Will Thomas is an award-winning Canadian journalist specializing in health and environment. During and immediately after the Gulf War, he served five months in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as a member of a three-man environmental emergency response team.
A professional journalist for nearly four decades, his writing and photography have appeared in more than 50 publications in 8 countries-including translations into French, Dutch and Japanese. Winner of four Canadian feature-writing awards, Will is the author of five books and several electronic “ebooks” available as exclusive downloads.
All of his work is thoroughly documented and footnoted. Much of his current reporting is based on a trusted insider, well known to him over a 15 year working relationship. “Hank”–not his real name–is a behind-the-scenes player on the world stage who draws on extensive contacts in the US military and intelligence communities to reveal stories presented only on the pages of http://www.WillThomasOnline.net
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.
Margaret Cho was born December 5, 1968 and raised in San Francisco. “It was different than any other place on Earth,” she says. “I grew up and went to grammar school on Haight Street during the ’70s. There were old hippies, ex-druggies, burnouts from the ’60s, drag queens, and Chinese people. To say it was a melting pot - that’s the least of it. It was a really confusing, enlightening, wonderful time.”
Her grandfather was a Methodist minister who ran an orphanage in Seoul during the Korean War. Ignoring the traditions of her patriarchal culture, her mother bravely resisted an arranged marriage in Korea and married Margaret’s father who writes joke books - in Korean. “Books like 1001 Jokes for Public Speakers - real corny stuff,” Margaret says. “I guess we’re in the same line of work. But we don’t understand each other that way. I don’t know why the things he says are funny and the same for him.”
Margaret started performing stand-up at age 16 in a comedy club called The Rose & Thistle above a bookstore her parents ran. Soon after, she won a comedy contest where first prize was opening for Jerry Seinfeld. She moved to Los Angeles in the early ’90s and lived in a house with several other young performers.
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.
Blair Gadsby is a Professor of Religious Studies at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Phoenix Arizona who staged a hunger strike outside the Phoenix office of U.S. Sen. John McCain in an effort to meet and talk with the Senator regarding the need for the Senator to meet with experts who will present evidence that the WTC buildings came down through controlled demolition.
About a year ago, Gadsby came to the conclusion based on his research that the U.S. government, not terrorists, demolished the World Trade Center buildings in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. And that belief turned him into a fasting activist.
Gadsby found a video online that showed the collapse of World Trade Center 7. He believes the government has ordered media outlets not to show the footage, which shows the building falling in on itself, much like a building does when it implodes.
The footage clinched it for Gadsby. He had to rethink all he had accepted about the terrorist attacks. He spent sleepless nights thinking about how the government planted explosions in Building 7 and then, most likely, the twin towers. Then, how they must have hired men to pilot the planes. And then ordered the media to cover it all up.
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:
“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
Please visit Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth:
On June 10th, highly respected and popular Arizona State Senator Karen Johnson delivered a 10-minute 9/11 Truth address to her fellow colleagues, and especially to her hero Blair Gadsby.
Senator Karen S. Johnson plans to blast Congress for their failure to defend U.S. citizens who were killed on September 11, 2001, and their failure to properly investigate those attacks.
“It has been nearly seven years,” says Johnson, “and we are faced with new evidence that turns the conclusions of the 9/11 Commission upside down. We are fighting a war because of 9/11 – and we still don’t really know what happened. We have spent billions of dollars on the war, with an additional $340 million per day. Thousands of U.S. servicemen and women have lost their lives, not to mention the lives of innocent Iraqi and Afghan civilians.”
Johnson revealed in a committee hearing in April that she did not accept the official report of the 9/11 Commission and has since defended supporters calling for a new independent investigation of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. “Ground Zero was treated like little more than the site of a building demolition – which, of course, is exactly what it was,” says Johnson. “Everyone who has studied it recognizes that the Twin Towers and Building 7 came down as a result of controlled explosions – not because of the airplanes and fires.”
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.
Ambassador Edward Peck is a retired career United States diplomat who served thirty-two-years in the U.S. Foreign Service. He served as Chief of Mission in Baghdad (Iraq 1977 to 1980) and later held senior posts in Washington and abroad. He also served as a Foreign Service Officer in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, and as Ambassador in Mauritania. He served as deputy director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism in the Reagan Administration. He is president of Foreign Services International, a consulting firm that works with governments, businesses and educational institutions across the world.
Edward Peck argued against invading Iraq prior to the March 2003 invasion. He argued, in part, “when you take out Saddam Hussein, the key question you have to ask then is, what happens after that? And we don’t have a clue. Nobody knows, but it’s probably going to be bad. And a lot of people are going to be very upset about that, because that really is not written into our role in this world is to decide who rules Iraq.”
