Santa Cruz, CA (PRWEB) May 10, 2010 -- Organizers of the May 14-16 Santa Cruz "Understanding Deep Politics" conference have announced a three-day summit of engaged scholars and activist leaders to shed new light on the corrupt forces driving current events, expose the corporate media's complicity, and craft tenable strategies of response.

According to "Understanding Deep Politics" coordinator Gabriel Day, "We believe the most powerful catalyst for positive social change would be a widespread understanding of deep politics and a corresponding outpouring of courageous activism addressing the real roots of our crises. We think that all participants will emerge from this weekend considerably smarter, better networked, and more hopefully prepared for the great challenges we face."

Details of live streaming, available free Friday night only or at low cost for full weekend, follow.

Elena Kagan, President Barack Obama's latest nominee to the Supreme Court, helped protect the Saudi royal family from lawsuits that sought to hold al Qaeda financiers responsible in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The suits were filed by thousands of family members and others affected by the Sept. 11 attacks. In court papers, they provided evidence that members of the Saudi royal family had channeled millions to al Qaeda prior to the bombings, often in contravention of direct guidance from the United States.

But Kagan, acting as President Obama's Solicitor General, argued that the case should not be heard even if evidence proved that the Saudis helped underwrite al Qaeda, because it would interfere with US foreign policy with the oil-rich nation. She posited "that the princes are immune from petitioners’ claims" because of "the potentially significant foreign relations consequences of subjecting another sovereign state to suit."

On Tuesday, May 11 at 6:00pm CDT on 90.1 FM KKFI Community Radio (Kansas City), 'Tell Somebody' host Tom Klammer will feature former FBI Special Agent and Minneapolis Chief Division Counsel Coleen Rowley and 27- year CIA analyst and Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity cofounder Ray McGovern. The program will stream live at www.kkfi.org.

Rowley's team had arrested Zacarias Moussaoui just three weeks before 9/11, and was denied a warrant to search his computer by FBI headquarters. Rowley was on the cover of Time magazine's 2002 Person of the Year issue with two other whistleblowers after she went public with a blistering letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Rowley just wrote a piece on the Huffington Post, headlined "Quarles Public Safety Exception--Constitutional and Proven Effective!" . We'll hear about that from Coleen Rowley as she returns to Tell Somebody this week.

After that, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern returns to the show. Ray's latest post on Consortium News is entitled, "Loose Lips on Iran Can Sink America".

In 2009, I published a little book entitled Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive?¹ Much evidence, I showed, suggested that Osama bin Laden had died on or about December 13, 2001. (Although this book was ignored by the US press, it received major reviews in British newspapers,² and it even provided the basis for a BBC special.³) Pointing out that the only evidence to the contrary consists of "messages from bin Laden" in the form of audiotapes and videotapes that have appeared since 2001, I devoted one chapter to an examination of the most important of these tapes, showing that none are demonstrably authentic and that some are almost certainly fakes.

In the chapter preceding that examination, I discussed two videotapes containing purported interviews of Osama bin Laden in the fall of 2001, when the issue was whether he had been responsible for the 9/11 attacks. I suggested that both of these tapes, in which bin Laden allegedly admitted his responsibility, were fakes. If they were, I pointed out, this fact would increase the likelihood that all of the "Osama bin Laden tapes" appearing in the following years - when the question of whether he was still alive was added to that of his responsibility for 9/11 - were also fakes.

9/11 Myths Exposed: Firefighters, Architects and Engineers Re-investigate the Destruction of the Three World Trade Center Skyscrapers

On September 11th, 2001 the greatest destruction and loss of life associated with the terrorist attacks took place in New York City. After almost nine years and numerous government investigations, many public misconceptions persist about the events of that tragic day, especially regarding the unprecedented destruction of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.

During this live multimedia presentation Seattle firefighter Erik Lawyer and SF Bay Area architect Richard Gage, AIA, will examine the myths surrounding the events at the World Trade Center. Using well-documented forensic evidence, news footage and eyewitness accounts, they seek to correct the public record. Some of the myths they will address:

Administrators at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQÀM) say they will develop a formal policy for outside groups renting campus space for events after a controversial lecture about 9/11 drew fire by academic staff.

But the French-language university defended its right to have contentious speakers lecture on campus as part of free speech, saying it was appropriate to debate ideas, as long as events don't incite riots.

The Monday night lecture, hosted by World for 9/11 Truth, drew about 700 people who came to hear from two U.S. academics who deny the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were carried out by terrorists.

