Host: Basima Farhat

Showtime: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - 9:00pm-10:00pm Eastern
Listen Live on BBSRadio or you may also join us live in our virtual auditorium!
 

ABOUT The Shroud of Turin

The Shroud of Turin is a centuries old linen cloth that bears the image of a crucified man. A man that millions believe to be Jesus of Nazareth. Is it really the cloth that wrapped his crucified body, or is it simply a medieval forgery, a hoax perpetrated by some clever artist? Modern science has completed hundreds of thousands of hours of detailed study and intense research on the Shroud. It is, in fact, the single most studied artifact in human history, and we know more about it today than we ever have before. And yet, the controversy still rages.

The Shroud of Turin went on public display for the first time in ten years on April 10, 2010, in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in the city of Turin, Italy. Visitors from around the world have been flocking to see the Shroud since the opening day of the exhibition. On May 5th, Turin authorities stated that more than 2 million pilgrims are now expected over the course of the exhibition, which closes on May 23, 2010. This figure surpasses earlier estimates by several hundred thousand visitors. This exhibition also marks the first opportunity for the public to view the Shroud since its controversial restoration in 2002.

On Sunday, May 2, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI visited the Turin Cathedral and venerated the relic, after which he delivered a homily titled “If We Are United to Christ, We Can Truly Love.” He then went on to deliver some additional comments on the Shroud. An English translation of those important comments was published by Zenit.org in an article titled, “Pope’s Remarks After Venerating Shroud of Turin - In the Hour of Extreme Solitude We Will Never Be Alone.”

Barrie Schwortz was the Official Documenting Photographer for the Shroud of Turin Research Project, the team that conducted the first in-depth scientific examination of the Shroud in 1978. Today, he plays an influential role in Shroud research and education as the editor and founder of the internationally recognized Shroud of Turin Website (www.shroud.com), the oldest, largest and most extensive Shroud resource on the Internet, with more than ten million visitors from over 160 countries.

In 2009 he founded the Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association, Inc. (STERA, Inc.), a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, to which he donated the website and his extensive Shroud photographic collection, as well as many other important Shroud resources, in order to preserve and maintain these materials and make them available for future research and study. He currently serves as the Executive Director of STERA, Inc.

Mr. Schwortz has conducted Shroud lectures around the world. He has appeared in programs and documentaries on every major broadcast television network, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel, the National Geographic Channel, CNN, PBS, the BBC, Fox News, the Coast to Coast AM radio show, Catholic answers radio and Vatican Radio. His photographs have appeared in hundreds of books and publications including Life Magazine, National Geographic, Time

Magazine and Newsweek and in countless television documentaries. He has written many Shroud articles and papers that have been published in periodicals or presented at conferences around the world, the most recent in the March 2010 issue of Catholic Digest. He continues to participate in Shroud research with experts around the world and co-authored a book with Ian Wilson titled, “The Turin Shroud: The Illustrated Evidence” that was published in August 2000 by Michael O’Mara Books,Ltd., London, and distributed by Barnes & Noble in the U.S.Barrie Schwortz began his professional photographic career upon graduating from Brooks Institute of Photography in 1971. He operated an award winning commercial photographic studio specializing in product, food, advertising, technical and editorial illustration for fifteen years and founded his firstvideo production company, Educational Video, Inc., in May of 1978.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1985, Mr. Schwortz became more involved in the entertainment field.

He was the editor and post-production supervisor for the best selling 17 episode “Rocky and Bullwinkle” home video series for Buena Vista Home Video (Disney), which garnered a Silver Medal for Best Children’s Video at the 1992 International Film and Video Festival. He co-produced, directed and edited “Money, History In Your Hands,” a home video program starring James Earl Jones that won the Parent’s Choice Video of the Year award in 1995 as well as two Silver Screen Awards at the International Film and Video Festival in 1996. The program was broadcast on PBS in 1999.