Amb. Peck has been highly critical of U.S. policy toward Israel, arguing through the Council for the National Interest (CNI) in which he plays an active role, that the U.S. should be more even handed in its Middle East policy. He claims that in 2000, at the Camp David talks, Israel offered the Palestinians “12 little Bantustans.” His speech was publicized in a documentary produced by an organization, If Americans Knew, a non-profit organization that focuses on the Arab-Israeli conflict and United States foreign policy regarding the Middle East.
David Michie was born and brought up in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Britain’s last colony in Africa was a place where imperial values still held sway, and a conventional education was accompanied by Sunday School at the Presbyterian Church. It was as a teenager in the late 1970’s that he first heard about Tibetan Buddhism, discovering the books of T. Lobsang Rampa, an English plumber claiming to be a reincarnated lama who wrote utterly fanciful but wildly popular tales about life in Himalayan monasteries.
David gained more credible glimpses of Buddhism while studying Jung as part of his psychology degree, also developing a keen interest in cognitive behaviour therapy and other concepts he later discovered form a central part of Buddhist psychology. During his twenties and early thirties, his career in corporate public relations and social life became pre-eminent - all more esoteric interests were put firmly on hold. There they may have remained if not for an allergic condition in his early thirties which led to the start of his meditation practice and a journey of inner growth.
Within two years of beginning to meditate, David achieved a long-held ambition of becoming a published writer. And having met and married his Australian wife, they moved to Perth where he continued his work both in public relations and writing. Away from the frenetic buzz of the big city, he was able to develop his interest in Tibetan Buddhism further, attending regular classes and retreats. Buddhism for Busy People describes David’s encounter with Dharma, both in London and Perth, weaving an autobiographic narrative through a presentation of core Tibetan Buddhist concepts.
About ‘Buddhism for Busy People’…
What does it take to be happy? We’ve all asked ourselves this question at some point, but few of us have found the path to lasting fulfillment.David Michie thought he had achieved his life’s goals–the high level job, the expensive city apartment, the luxury car, great holidays but a small voice was telling him he wasn’t really happy. A chance remark from a naturopath sent him to his local Buddhist centre. There, he began the most important journey of his life.In this simple, but beautifully written book, David Michie opens the door to the core teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. With wry, self-deprecating humour, he shows us how he began to incorporate Buddhist practices into his daily life. He explains how he came to understand the difference between the temporary pleasures of ordinary life, and the profound sense of well-being and heart-felt serenity that comes from connecting with our inner nature.Every once in a while you come across an extraordinary book with the power to change your life. Buddhism for Busy People is one such book. It is not by chance that you now hold it in your hands. Buddhism for Busy People shows us, with refreshing clarity, how we can make big changes taking small steps.
ELIZABETH DE LA VEGA, a veteran Justice Department attorney who served under Presidents Reagan, Bush I, Clinton and Bush II, knows a little bit about public service and about the law. Winner of numerous Attorney General’s and community awards, including the prestigious Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, she spent twenty-one years prosecuting violent gangsters and sophisticated white collar criminals in both Minneapolis and San Jose, where she was Branch Chief and a member of the Organized Crime Strike Force. She has also lectured frequently in Continuing Legal Education programs and taught law school courses in legal writing, trial skills, appellate advocacy and white collar crime.
Ms. de la Vega retired from federal employment in 2004, but she did not stop working on behalf of the people of the United States. She simply moved from the courtroom to the computer, using her expertise and passion for justice to write about the most significant political and legal issues of the 21st century: presidential fraud, torture, civil liberties violations and peace activism. Her incisive and inspiring pieces on these topics have appeared in a variety of print and online publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Nation magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, Mother Jones, Common Dreams, TomDispatch, Truthout and Alternet.
The author of the New York Times best-selling book United States v. George W. Bush et. al., Ms. de la Vega is a frequent guest on national talk shows like The Colbert Report!, Randi Rhodes, The Thom Hartmann Program, Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now and The Tavis Smiley Show. Her wit, expertise and dynamic discussion of civic engagement, public integrity and justice-related issues make her popular with college and law students, peace and justice groups and other political organizations.