The researchers -- David Ray Griffin and Richard Gage -- believe the U.S. government played a major role in orchestrating the deadly attacks on New York City's Twin Towers and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Griffin and Gage are lobbying for an independent inquiry into the attacks, which killed 3,000 people. Their theories -- part of the self-titled Truthers movement that formed after Sept. 11 -- have been repeatedly discounted by scientists and civil engineering experts.
U.S. experts at UQÀM upset

By Byron Belitsos
May 4, 2010

Some say it began with the invasion of Iraq. Others, with the inauguration of George W. Bush for his second term. Many point to the day of 9/11. But those in the know—including ten distinguished speakers headlining the “Understanding Deep Politics” Conference in Santa Cruz this May 14-16—trace the era of deep politics further back: Some to JFK’s assassination; others, to the aftermath of World War II. And a few speakers in Santa Cruz will stretch us back to Hitler, Lenin, Weishaupt, or Machiavelli, from there to ancient secret societies, and even back to the dawn of human governance itself—in the belief that conscious political deception is an inescapable feature of human nature. But all agree on the general definition of deep politics: It refers to government in which two dimensions of action always coexist: Overt and covert, or benign and utterly ruthless.

We can trace it forward too; by now we know that the ways of deceptive government did not end with the ascent of Obama. As with the Bush era, the overt side of American politics still refers to government actions thinly covered in the mainstream press; on this level of action, we know that Obama signed the largest military budget in history, expanded the war in Afganistan, bailed out banks, and “reformed” health care; but on the covert side of the equation, most don’t realize—given how the corporate media and Obama’s benign rhetoric is busy distracting us—that the new president has carried forward virtually all of the discredited Bush-era War or Terror policies. Worse, Obama and his gallery of advisors steeped in the ways of postmodern corruption have shocked Americans by their eagerness to uphold the Bush administration’s ornate machinery of quasi-constitutional and sometimes criminalized covert action. At a minimum, these include: claims of “state secrets,” NSA (National Security Agency) domestic surveillance, emergency powers linked with the de facto repeal of Posse Comitatus (which enable martial law), summary assassination, illegal detention, and counter-insurgency warfare techniques that defy international law. In addition, Obama countenanced trillions in secret bailout money issued by the Federal Reserve; and, he handed back-room deals to Big Pharma and the health insurance cartel that locks their super-profits into “Obamacare.”

The speakers in Santa Cruz will help you trace these steps by the new administration, measures that further America’s (and the world’s) descent into what might be called the postmodern reign of deep politics. The unprecedented Santa Cruz event also offers us the hope of seeing through the charade.

Jon Gold Interviews Cosmos, Founder of truthaction.org, at Ground Zero, Michael Badnarik, and appears on radio with the CNY Urban Guy Show

Cosmos: "... Until there is justice for this mass murder, this gigantic mass murder, then it's going to be a part of my life and I'm going to be dedicated to doing what I can to get justice. All I'm interested in 9/11 is a legitimate, independent, criminal investigation of the crime, leading up to prosecution of those responsible for this crime."

Badnarik: "Well, I support the truth. I want to know what really happened. And I don't think that 911 truth should be a denigration or a slur. I mean, why would you be angry with somebody who wants the truth? I thought whenever you go into a court you want the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help me God. So why not have the truth when it comes to whatever happened on 9/11 in 2001?"

Napolitano stands by controversial report
Top Democrat says he's 'dumbfounded'

April 16, 2010
By Audrey Hudson and Eli Lake
Washingtonimes.com

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that she was briefed before the release of a controversial intelligence assessment and that she stands by the report, which lists returning veterans among terrorist risks to the U.S.

But the top House Democrat with oversight of the Department of Homeland Security said in a letter to Ms. Napolitano that he was "dumbfounded" that such a report would be issued.

Republicans rabid over right-wing report
April 29, 2010
CapitolHillBlue.com

Republicans on Wednesday said a Homeland Security Department intelligence assessment unfairly characterizes military veterans as right-wing extremists. House Republican leader John Boehner described the report as offensive and called on the agency to apologize to veterans.

The agency's intelligence assessment, sent to law enforcement officials last week, warns that right-wing extremists could use the bad state of the U.S. economy and the election of the country's first black president to recruit members.

The assessment also said that returning military veterans who have difficulties assimilating back into their home communities could be susceptible to extremist recruiters or might engage in lone acts of violence.

Double header presentation: Two speakers, two nights, two Bay Area cities

Friday and Saturday,
May 7 and 8, 2010

San Rafael and San Leandro, California

On September 11th, 2001 the greatest destruction and loss of life associated with the terrorist attacks took place in New York City. After almost nine years and numerous government investigations, many public misconceptions persist about the events of that tragic day, especially regarding the unprecedented destruction of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.