From 1987 to 2001, Mr. Schwortz was an independent imaging consultant to the Laser Research and Technology Development Laboratory at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He employed video, still photography, high speed cinematography and microscopy in imaging research projects with major universities, hospitals and medical device manufacturers and produced hundreds of presentations for the medical field, including slide and video programs that taught new surgical techniques to surgeons. In 1998, he developed two digital imaging protocols that were accepted and approved for use in clinical trials by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and his company served as Core

Laboratory for one of those trials. His clients have included many of the largest corporations in the

world and his presentations have been shown at major medical and scientific conferences worldwide and to the FDA, U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

Host: Jeannette LaFeve

Previously Aired On: Tuesday, August 3, 2010 - Listen to the Show!
 

George McMahon of Tyler is one of seven people in the United States currently granted federal permission to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, under the “Compassionate Investigational New Drug” (IND) program of the Federal Drug Administration.

At age 52, McMahon has outlived the typical life span of most people diagnosed with the disease from which he suffers — Nail Patella Syndrome. NPS is a hereditary neurological disorder that attacks internal organs and the immune system and is usually characterized by some deformity of fingernails — hence the common name. Eight percent of those with NPS are severely affected, and of those, most never live past age 40. McMahon is an exception. His father died at age 40, his sister at age 44. Both had NPS. His mother also carries the disease but is only mildly affected, with arthriticlike pain.

In 1978, the National Institute on Drug Abuse began supplying marijuana to patients accepted to the IND program upon application by their physicians. Acceptance of new patients was halted in 1992, but NIDA continued to supply marijuana to those already receiving it. As of 2002, McMahon was one of seven people remaining in the program and participated in the Missoula Chronic Clinical Cannabis Use Study that concluded that cannabis can be a “safe and effective medicine” against certain chronic conditions. McMahon gets treatment for severe muscle spasms and nausea caused by his condition, and smoking marijuana has succeeded in alleviating his symptoms much more effectively than chemical medications.

In recent years, due to the slow abandonment of medical-marijuana research and the increasing politicization of the drug laws, the number of federally permitted users has dwindled nearly to zero. Many research programs were discontinued during the Eighties “Just Say No” campaign led by first lady Nancy Reagan, and under the Clinton administration the incarceration of marijuana users and small-time drug users greatly accelerated

Yet throughout the same period, public sentiment and even state and local laws have grown increasingly tolerant of marijuana use, especially for medical purposes. In 1988, Drug Enforcement Agency administrative law judge Francis Young concluded that “marijuana is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.” Since 1996, 14 states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Michigan, Rhode Island, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Vermont) have legalized state medical-marijuana programs — with a consequent backlash from the federal government. According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, when the Bush administration took office federal drug enforcement officials acted against more than 35 medicinal-marijuana patients, cooperatives, and providers in California alone.

Since 1991, George McMahon has smoked 10 marijuana cigarettes every day (a quarter ounce in all) to relieve pain and nausea, and to help him sleep. Accordingly, the U.S. government provides McMahon with seven and a half ounces per month. (These are rough estimates, since the marijuana supplied by the government is of poor quality, and McMahon estimates that in cleaning it, he loses about 25%.) Since he first gained access to the Investigational New Drug program in Iowa, he must make the long drive from Tyler to Iowa every three or four months for a new supply of pot, which is actually grown at the University of Mississippi under the supervision of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The cost to the government of growing the marijuana is negligible, so McMahon is not charged for his share.

Before he began smoking marijuana, McMahon was taking nearly 20 different medications — a total of 51 pills daily. The cost, as well as the numerous side effects, was too much for him to bear. “All those pills damaged my stomach and made it nearly impossible to eat, as I was continually nauseated. Now I only take one medication. It’s all I need.”

McMahon explains how the marijuana works for him. Each morning, most of the pain he suffers subsides after he smokes his first joint upon awaking. Throughout the day, he smokes when he feels the need to relieve his recurring pains caused by his weak, brittle bones. Smoking before meals, he says, restores his fragile appetite.

In 1997, the doctor monitoring McMahon’s condition wrote, “I do feel that [McMahon] continues to benefit from marijuana and hope that we can continue providing [him] with marijuana medication.” Asked recently about his overall state of health, McMahon replied, “I am alive, with some quality of life. I do not ask what my doctor thinks. I am not interested in any treatment or drug. So my health is what it is, today — how long I will live, no one knows. As long as I smoke MJ I am fairly comfortable.”