Praise for United States v. George W. Bush et al.:
“Any American patriot who would like to see a grand jury challenge this Administration’s blitzkrieg against our constitution will relish Elizabeth de la Vega’s book United States v. George W. Bush et al. Machiavelli believed fraud was laudable and glorious in matters of war. In her book, Ms. de la Vega invites us into the courtroom to consider the indictment of our modern day Machiavellis and the fraud they’ve perpetrated.” —Edward Asner
“De la Vega has accomplished an amazing feat with this singularly triumphant presentation of the intersection between political fantasy and legal reality. Reading the delightfully logical and clearheaded United States v. George W. Bush et al. is both incredibly sobering, and yet strangely hopeful. Real American patriots can only wish the United States godspeed in this case, and this brief is destined to be well studied by principals in all three branches of American government, as well as by those who serve as the Fourth Estate.” —Karen Kwiatkowski, retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel
“This book makes the case. It shines a brilliant beam of light into the fog of mainstream news and politics. If you’re tired of partisan rhetoric and media evasions, read United States v. George W. Bush et al.” —Norman Solomon, author of War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death
“…Much more powerful than the 9/11 report. A tour de force.” —Chalmers Johnson, author of Blowback and The Sorrows of Empire
“With her imaginative Grand Jury approach, Elizabeth de la Vega gives us a front-row seat for the evidence of violent crimes by high officials of the Bush administration. Her lively style and sense of humor pierce the all-too-familiar melancholy and make for a fascinating read. Give this book to friends who cannot get their head around the notion that our president lied us into an unnecessary war. But alert them to the possibility that they may be moved to act more responsibly than the frightened Germans of the 1930s and the apathetic neighbors of Kitty Genovese. For it will be clear that we are all in this together.”—Ray McGovern, retired CIA analyst
“On the basis of the evidence presented by former prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega, I’m convinced that George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their fellow ‘indictees’ are fully entitled to a fair and honest trial—indeed, several fair and honest trials—by juries of their peers.” —Daniel Ellsberg, former State and Defense Department official who revealed the Pentagon Papers
Mallika Chopra has spent the last ten years working in a variety of capacities in the media world. Her strengths in creating creative content combined with strategic and marketing thinking has allowed her to successfully fuel an entrepreneurial drive in a number of arenas.
Mallika’s first book was 100 Promises to My Baby. As part of her work with the book, she also serves as a spokesperson for UNICEF raising awareness for orphans who have been affected by HIV and AIDS. You can learn more about Mallika’s book and work with UNICEF at www.babypromises.com .
Mallika’s second book, 100 Questions From My Child was a natural follow up to 100 Promises to My Baby as it incorporated the next phase of her two daughters development - asking questions.
Mallika is a partner in Chopra Media where she is a co-creator in several television and feature film concepts currently in production. www.intentblog.com is a project she created with Deepak Chopra, Shekhar Kapur and Gotham Chopra. She is also a partner with Vikram Chatwal and Gotham Chopra in K Lounge in New York.
Mallika was a founder and executive at MyPotential Inc, a multi-media company focused on the self-help industry. Mallika was profiled in several publications, including Forbes, W Magazine, Femina and the LA Times, for her work with MyPotential. Mallika served as one of the first representative for the re-launch of MTV in India, and has also worked with MTV International, Go Network (Disney), and consulted for Yahoo! on marketing and strategic initiatives.
Mallika is a graduate of Brown University, and has an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. She currently lives in Santa Monica, California, with her husband, Sumant Mandal, and their two daughters, Tara and Leela.
Mrs. Kucinich is an international advocate for human rights, environmental sustainability and global prosperity.
Elizabeth’s work parallels that of her husband, Congressman Dennis Kucinich. She traveled with him to the Middle East in 2006 when he met with leaders of Israel, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine immediately after the Israel-Lebanon war. Dennis and Elizabeth also spent time in destroyed communities, listening to people’s stories.
Mrs. Kucinich holds a BA in Religious Studies and Theology and an MA in International Conflict Analysis from the University of Kent, U.K. and has completed vocational training in Core Skills in U.N. Human Rights Fieldwork, SPHERE: implementation training in Minimum Standards in Disaster Response, and the Child Protection Certificate. In alignment with her core commitments, Elizabeth is also credentialed in conflict transformation studies through the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in Appreciative Inquiry at Case Western Reserve University, USA and in Peace and Reconciliation Studies at Coventry University, U.K. Before coming to America, Mrs. Kucinich was a volunteer British Red Cross refugee caseworker and a support worker for detained asylum seekers, while working fulltime for the nonprofit organization, Mission to Seafarers.
Mrs. Kucinich’s work has taken many forms. She is engaged in policy and humanitarian issues such as human and animal rights as well as showing how businesses can be agents of positive change in the world. Elizabeth is actively involved in the Congressional Human Rights and Holistic Health Caucuses in the House of Representatives, has taught graduate MBA courses on monetary reform, environmental sustainability and appreciative organizational development. As a life long advocate of environmental sustainability and ecological protection, Elizabeth, trained by Al Gore, is a certified presenter on Climate Change.
