BREAKING NEWS! Rep. Kucinich Publicly Acknowledges Need for 9/11 Investigation

"Kucinich brings hard-nosed arguments"

In an article published today at TimesUnion.com Kucinich

said that as chairman of a House subcommittee on domestic policy, he plans to launch an investigation of "a narrow portion" of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He offered few details, but said his subcommittee would be looking at "a few, specific discrepancies in the public record." The 9/11 Commission that published its final report in 2004 never resolved some conflicting facts, Kucinich said. He announced his own look at 9/11 in answer to a question from an audience member. The man complained that the 9/11 Commission was too tied to the Bush administration to offer an unbiased report, and Kucinich agreed.

We encourage readers to share this information with your lists, and to contact Rep. Kucinich with a note of support at http://kucinich.us/contact. You might also wish to express gratitude to this TimesUnion reporter, Dan Higgins, by e-mail at dhiggins@timesunion.com.

Secondly, Rep. Kucinich is asking blog readers, "Impeachment: I'm asking you. Do you think it's time?" http://kucinich.us/node/3696

Please take a moment and reply to Rep. Kucinich's question at that page ... "Yes, and please include Articles of Impeachment for criminal negligence and obstruction of justice arising from the crimes of September 11th, 2001."

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Fundraising Appeal
2. Planning for 911truth.org - sponsored conference in mid-August begins
3. Bob Bowman's US Tour
4. Mark Crispin Miller Promotes David Ray Griffin's New Book
5. 911truth.org Steering Committee/Advisory Board Update
6. Week-Long Corporate Shopping Boycott Set to Begin April15
7. Take Action/Calendar
8. Timely comparisons with Reagan’s 1991 “October Surprise”

1. 911truth.org Spring Fundraiser Kicks Off
It is with a small amount of anxiety and a great deal of hope that we announce our 911truth.org Spring 2007 Fundraiser. Many of you have already received an email from us, but many may not have, due to bulk mailing snafus and the like. If you have already donated during this drive, we thank you very much. If you have not, please consider contributing at this critically important time.

You probably know that 911truth.org gets by on a very small administrative budget, yet there are so many things we want to do! We need your support more than ever. Without it, many of the projects we have planned for the year may be in jeopardy, including:
--National conference in August
--New National Poll
--Producing new, valuable materials for free distribution, like a “Top 40 Reasons to Doubt the Official Story” DVD and pamphlet
--Sending representatives of 911Truth.org to meet with Congresspersons and Senators, and to represent the movement at coalition events where our voice must be heard.
--Promotion and advertising of the 911 Truth message, demanding a new, independent investigation of 9/11 and real justice for the victims. For instance, as many of you have suggested, we’d like to see 9/11 Truth billboards everywhere!

Our goal for this spring is $50,000, and every contribution – large or small – helps and is genuinely appreciated. There are a number of ways to support the efforts of 911truth.org. You can become a monthly sustainer for as little as $5/month, make a one-time donation, offer in-kind donations or select premium items from our resource center donations page. Please take a moment to make your donation now and help us keep going strong!

2. Conference Being Planned for mid-August

911truth.org. is in the early planning stages of a national conference to be held in mid-August, with a location and theme to be announced shortly. The conference will focus on the problems with the way the major media report stories like 9/11, and discuss strategies for re-taking, and re-making, the public airwaves. We'll have a more thorough description of the conference along with dates and location in our next newsletter.

3. Bowman Tour USA, Calling All Patriots
Dr. Bob Bowman, the retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel and recent candidate for the US House of Representatives, has embarked on a national tour to awaken the citizenry to the drift toward fascism in the US and to call on people to unite in demanding a return to constitutional rule.

"There is a Bible verse which says, 'There is no longer male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free …' I would like to adapt that idea to our purpose. 'There is no longer Republican nor Democrat, conservative nor liberal, hawk nor dove. There are only we Patriots speaking truth to power and taking back our country for the people.'"

Bowman’s statement of purpose and link to the full tour schedule are posted at: http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20070301114303980

4. Mark Crispin Miller Promotes David Ray Griffin's New Book

The irrepressible and brilliant Mark Crispin Miller, a strong supporter of 9/11 skepticism, has posted a summary on his blog of David Ray Griffin's new book, "Debunking 9/11 Debunking: An Answer to Popular Mechanics and Other Defenders of the Official Conspiracy Theory." http://markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com/2007/03/debunkers-debunked.html Griffin's book is not scheduled to be out until May, but you can pre-order it from 911truth.org here. Speaking of Griffin, if you have not read his excellent essay on the use of 9/11 as a pretext for imperial wars, and the place of 9/11 crimes in the impeachment debate, see this article.

5. Steering Committee/Advisory Board Change

Long-time 911truth.org steering committee member Gabriel Day has moved from the steering committee to the 911truth.org advisory board. We thank Gabriel for his tireless efforts on behalf of 9/11 truth, particularly surrounding last year's Chicago conference and building a national network of 911truth activists, and look forward to his continued involvement in this new role. For more info about who’s who at 911truth.org, our Mission Statement and Editorial Policy, Achievements and Goals, please review the section linked from About Us at the main page. Please send emails specifically about outreach and networking to outreach@911truth.org.

6. Week-long National Corporate Shopping Boycott begins April 15

We hope you’re preparing now for the April 15-22, Tax Day to Earth Day, National Shopping Boycott when we’re asked to avoid all corporate shopping and truly consider where we’re putting our money. The site includes some great resources for learning some truth about corporations, banks, contractors, and political money. Lew Brown, National Coordinator of the boycott, explains: “"By holding back on our spending, with discipline and resolve and in sympathy for the millions who live in misery because of this administration's policies, we not only show our concern for the pain of others, we also put a little fear in the hearts of those who have profited from this travesty." This is a significant opportunity to take power into your own hands, as one participant in a much larger, coordinated effort—join in and Be the Resistance!