McMahon has followed his routine with the aid of his wife, Margaret. “Margaret is my other half,” he says. “Without her, I wouldn’t have made it this long. She takes care of me when I cannot take care of myself.” In the years since McMahon began using medicinal marijuana, George and Margaret have traveled the country to discuss the issue with college students, professors, and medical associations, and he has also testified at congressional hearings. Recently, he testified in a lawsuit that reached the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals — the court ruled that in moving to revoke a physician’s license for recommending medical marijuana, the federal government had violated the First Amendment.

In the early Nineties, in honor of his personal campaign promoting the availability of medical marijuana for all patients who need it, McMahon was awarded a certificate of heroism from the president’s Drug Awareness Program. The certificate was signed by Nancy Reagan.

Host: Basima Farhat

Previously Aired On: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - Archive Available Shortly
 

KAREN HINTON has battled on behalf of environmental groups for decades, concerning Chevron’s oil drilling practices in the Ecuadorian forest. As President of Hinton Communications, Karen believes that public relations firms have a responsibility with clients such as Chevron before the government steps in to do it. In the case of the recent BP oil leak in the Gulf Coast, Karen called BP “the poster child for bad PR practices.”

“At the beginning of the spill, company executives sounded the right tone, but they couldn’t maintain it because of the lies, misrepresentations and careless decision-making revealed through anonymous sources, leaked memos and, in many instances, the company’s own utterances—many of which have been foolish, half-witted and naive”, said Hinton.

Two weeks ago, BP decided it would be a good idea to launch an ad campaign in relation to their oil spill disaster- they were wrong. Spending money on an ad campaign while oil is still desolating our beautiful beaches and their wildlife inhabitants, is never a good idea.

As for the ad campaign itself, Hinton told PRNewsonline.com, “It comes across as insincere and manipulative in the midst of 24/7 television coverage that hasn’t even begun to capture the destructive images on the Gulf Coast.”

This calamitous PR ploy by BP is going to be scrutinized by marketing gurus, and remembered by business owners and executives for years to come- hopefully as a lesson on what not to do in a crisis.

LAURA GARR has been a legal advisor to farmers in the Ecuadorian community devastated by another oil corporation’s devastating practices. Ecuador which is a region in the Amazon slightly larger than Rhode Island has felt the devastating effects of Chevron Oil company’s pollution. The indigenous population in the polluted area suffers from astronomical cancer rates, low birth rates and water quality related death and disease. From 1964 until 1992, Texaco, now Chevron, developed and exploited this oil-rich area. Today, Laura is part of a legal team representing the indigenous Ecuadorian population is trying to hold Chevron accountable.

Both Laura Garr and Karen Hinton offer their unique perspectives and involvement trying to deal with oil corporations’ detrimental practices that adversely affect environment and people.

KAREN HINTON

Karen Hinton is the President of Hinton Communications, a public relations firm based in Washington, DC. Since 2000, her company has provided media relations, media training and event planning services to corporate, non-profit and government clients. Her expertise is promoting advocacy issues through the news media and media-related events. She previously worked as Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for former HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo. Before that, she served as Secretary Cuomo’s Senior Advisor for Communications. As the Vice President for External Affairs for New American Schools, Hinton led the communications, advocacy and fundraising arms of one of the nation’s leaders in educational consulting. She served as Press Secretary for former U.S. Congressman and Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy and as Director of Marketing/Communications for the D.C. Public School System. Hinton also worked as a senior account executive for two prominent public relations firms, Conway & Company in Washington, DC and The Gable Group in San Diego, California.

LAURA GARR

Laura Garr is a legal consultant to Ecuadorian indigenous and farmer communities suing Chevron for oil-related contamination in the Amazon rainforest, considered the largest oil-related eco-disaster on the planet. Ms. Garr graduated (Magna Cum Laude(include this?)) from Fordham University School of Law where she was a Stein Scholar for the Public Interest, and a member of the Leitner Center Human Rights Clinic and Feerick Center for Social Justice. She co-authored, “Rights-Based Sex Worker Empowerment Guidelines: An Alternative HIV/AIDS Intervention Approach to the 100% Condom Use Programme,” as a formal response to the April 2007 UN Guidance Note on HIV and Sex Work and “Rainforest Chernobyl Revisited. The Clash of Human Rights and Investor Claims: Chevron’s Abusive Litigation in Ecuador’s Amazon.” She has conducted humanitarian fieldwork in Kenya, India, and Ecuador. Previously, Ms. Garr worked as a Case Manager in New York City for people experiencing homelessness.