Elizabeth started early to strive for the transformation of an entrenched destructive political culture to one of empowerment, peace and prosperity. She first lobbied the British Parliament at age fourteen; at seventeen she taught in Hungary and at eighteen was offered her first job working for an MP who encountered her hand delivering 600 letters on a school day to MPs on the issue of animal welfare and factory farming. Instead of taking the position, Elizabeth decided to travel alone to India for six months where she fulfilled her dream to work at a Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa) home in Agra and later moved to a village close to the Taj Mahal where she developed a small environment focused education project for Dahlit children, providing a safe space for children of all backgrounds to socialize and learn together as equals.
Because of her experiences living with a subsistence farming community in East Africa (2002-2003), working in education, HIV/AIDS prevention, appropriate technology water and energy projects, Mrs. Kucinich formed SHE (Sustainable Holistic Enterprise) in 2006, in partnership with Cleveland based International Partners in Mission. SHE is sponsoring an education project in East Africa. SHE has just started researching comparable models for application in underserved communities in the United States. Elizabeth worked with the Forum for Stable Currencies at the House of Lords, London, and organized the American Monetary Institute’s first international conference in Chicago. For Elizabeth, reforming the global debt-based money system is the most pressing issue of our time.
An interesting note:
My final exam for my MA was on “Conflict Resolution in World Politics” the date of the exam: September 11th, 2001.
Elizabeth’s favorite quote: “Knowing love I shall allow all things to come and go, to be as supple as the wind and take everything that comes with great courage. My heart is as open as the sky.” –from ‘Kama Sutra’ film
Elizabeth would like everyone to watch the film by Paul Grignon: Money As Debt
Fourty-one years ago, former Lieutenant Commander David Lewis and former US seaman Gary Brummett were on the USS Liberty that June day in 1967 when their ship was attacked by Israeli Air Force and Navy. Their stories of what they saw and experienced and their efforts for an investigation to publicly expose the truth of that tragedy have been an ongoing effort shared with other survivors of the Liberty.
Background: In 1967, the LIBERTY, an elaborate state-of-the art intelligence gathering platform, was in international waters off the Gaza strip and was flying the Stars and Stripes. Israeli reconnaissance planes flew overhead for hours. Pilots and ship’s crew waved to each other. Then, inexplicably, unmarked Israeli aircraft began attacking the ship.
The defenseless LIBERTY radioed for help. Two aircraft carriers in the Med responded by launching fighter aircraft. Unbelievably, they were recalled by the White House. RADM Geis, then commanding the carriers in the Sixth Fleet, called Washington personally to confirm the order. SecDef McNamara came on the line, then President Johnson. Johnson indicated to Geis that the aircraft were to be returned, that he would not have his allies embarrassed, and that he didn’t care who was killed or what was done to the ship. Geis, like any good sailor, recalled the aircraft.
With no help forthcoming, the LIBERTY fell an easy victim to Israel’s motor torpedo boat attack. FIVE torpedoes were lobbed at the Liberty, one hit amidships and instantly killed 25 sailors. A total of 34 died in the attack, 172 were injured.
The torpedo boats came within 50 feet of the ship, couldn’t see the American flag on the mast, couldn’t see the words “USS LIBERTY” on the stern, couldn’t see “GTR-5″ in 6 1/2 foot letters on the bow. The boats shot at American sailors on the deck of the Liberty as the sailors tried to help one another. As life rafts were put in the water by Liberty sailors in preparation for abandoning the ship, the boats shot them up. One boat pulled one out of the water and took it on board. Didn’t see the words “U. S. NAVY” stenciled on it. The boats left the scene, apparently when they got erroneous word that the carriers had sent fighters to help the Liberty.
President Johnson went on television and announced to the American people that TEN sailors were killed in the “six minute accidental” attack. Sailors were ordered not to discuss the incident with ANYONE under threat of court-martial. We waited for the investigation… and for the explanations and the answers. Why did Israel attack the ship? Why did the U. S. Government turn its back on the crew members? The answers never came.
There has NEVER been a congressional investigation. There HAS been a NAVY- controlled white-washed investigation of the crew’s actions during the attack, but Israel’s participation was NOT covered. Even in this, evidence was changed, and officers and crew who knew the answers were not asked the right questions and were told to shut up when they offered information. In 2002, retired Navy captain Ward Boston, one of the Navy’s chief legal counsels reporting to Adm. Kidd, who, with Adm. Kidd, conducted the Navy’s inquiry, now says that the Navy inquiry was a sham and a fraud and both he and Adm. Kidd knew that the attack was not an accident but deliberate.