During this live multimedia presentation Seattle firefighter Erik Lawyer and SF Bay Area architect Richard Gage, AIA, will examine the myths surrounding the events at the World Trade Center. Using well-documented forensic evidence, news footage and eyewitness accounts, they seek to correct the public record.

Interview and notes by John Bursill
April 26, 2010
911Visibility.com

Visibility 9-11 is excited to welcome for the first time long-term activist/organiser, film maker, writer, engineer and psychologist Ken Jenkins. Ken's qualities of patience, fairness, optimism and clear logical thinking are well displayed in this interview! I consider Ken a cornerstone of this movement pursuing 9/11 Truth, to which he has devoted nearly nine years of his life. Ken's work is primarily as a film maker. He has produced and directed documentaries for the likes of Richard Gage, David Ray Griffin and Dr Steven Jones, just to name a few. Ken's skills have been invaluable to the 9-11 movement and given us all valuable tools to help us all take many scientific and academic presentations to the the general public. Ken is a professional videographer and consistently provides these films at a high level of production value and offers them at a tenth of the cost to us to use in our activsm. It is true to say that without the efforts of Ken Jenkins and his right-hand man, hummux, our movement would be less successful! Visibility 9-11 sincerely thanks Ken and hummux for this very important and tedious work.

Ken is also a very popular speaker and generally talks about the psychological barriers to 9/11 Truth. He recently published an excellent article, "The Truth is Not Enough: How to Overcome Emotional Barriers to 9/11 Truth", which was requested by the magazine editors of Global Outlook for the 13th edition.

[FULL TOUR DETAILS BELOW]

Nobel Peace Prize nominee speaking at Bradley

Peoria Journal Star
April 18, 2010

PEORIA -- "Is the War in Afghanistan Justified by 9/11?" is the theme of Dr. David Ray Griffin's speech set for Sunday at Bradley University.

Griffin is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, author, professor emeritus and co-director of the Center for Process Studies at Claremont University in Claremont, Calif.

He also has appeared on radio and television programs on the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Japan's national network. He was ranked 41st in the New Statesman's "The 50 People Who Matter Today."

Griffin will appear at Bradley as part of a 14-stop tour, which includes several locations in Maine, as well as Chicago; St. Louis; Des Moines, Iowa; Milwaukee; Louisville, Ky.; West Hartford, Conn.; Boston; Montreal; and Toronto.

Final Event in the Series for Spring 2010 -- An evening with Project Censored: Media Democracy in Action

Please join the co-editors of Censored 2010 for a public talk and discussion

Truth Emergency International: Censorship, Propaganda, and American Empire
Peter Phillips, President, Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored
Mickey Huff, Director, Project Censored/Media Freedom Foundation

Thursday, April 22: 7pm PDT, 10pm EDT, 02:00 GMT

CLICK HERE TO WATCH. (Presentation will be archived after the broadcast at NoLiesRadio.org)

A right-wing neocon organization called the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD)¹ -- which devotes itself to attacking religiously and socially progressive churches while supporting US imperial policies (going back to the Nicaraguan Contras funded illegally by the Reagan administration² ) -- has recently put out a press release attacking my next book, which is scheduled to be published this coming fall. Saying that I am "back with another outrageous book" in which I allege "new absurdities," the IRD claims that I am "this time alleging that the Obama administration is attempting to undermine 9/11 conspiracy theorists."³

False Assumptions about My Forthcoming Book

However, if members of the IRD staff could have waited until my book had been published, so they could have read it before attacking it, they could have seen that it does no such thing. They could have seen that it simply deals with an article, entitled "Conspiracy Theories," co-authored in 2008 by Cass Sunstein and another professor at Harvard Law School.⁴ Using the "9/11 conspiracy theory" as their primary example of conspiracy theories, Sunstein and his co-author argued that the government should try to undermine it and that the best way to do this would be through a method they called "cognitive infiltration." In 2009, President Obama appointed Sunstein as the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.⁵ My forthcoming book is entitled Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointee's Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory. Neither the title nor the book itself suggests that Obama will have Sunstein actually carry out this plan.

The IRD's premature criticism of my book is also wrong on another point. By speaking of what I will be "alleging," the IRD was supporting its press release's title, "9/11 Conspiracy Theorist Dreaming Up New Absurdities." The IRD's suggestion, in other words, is that I simply "dreamed up" the "absurdity" that someone connected to the Obama administration had a proposal for undermining 9/11 conspiracy theorists. However, the proposal made by Sunstein has been extensively discussed on the Internet.⁶ With a little research, therefore, the IRD could have learned that I had not simply made something up.