Host: Jeannette LaFeve

Previously Aired On: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - Listen to the Show!
 

Paul Larudee was born to an Iranian Presbyterian minister and his American missionary spouse in 1946 and grew up in the American Midwest. He has a Ph.D. in linguistics from Georgetown University and spent 14 years in Arab countries as a contracted U.S. government advisor, Fulbright-Hays exchange lecturer, teacher, training administrator and graduate student.

Paul has visited the Palestinian region many times since 1965, including four times with the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led movement that applies nonviolent principles to resist Israeli human rights violations. Paul was among seven ISM volunteers wounded by Israeli gunfire in April, 2002 in an otherwise nonviolent attempt to help Palestinian families. In 2006, he was held in Israeli detention for two weeks while unsuccessfully appealing a decision to deny him entry. He helped organize nonviolent resistance in Lebanon during the 2006 Israeli invasion. He is one of the founders of the Free Gaza Movement, whose boats, on August 23, 2008, became the first in 41 years to enter Gaza by sea, breaking the Israeli naval blockade. He is also a founder of the Free Palestine Movement, which also seeks to challenge Israel’s blockade and denial of access to all of Palestine by sea, air and land.

Paul, a former student of Noam Chomsky, became a Professor of Linguistics himself and remains a good friend and colleague of Professor Chomsky. Working with the NorCal branch of the International Solidarity Movement, Paul is very much a believer in and practitioner of Gandhi’s principles of non-violence. Paul was one of the 5 USA delegates aboard the Sfendoni, a ship of the Freedom flotilla attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.

When Israeli commandos boarded the Sfendoni, Paul non-violently resisted, refused to sign any papers without his lawyer and as a result the Israelis tased, tied-up, twisted his limbs, slammed his head into concrete repeatedly, and hit him with a flash bomb. Paul suffered multiple bruises, 2 black eyes, but refused to be treated by Israeli doctors as he did not trust them, especially since he suffers from Diabetes and needed special treatment and compatible medication. Paul was kept in prison for two days at Givon Prison, Ramle, Israel.

In Paul’s own words:

“The wrath of other nations might be a reasonable price for us to bear if Israel were pursuing a policy of peace with justice. It is not. Israeli policy is and always has been to apply pain and suffering to get what it wants, whether by torturing and killing humanitarian aid volunteers, by maintaining its cruel blockade against 1.5 million Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, or by making millions of Palestinians homeless, confiscating their lands, and destroying lives.

Neither Americans nor Israelis would stand still for such treatment, so why should Turks, Greeks, Palestinians or anyone else? Why should Israeli thugs be allowed to push around and abuse ordinary citizens anywhere?”

Host: Basima Farhat

Previously Aired On: Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - Listen to the Show!
 

The Shministim Tour is a series of conversations between young Israeli men and women who went to jail for following their consciences and Americans from all communities and political backgrounds. Maya Wind and Netta Mishly were part of this tour across the USA in 2009 speaking at universities, synagogues, and community centers about her personal journeys from high school to military prison; a path shared by dozens of young Shministim but wholly unique in each case. They engaged students, activists, supporters, and critics on both coasts and in between. The tour lasted from September 13 through October 10, 2009.

ABOUT SHIMINISTIM

The Shministim (Hebrew for “twelfth-graders”) are an informal group of young Israelis who openly declare their refusal to join the Israeli military. Every year, the Shministim sign a different letter, a tradition harkening back to the 1970s when the first Shministim class expressed their dissent in a letter to Prime Minister Golda Meir. The 2008 letter, signed by both Maya and Netta, declares, “We cannot be moral and serve the occupation.”