At the AFEI conference for Net Centric Operations 2003 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at Tysons Corner in Vienna, VA, Honorable John Stenbit, Assistant Secretary for Defense C3I, said, “The Israeli’s told us 24 hours before that we had a ship called the Liberty, and if we didn’t move it they would sink it. Unfortunately, the ship was not moved and by the time the message arrived the ship was taking on water.” .
The attack has been a matter of controversy since 1967. Survivors and many key government officials including Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Moorer say the attack was no accident. CLICK HERE to see a long list of notable officials who believe the attack was deliberate. Two Israeli officers have come forward to admit that the attack was no accident. Yet the Israeli government and its supporters insist it was a “tragic case of misidentification” and charge that survivors and their eyewitness supporters are lying.
The ship’s crew is bitter. It is bitter because its own country turned its back on them… it is bitter because someone killed 34 Americans and got away with it…what’s more, that its own government covered up the truth and helped them get away with it.
Counsel to the President of the United States in July 1970 at age thirty-one, John Dean was Chief Minority Counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, the Associate Director of a law reform commission, and Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States. He served as Richard Nixon’s White House lawyer for a thousand days.
He did his undergraduate studies at Colgate University and the College of Wooster, with majors in English Literature and Political Science. He received a graduate fellowship from American University to study government and the presidency, before entering Georgetown University Law Center, where he received his JD in 1965.
John has long written on the subjects of law, government, and politics, and he recounted his days in the Nixon White House and Watergate in two books, Blind Ambition (1976) and Lost Honor (1982). He lives in Beverly Hills, California with his wife Maureen, and now devotes full time to writing and lecturing, having retired from his career as a private investment banker.
In 2001 he published The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment that Redefined the Supreme Court; in early 2004, Warren G. Harding, followed by Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush. In 2006, John publihsed Conservatives Without Conscience.
His newest book is Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches.
In Korey’s own words: Born and raised for the first 18 years of my life, in Oneonta NY. During that time I attended Greater Plains Elementary, Oneonta Middle School, and Oneonta High School. I was a normal kid, played sports, took vacations, worked for my father on the weekends.
At 18 for no apparent reason I joined the Army. I guess for a way out of my home town. Joined and not even six months later I found my self in a fox hole in Kandahar, Afghanistan (January 14th 2002 to July 15th 2002).
Served six months there before returning stateside for a hellish 7 month full out training cycle before being shipped back across the Atlantic to Kuwait were we staged for a nice long year in Iraq (February 28th, 2003 to January 16th, 2004).
I am out of the Army now, and have dove straight into the production of Dylan’s documentary Loose Change. Due to government obligations that I did not support in the first place, I was unable to dedicate as much of my time as I would have liked to.
As for the future, only life can tell. My life to date has been very interesting, despite the very short life summary. I could only guess where I will be down the road.
DYLAN AVERY - Director, Editor, Founder
In Dylan’s own words: In May 2002, after spending three months doing construction work on Vines, I had a half hour conversation with James Gandolfini at the opening party. To make a long, drawn out conversation short, James told me, “If you want to be a successful director, you have to have something to say to the world.”
It was that month that I began writing “Loose Change,” a fictional story about my friends and I discovering that September 11th was not a terrorist attack, but rather, an attack by their own government.
Upon researching for the movie, it became apparant that the subject matter may not have been entirely fiction. Over two years time, adding more and more information, the fictional movie evolved into what it is today; a documentary.
In May 2004, I moved down to Washington, DC, at the time when “Loose Change” was beginning to take shape. Bouncing from couch to couch, technically homeless, eventually landing a job and an apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, the entire time I worked on the documentary with every spare moment and dollar to my name.
In January 2005, DJ Skooly moved into my apartment fresh out of Los Angeles, and donated a rich soundtrack and recording equipment which is responsible for “Loose Change”’s unique presentation.
In April 2005, after a financial boost from Phil Jayhan of Letsroll911.org, a 1,000 DVD pressing of the original Loose Change was released on the internet, mostly on a whim.
Approximately 200 pre-orders, from the course of the past two months, were hand-addressed and packaged by my girlfriend Jessica and I. Orders started to come in at anywhere from 1 to 5 a day, something which at the time was alarming in its own right.
Eventually, word spread, and the movie started collecting a grassroots fanbase. Whenever I wasn’t waiting tables at Red Lobster, Jessica and I were in the living room, addressing and stuffing envelopes, one by one. The people at the post office became curious as Jess and I put stamps on hundreds of individual orders at once, creating an assembly line inside the Post Office.
