing”. That’s not true. If our government had done nothing that day, and let normal procedure be followed, those planes, wherever they were, would have been intercepted, the Twin Towers would still be standing and thousands of dead Americans would still be alive.” Bowman stated that at the bare minimum if Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda were involved in 9/11 then the government stood down and allowed the attacks to happen. He said it is plausible that the entire chain of military command were unaware they were used as tools by the people pulling the strings behind the attack.

Because of his beliefs, he is part of the movement to impeach George W. Bush. He is also a member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, founded in January 2006 by James H. Fetzer.

In a radio interview on April 12, 2007, Bowman made this statement:

The argument over the technological feasibility of a defensive shield is entirely irrelevant, because Star Wars has nothing to do with defense. It is an attempt to deploy offensive weapons disguised as defense. In 1982, in his secret defense guidance document, Ronald Reagan ordered the Department of Defense to develop Star Wars weapons, and he assigned them two missions. One: Destroy opposing satellites and seize control of space. Two: Destroy targets on the surface of the earth from space without warning. There wasn’t a word in there about shooting down ballistic missiles. That was a smokescreen for the American people, because they knew that the American people would never approve weapons in space for offensive purposes.

Political Ambitions

In 2000, he campaigned nationwide for the nomination of the Reform Party of the United States of America for President of the United States. In some Reform Party straw polls, he polled better than the ultimate winner of the nomination Pat Buchanan, though still 40 points behind the frontrunner John Hagelin. In the California 2000 presidential primaries, he came in third among five Reform Party candidates, after Donald Trump and John B. Anderson, with 15% of the vote. Including “votes cast by Independents or voters of another party”, he came in third among six Reform Party candidates with 14% of the vote, after Trump and George D. Weber.

Bowman was also considered as one of the running mates for John Hagelin, who was running as the Natural Law Party candidate for President and also one of the front runners for the Reform Party nomination. Though many believed Bowman would win the slot on Hagelin’s ticket as the candidate for Vice President of the United States, he ultimately lost it to Nat Goldhaber.

In 2004, Bowman attempted another run at the Presidency, but ultimately endorsed John Kerry. In 2005 he toured the United States at the invitation of friends honoring him for his efforts towards peace, viewing it as a sort of “farewell tour” due to his battle with a form of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

In 2006, Bowman collected signatures to get on the ballot as a Democrat running for the seat in the United States House of Representatives held by 15th District Florida Republican Dave Weldon. Democrat Timothy A. Shipe filed, but did not qualify. Shipe was not known to the Brevard County, Florida Democratic party whereas Bowman has been working with them. In September 2006 Dr. Bowman won the Democratic Primary election, and became the official Democratic candidate running against the Republican incumbent in November 2006.

Awards

The recipient of the Eisenhower Medal, the George F. Kennan Peace Prize, the President’s Medal of Veterans for Peace, the Republic Aviation Airpower Award, The Society of American Military Engineers’ Gold Medal (twice), the Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters, and numerous other awards, he is one of the country’s foremost authorities on national security.

Please visit:

http://www.ThePatriots.us

He’s also on the steering committee of Progressive PR Professionals (a network of 700-plus communicators), volunteers with the Taproot Foundation (which provides pro bono services to nonprofits), and is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (Association/Nonprofit section).

His personal antidotes are daily meditation and holistic living, which keep him centered and positive and his mind agile and creative. He lives with Andrea, his wife, and two cats among artists and activists and trees in Beacon, NY, just north of NYC in the verdant Hudson Valley.

Andrea Ramirez
Principal / Holistic Health Counselor, SoulTerra Holistic
Please Visit: http://soulterraholistic.com

After moving from Colombia to the US in 1999, Andrea developed chronic fatigue as well as digestive and allergy issues that made her question her newly adapted Standard American Diet (SAD). She returned to her mother’s teachings of using food as medicine and began taking responsibility for her own health to regain balance and energy. Later, she attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition where she studied numerous Eastern and Western approaches to nutrition and learned to implement holistic pathways to health. Andrea uses her knowledge to inspire others to lead healthier lives through education and counseling. She is certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners and Columbia University, Teachers College.

In her private practice she helps her clients create highly effective nutrition and health programs. Her counseling style is fresh and funny with a deep respect for her client’s intelligence, with whom she “teams up” to find real, effective, lifelong solutions. Her clients especially enjoy Andrea’s spiritual and compassionate approach to counseling and her cooking lessons — simple and time saving. Andrea lives with Scott and the cats in Beacon, NY, and is a founding member of the Beacon Healing Collective. She lectures frequently around the Hudson Valley.

There was a dearth of visible debris on the relatively unmarked [Pentagon] lawn, where I stood only minutes after the impact. Beyond this strange absence of airliner debris, there was no sign of the kind of damage to the Pentagon structure one would expect from the impact of a large airliner. This visible evidence or lack thereof may also have been apparent to the secretary of defense [Donald Rumsfeld], who in an unfortunate slip of the tongue referred to the aircraft that slammed into the Pentagon as a “missile”. …

I saw nothing of significance at the point of impact - no airplane metal or cargo debris was blowing on the lawn in front of the damaged building as smoke billowed from within the Pentagon. … all of us staring at the Pentagon that morning were indeed looking for such debris, but what we expected to see was not evident.

The same is true with regard to the kind of damage we expected. … But I did not see this kind of damage. Rather, the facade had a rather small hole, no larger than 20 feet in diameter. Although this facade later collapsed, it remained standing for 30 or 40 minutes, with the roof line remaining relatively straight.

The scene, in short, was not what I would have expected from a strike by a large jetliner. It was, however, exactly what one would expect if a missile had struck the Pentagon.

More information is certainly needed regarding the events of 9/11 and the events leading up to that terrible day.”

Dr. Griffin has published a piercing critique of the final report of the 9/11 Commission. Calling his critique The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions & Distortions, he shows that the Commission’s report, while presenting itself as an impartial investigation into the facts surrounding 9/11, in reality simply defends the official account, ignoring or else distorting all the facts suggestive of governmental complicity. In numerous radio interviews around the country and the world, Dr. Griffin is helping to mobilize large numbers to demand a real investigation into what happened on that fateful day.

In 2007 Prof. Griffin published his most remarkable book on 9/11, Debunking 9/11 Debunking, a detailed response to the well-funded official and semi-official attempts to debunk the 9/11 Truth movement. His most recent book, 9/11 Contradictions: An Open Letter to Congress and the Press, published in March, 2008, focuses on serious internal contradictions within the official story.

Prof. Griffins’ 9/11 books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies both in the US and abroad. They have been translated into several languages, and have convinced many key people of the need for a truly independent investigation into that fateful day.

To watch Dr. Griffin’s CSPAN broadcast:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4622278907911202358