MAYA WIND

Maya Yechieli Wind, 19, grew up in Jerusalem during the second Intifada, where she was raised in a secular home but educated in religious schools. Her first experience with conflict resolution was at age fifteen in “Face to Face” – a dialogue group for Israeli and Palestinian youth. Later she became involved in various co-existence initiatives in the West Bank. She joined the Shministim in December 2008 and refused to serve in the Israeli army. She spent several weeks in detention and forty days in military prison and was exempted in March 2009. Today she works for Rabbis for Human Rights, and guides political tours in East Jerusalem and the West Bank for the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. She also co-leads the Jerusalem dialogue youth group of New Profile, the feminist movement for the demilitarization of Israel.

This is the statement she read before going to jail:

At first, like many other Israeli citizens, I too could not bring myself to confront or criticize the Israeli military’s immoral actions. I realize that this difficulty originated from my sense of identification with soldiers my own age, to whom I could relate. Today it is precisely this realization that leads me to refuse to serve. I cannot recognize the humanity of Israelis but not that of Palestinians. It is because of my deep sense of commitment and responsibility to the community in which I grew up that I am refusing to contribute to this cycle of bloodshed.

We can no longer term our military a “Defense Force.” A defense force does not conquer lands of another people. A defense force does not assist in the building of settlements on those lands. A defense force does not permit settlers to throw stones at Palestinian civilians, nor does it deny them access to their lands and source of livelihood. None of these are acts of a defense force.

The occupation has no defensive advantages. On the contrary, the pointless occupation of millions of people only leads to radicalization of opinions, hatred and the escalation of violence. Violence is a cycle that feeds into itself. This cycle will not stop until someone stands up and refuses uncompromisingly to take part in it.

This is what I am doing today.

My views are also relevant to the current operation in Gaza. One form of violence cannot stop another. This current violence is the result of decades of ongoing occupation of the territories and sieges on Gaza since the disengagement. I mourn the unnecessary deaths of both Palestinians and Israelis.

Yet again we have chosen war.

Host: Basima Farhat

Previously Aired On: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - Listen to the Show!
 

John Perkins author of the highly acclaimed “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” has written another book “Hoodwinked” in which he reveals why the world financial markets imploded–and what we need to do to remake them.

John Perkins has seen the signs of today’s economic meltdown before. The subprime mortgage fiascos, the banking industry collapse, the rising tide of unemployment, the shuttering of small businesses across the landscape are all too familiar symptoms of a far greater disease. In his former life as an economic hit man, he was on the front lines both as an observer and a perpetrator of events, once confined only to the third world, that have now sent the United States—and in fact the entire planet—spiraling toward disaster.

Here, Perkins pulls back the curtain on the real cause of the current global financial meltdown. He shows how we’ve been hoodwinked by the CEOs who run the corporatocracy—those few corporations that control the vast amounts of capital, land, and resources around the globe—and the politicians they manipulate. These corporate fat cats, Perkins explains, have sold us all on what he calls predatory capitalism, a misguided form of geopolitics and capitalism that encourages a widespread exploitation of the many to benefit a small number of the already very wealthy. Their arrogance, gluttony, and mismanagement have brought us to this perilous edge. The solution is not a “return to normal.”

But there is a way out. As Perkins makes clear, we can create a healthy economy that will encourage businesses to act responsibly, not only in the interests of their shareholders and corporate partners (and the lobbyists they have in their pockets), but in the interests of their employees, their customers, the environment, and society at large.

We can create a society that fosters a just, sustainable, and safe world for us and our children. Each one of us makes these choices every day, in ways that are clearly spelled out in this book.

“We hold the power,” he says, “if only we recognize it.” Hoodwinked is a powerful polemic that shows not only how we arrived at this precarious point in our history but also what we must do to stop the global tailspin.

Previously Aired On: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - Listen to the Show

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.

In May 2010, Peck was among the pro-Palestinian activists in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla trying to break through Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Peck was not harmed in Israel’s raid; he reported he was brought to Israel “at gunpoint” and expelled the same day for “having illegally entered Israel”; he flew to Newark, New Jersey.

Host: Basima Farhat

Previously Aired On: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - Listen to the Show

Mike Donofrio joined the city of Allen Park in January 2009 as the Economic Development Director to advance the city’s efforts toward business retention, recruitment and revitalization. Mike will discuss how Michigan’s film industry is reinvigorating the economy.

Mary Anne Demo is the Publisher of Natural Awakenings Magazine for the Wayne County, Michigan area. Natural Awakenings is all about Healthy Living and Healthy Planet.