In June 2005, my best friend Korey departed from the United States Armed Forces to come support the cause, and by July 2005, after a trip to California to visit KPFK 90.7 FM and Sofia Shafquat, it was apparant that Loose Change had taken on a life of its own.
Steven Earl Jones is an American physicist. For most of his career, Jones was known mainly for his work on muon-catalyzed fusion. In the fall of 2006, amid controversy surrounding his work on the collapse of the World Trade Center, he was relieved of his teaching duties and placed on paid leave from Brigham Young University. On October 20, 2006, he announced his retirement. He holds that the World Trade Center was destroyed by controlled demolition during the September 11 attacks.
On September 22, 2005 Jones presented his views on the collapse of the World Trade Center towers and World Trade Center 7 at a BYU seminar attended by about 60 people. Pointing to the speed and symmetry of the collapses, the characteristics of dust jets, and reports of molten metal in the debris, Jones suggested that the evidence defies the mainstream collapse theory and favors explosive demolition. He called for further scientific investigation to test the controlled demolition hypothesis and the release of all relevant data by the government. Shortly after the seminar, Jones placed a paper “Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Collapse?” on the Physics department web site.
He subsequently defended the research twice more at BYU, also at Idaho State University, Utah Valley State College, University of Colorado at Boulder and University of Denver, the Utah Academy of Science, Sonoma State University, University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Texas at Austin.
Jones’ paper has been the center of controversy both for its content and its claims to scientific rigor. Jones’ early critics included members of BYU’s engineering faculty; shortly after he made his views public, the BYU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and the faculty of structural engineering issued statements in which they distanced themselves from Jones’ work. They noted that Jones’ “hypotheses and interpretations of evidence were being questioned by scholars and practitioners,” and expressed doubts about whether they had been “submitted to relevant scientific venues that would ensure rigorous technical peer review.”
Some of Jones’ colleagues have defended his work on 9/11 to varying degrees, and Project Censored lists his 9/11 research among the top mainstream media censored stories of 2007.
Jones’ placement on paid leave drew criticism from the American Association of University Professors and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Both organizations are long time critics of BYU’s record on academic freedom.[31] Jones “welcomed the review” because he hoped it would “encourage people to read his paper for themselves,” however the review was abandoned when Jones elected to retire, effective January 1, 2007.
Jones has been interviewed by mainstream news sources and has made a number of public appearances. While Jones has urged caution in drawing conclusions,] his public comments have suggested a considerable degree of certainty about both the controlled demolition of the World Trade Center and the culpability of rogue agents working within the U.S. government. In one interview, he asserted that the attacks were “an ‘inside job’, puppeteered by the neoconservatives in the White House to justify the occupation of oil-rich Arab countries, inflate military spending, and expand Israel.” His name is often mentioned in reporting about 9/11 conspiracy theories.
In April of 2008, Jones, along with four other authors, published a letter questioning the NIST findings in The Open Civil Engineering Journal, titled, ‘Fourteen Points of Agreement with Official Government Reports on the World Trade Center Destruction’.
Jesse Ventura has had many lives—as a Navy SEAL, as a star of pro wrestling, as an actor, and as the governor of Minnesota. His previous books, I Ain’t Got Time to Bleed and Do I Stand Alone?, were both national bestsellers. Jesse’s new book Don’t Start the Revolution Without Me! is the story of his controversial gubernatorial years and his life since deciding not to seek a second term as governor in 2002. Written with award-winning author Dick Russell at a secluded location on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, Ventura’s new book reveals for the first time why he left politics—and why he is now considering reentering the arena with a possible independent run for the presidency in 2008.
In a fast-paced and often humorous narrative, Ventura pulls no punches in discussing our corrupt two-party system, the disastrous war in Iraq, and what he suspects really happened on September 11. He provides personal insights into the Clinton and Bush presidencies, and elaborates on the ways in which third parties are rendered impotent by the country’s two dominant parties. He reveals the illegal role of the CIA in states like Minnesota, sensitive and up-to-date information on the Blackwater security firm, the story of the American spies who shadowed him on a trade mission to Cuba, and what Fidel Castro told him about who really assassinated President John F. Kennedy.
Vincent Bugliosi received his law degree in 1964. In his career at the L.A. County District Attorney’s office, he successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, including 21 murder convictions without a single loss. His most famous trial, the Charles Manson case, became the basis of his classic, Helter Skelter, the biggest selling true-crime book in publishing history. Two of Bugliosi’s other books—And the Sea Will Tell and Outrage—also reached #1 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list. No other American true-crime writer has ever had more than one book that achieved this ranking. His latest book, Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, has been heralded as “epic” and “a book for the ages.”