She also manages three farmers markets: the Warren Farmers Market, the Shelby Farmers Market and is just starting with the Allen Park Farmers Market on June 18th for it’s 2nd year. Mary Anne is a member of the Michigan Farmers Market Association, and is a past president of the Rotary Club of Detroit.

Previously Aired On: Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - Listen to the Show!
 

Joe Meadors, Gene St. Onge, and Janet Kobren of the Free Palestine Movement organization were part of the U.S. Delegation Headed for Gaza with International Aid Flotilla in May of 2010. Ambassador Edward Peck and Dr. Paul Larudee completed the 5 member delgation.

When the flotilla came under attack by Israeli forces it made international news and incurred worldwide outrage.

The people of the Gaza Strip have been under Israeli occupation and barred from trading by sea for 43 years. Since 2006 the 25-mile-long enclave has been subject to an ever-tightening Israeli siege, which has permitted only a trickle of supplies to enter. After the devastating Israeli assault of December 2008-January 2009, which wrecked the territory’s infrastructure and economy, the international community pledged $4.5 billion in reconstruction assistance, but almost none of it has yet reached Gaza.

Backed by activists in 30 countries and organized by groups in Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Sweden, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union as well as the U.S., the Freedom Flotilla is the biggest international effort yet to break the Israeli siege of Gaza. The Free Palestine Movement is the only US-based organization participating, although some Americans are also participating as part of other organizations.

JANET KOBREN, co-founder of the Free Palestine Movement, is a Jewish American living in Oakland, California, a former public high school math teacher and information technology professional who has worked on numerous social justice, environmental, housing justice, democratic media, and human rights issues. She was a member of the Free Gaza Movement Steering Committee and worked behind-the-scenes on FGM’s first successful voyage by two small boats that broke the siege of Gaza in August 2008.

JOE MEADORS resides in Corpus Christi, Texas and lived in Saudi Arabia for over 20 years. He is a survivor of the June 8, 1967 attack on the USS Liberty and for decades has been in the forefront of the effort to persuade the US government to conduct an investigation of the attack. The USS Liberty was a lightly armed US Navy spy ship and was attacked by Israeli unmarked aircraft who jammed the Liberty’s radios and by Israeli torpedo boats who deliberately machine gunned the Liberty’s life rafts that had been dropped over the side in anticipation of abandoning ship.

GENE ST. ONGE, Principal of St.Onge and Associates, is a Lebanese-American, licensed civil/structural engineer who lives and works in Oakland, California. He has over 30 years of experience with all types of structural building systems worldwide. Most recently, he has been involved with the Qatar Working Group (QWG), established by the Qatar Foundation, which is developing a program for rebuilding in Gaza. As part of his work with the QWG, once reaching Gaza with the flotilla, he is planning to meet with the lead UNRWA engineers in charge of reconstruction to better assess needs and resources. Gene is working with the QWG in exploring ways to use appropriate technology, i.e. local materials with green building systems, to substantially reduce cost and increase the use of locally trained labor. Gene is also co-founder of the Middle East Policy Advisory Committee (MEPAC), a consortium of over 15 peace and justice groups in the SF Bay Area, that works towards transforming US policy in the region to one based on respect for human rights and international law.

The Free Palestine Movement Mission

The purpose of the Free Palestine Movement is to defend and advocate for the human rights of all Palestinians, and in particular the right of access to all of Palestine. We propose to support these rights by defying barriers imposed by Israeli and international authorities upon travel and trade to, from and within Palestine for Palestinians and persons invited by Palestinians, such as visitors, human rights observers, humanitarian aid workers, journalists, merchants or others, and to impose pressure and sanctions upon any parties that deny such rights.

Host: Basima Farhat

Previously Aired On: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 - Archive Available Shortly

Philanthropically minded and academically inspired, Dearborn, Michigan resident Rima Fakih became a Great Lakes household name on September 19, 2009, when she was crowned MISS MICHIGAN USA 2010. The competition a childhood dream, winning the title of MISS MICHIGAN USA presented Rima with the opportunity to continue her pursuits of higher education, and also to positively use her position of influence to advocate community service, charity and educational growth.