Bugliosi has uncommonly attained success in two separate and distinct fields, as an author and a lawyer. His excellence as a trial lawyer is best captured in the judgment of his peers. “Bugliosi is as good a prosecutor as there ever was,” Alan Dershowitz says. F. Lee Bailey calls Bugliosi “the quintessential prosecutor.” “There is only one Vince Bugliosi. He’s the best,” says Robert Tanenbaum, for years the top homicide prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.’s office. Most telling is the comment by Gerry Spence, who squared off against Bugliosi in a twenty-one-hour televised, scriptless “docu-trial” of Lee Harvey Oswald, in which the original key witnesses to the Kennedy assassination testified and were cross-examined. After the Dallas jury returned a guilty verdict in Bugliosi’s favor, Spence said, “No other lawyer in America could have done what Vince did in this case.”
In The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Bugliosi sets forth the legal architecture and incontrovertible evidence that President Bush took this nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses—a war that has not only caused the deaths of American soldiers but also over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, and children; cost the United States over one trillion dollars thus far with no end in sight; and alienated many American allies in the Western world.
As a prosecutor who is dedicated to seeking justice, Bugliosi, in his inimitable style, delivers a non-partisan argument, free from party lines and instead based upon hard facts and pure objectivity.
A searing indictment of the President and his administration, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder also outlines a legally credible pathway to holding our highest government officials accountable for their actions, thereby creating a framework for future occupants of the oval office.
Vincent Bugliosi calls for the United States of America to return to the great nation it once was and can be again. He believes the first step to achieving this goal is to bring those responsible for the war in Iraq to justice.
Will Thomas is an award-winning Canadian journalist specializing in health and environment. During and immediately after the Gulf War, he served five months in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as a member of a three-man environmental emergency response team. 
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. 
Margaret Cho was born December 5, 1968 and raised in San Francisco. “It was different than any other place on Earth,” she says. “I grew up and went to grammar school on Haight Street during the ’70s. There were old hippies, ex-druggies, burnouts from the ’60s, drag queens, and Chinese people. To say it was a melting pot - that’s the least of it. It was a really confusing, enlightening, wonderful time.” 
Blair Gadsby is a Professor of Religious Studies at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Phoenix Arizona who staged a hunger strike outside the Phoenix office of U.S. Sen. John McCain in an effort to meet and talk with the Senator regarding the need for the Senator to meet with experts who will present evidence that the WTC buildings came down through controlled demolition. 
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.” 
On June 10th, highly respected and popular Arizona State Senator Karen Johnson delivered a 10-minute 9/11 Truth address to her fellow colleagues, and especially to her hero Blair Gadsby. 
Ambassador Edward Peck is a retired career United States diplomat who served thirty-two-years in the U.S. Foreign Service. He served as Chief of Mission in Baghdad (Iraq 1977 to 1980) and later held senior posts in Washington and abroad. He also served as a Foreign Service Officer in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, and as Ambassador in Mauritania. He served as deputy director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism in the Reagan Administration. He is president of Foreign Services International, a consulting firm that works with governments, businesses and educational institutions across the world.
David Michie was born and brought up in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Britain’s last colony in Africa was a place where imperial values still held sway, and a conventional education was accompanied by Sunday School at the Presbyterian Church. It was as a teenager in the late 1970’s that he first heard about Tibetan Buddhism, discovering the books of T. Lobsang Rampa, an English plumber claiming to be a reincarnated lama who wrote utterly fanciful but wildly popular tales about life in Himalayan monasteries.
What does it take to be happy? We’ve all asked ourselves this question at some point, but few of us have found the path to lasting fulfillment.David Michie thought he had achieved his life’s goals–the high level job, the expensive city apartment, the luxury car, great holidays but a small voice was telling him he wasn’t really happy. A chance remark from a naturopath sent him to his local Buddhist centre. There, he began the most important journey of his life.In this simple, but beautifully written book, David Michie opens the door to the core teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. With wry, self-deprecating humour, he shows us how he began to incorporate Buddhist practices into his daily life. He explains how he came to understand the difference between the temporary pleasures of ordinary life, and the profound sense of well-being and heart-felt serenity that comes from connecting with our inner nature.Every once in a while you come across an extraordinary book with the power to change your life. Buddhism for Busy People is one such book. It is not by chance that you now hold it in your hands. Buddhism for Busy People shows us, with refreshing clarity, how we can make big changes taking small steps.
ELIZABETH DE LA VEGA, a veteran Justice Department attorney who served under Presidents Reagan, Bush I, Clinton and Bush II, knows a little bit about public service and about the law. Winner of numerous Attorney General’s and community awards, including the prestigious Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, she spent twenty-one years prosecuting violent gangsters and sophisticated white collar criminals in both Minneapolis and San Jose, where she was Branch Chief and a member of the Organized Crime Strike Force. She has also lectured frequently in Continuing Legal Education programs and taught law school courses in legal writing, trial skills, appellate advocacy and white collar crime.
The author of the New York Times best-selling book United States v. George W. Bush et. al., Ms. de la Vega is a frequent guest on national talk shows like The Colbert Report!, Randi Rhodes, The Thom Hartmann Program, Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now and The Tavis Smiley Show. Her wit, expertise and dynamic discussion of civic engagement, public integrity and justice-related issues make her popular with college and law students, peace and justice groups and other political organizations.
Mallika Chopra has spent the last ten years working in a variety of capacities in the media world. Her strengths in creating creative content combined with strategic and marketing thinking has allowed her to successfully fuel an entrepreneurial drive in a number of arenas. 
Mallika’s second book, 100 Questions From My Child was a natural follow up to 100 Promises to My Baby as it incorporated the next phase of her two daughters development - asking questions.
Mrs. Kucinich is an international advocate for human rights, environmental sustainability and global prosperity.
Fourty-one years ago, former Lieutenant Commander David Lewis and former US seaman Gary Brummett were on the USS Liberty that June day in 1967 when their ship was attacked by Israeli Air Force and Navy. Their stories of what they saw and experienced and their efforts for an investigation to publicly expose the truth of that tragedy have been an ongoing effort shared with other survivors of the Liberty. 
With no help forthcoming, the LIBERTY fell an easy victim to Israel’s motor torpedo boat attack. FIVE torpedoes were lobbed at the Liberty, one hit amidships and instantly killed 25 sailors. A total of 34 died in the attack, 172 were injured.
Counsel to the President of the United States in July 1970 at age thirty-one, John Dean was Chief Minority Counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, the Associate Director of a law reform commission, and Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States. He served as Richard Nixon’s White House lawyer for a thousand days.
In 2001 he published The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment that Redefined the Supreme Court; in early 2004, Warren G. Harding, followed by Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush. In 2006, John publihsed Conservatives Without Conscience.
In Korey’s own words: Born and raised for the first 18 years of my life, in Oneonta NY. During that time I attended Greater Plains Elementary, Oneonta Middle School, and Oneonta High School. I was a normal kid, played sports, took vacations, worked for my father on the weekends.
In Dylan’s own words: In May 2002, after spending three months doing construction work on Vines, I had a half hour conversation with James Gandolfini at the opening party. To make a long, drawn out conversation short, James told me, “If you want to be a successful director, you have to have something to say to the world.” 
Steven Earl Jones is an American physicist. For most of his career, Jones was known mainly for his work on muon-catalyzed fusion. In the fall of 2006, amid controversy surrounding his work on the collapse of the World Trade Center, he was relieved of his teaching duties and placed on paid leave from Brigham Young University. On October 20, 2006, he announced his retirement. He holds that the World Trade Center was destroyed by controlled demolition during the September 11 attacks.
Jesse Ventura has had many lives—as a Navy SEAL, as a star of pro wrestling, as an actor, and as the governor of Minnesota. His previous books, I Ain’t Got Time to Bleed and Do I Stand Alone?, were both national bestsellers. Jesse’s new book Don’t Start the Revolution Without Me! is the story of his controversial gubernatorial years and his life since deciding not to seek a second term as governor in 2002. Written with award-winning author Dick Russell at a secluded location on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, Ventura’s new book reveals for the first time why he left politics—and why he is now considering reentering the arena with a possible independent run for the presidency in 2008.
Vincent Bugliosi received his law degree in 1964. In his career at the L.A. County District Attorney’s office, he successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, including 21 murder convictions without a single loss. His most famous trial, the Charles Manson case, became the basis of his classic, Helter Skelter, the biggest selling true-crime book in publishing history. Two of Bugliosi’s other books—And the Sea Will Tell and Outrage—also reached #1 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list. No other American true-crime writer has ever had more than one book that achieved this ranking. His latest book, Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, has been heralded as “epic” and “a book for the ages.”
In The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Bugliosi sets forth the legal architecture and incontrovertible evidence that President Bush took this nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses—a war that has not only caused the deaths of American soldiers but also over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, and children; cost the United States over one trillion dollars thus far with no end in sight; and alienated many American allies in the Western world.