7. Take Action!

Get involved! Many specific ideas for action are listed at our article, "Now that you know, what can you do?"
Join a local group – check out the list of local organizers at the Grassroots Contacts page. Nobody in your area? Become the contact to form your own local group.
And watch the 9/11 Calendar for events near you. Know of an event that’s not listed there? Post it, or forward that link to the event organizer. It’s open to everyone hosting 9/11-related events. We are everywhere!

Steering Committee member Michael Berger has several interviews coming up (one tonight!), in coordination with the national Improbable Collapse Tour. Check the calendar for details, and contact him at Mike@911truth.org to schedule a tour stop in your area. For more details about the movie, “Improbable Collapse: The Demolition of our Republic,” a wealth of background information and the movie trailer, check out improbablecollapse.com.” This week, Improbable Collapse hit the New York times Movie Page! If you've already seen the film, please take a few minutes to write a review and/or rate the film at the New York Times movies section.

8. Timely Excerpt from Gary Sick's "October Surprise, America’s Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald Reagan" published by Random House in 1991.

Why don't more citizens accept the possibility that powerful people within the halls of power are capable of "crimes that make the laws tremble"? Here are some profound comments on the subject from former National Security Council member Gary Sick. He was speaking about the sociopolitical situation in the 1980s with respect to the Iran-Contra scandal and the October Surprise, but he may just have easily been talking about today's sociopolitical climate. If anything, the climate today is more hostile to truth-telling.

From pages 226 - 228:

"We are accustomed to the petty scandals of Washington politics: A candidate for high office is a lush or a compulsive womanizer; an official lies to cover up an embarrassing policy failure. These are misdeeds on a human scale, and those miscreants who are unfortunate enough or careless enough to get caught are pilloried and punished by the press and their peers in periodic cleansings. We regard such rituals with a certain satisfaction, evidence of our democracy at work.

There is another category of offenses, described by the French poet Andre Chenier as “les crimes puissants qui font trembler les lois,” crimes so great that they make the laws themselves tremble. We know what to do with someone caught misappropriating funds, but when confronted with evidence of a systematic attempt to undermine the political system itself, we recoil in a general failure of imagination and nerve.

We understand the motives of a thief, even if we despise them. But few of us have ever been exposed to the seductions of power on a grand scale and we are unlikely to have given serious thought to the rewards of political supremacy, much less to how it might be achieved. We know that groups and individuals covet immense power for personal or ideological reasons, but we suppose that those ambitions usually will be pursued within the confines of the laws and values of our society and democratic political system. If not, we assume we will recognize the transgressions early enough to protect ourselves.

Those who operate politically beyond the law, if they are deft and determined, benefit from our often false sense of confidence. There is a natural presumption, even among the politically sophisticated, that ”no one would do such a thing.” Most observers are predisposed toward disbelief, and therefore may be willing to disregard evidence and to construct alternative explanations for events that seem too distasteful to believe. This all-too-human propensity provides a margin of safety for what would otherwise be regarded as immensely risky undertakings.

Illegitimate political covert actions are attempts to alter the disposition of power. Since all of politics involves organized contention over the disposition of power, winners can be expected to maintain that they were only playing the game, while those who complain about their opponents’ methods are likely to be dismissed as sore losers. Even if suspicions arise, the charges are potentially so grave that most individuals will be reluctant to give public credence to allegations in the absence of irrefutable evidence. The need to produce a ”smoking gun” has become a precondition for responsible reporting of political grand larceny. The participants on political covert actions understand this and take pains to cover their tracks, so the chance of turning up incontrovertible Documentation of wrongdoing – such as the White House tapes in the Watergate scandal – is slim.

This leads to a journalistic dilemma. In the absence of indisputable evidence, the mainstream media – themselves large commercial institutions with close ties to the political and economic establishment – are hesitant to declare themselves on matters of great political gravity. The so-called alternative media are less reluctant, but they are too easily dismissed as irresponsible. By the time the mainstream media are willing to lend their names and reputations to a story of political covert action, the principal elements of the story have almost always been reported long before in the alternative media, where they were studiously ignored.

When the Iran-Contra scandal exploded in 1986, both Congress and the media pulled up short. Neither had the stomach for the kind of national trauma that would have resulted from articles of impeachment being delivered against a popular President in who was his last two years in office. So, when it could not be proven conclusively that the President saw the “smoking gun” in the case – a copy of a memo to Reagan reporting in matter-of-fact terms that proceeds of Iranian arms sales were being diverted to the Nicaraguan contras – the nation seemed to utter a collective sigh of relief. (The original memo, bearing the signatures of those who had seen it, had been deliberately destroyed.) The laws trembled at the prospect of a political trial that could shatter the compact of trust between rulers and ruled, a compact that was the foundation upon which the laws themselves rested. The lesson seemed to be that accountability declines as the magnitude of the offense and the power of those charged increase.

The ultimate dilemma, which Chenier captured so perfectly in his comment on the revolutionary politics of eighteenth-century France, is the effect of very high stakes. A run-of-the-mill political scandal can safely be exposed without affecting anyone other than the culprits and their immediate circle. A covert political coup, however, like the one engineered by Casey in 1980, challenges the legitimacy of the political order; it deliberately exploits weaknesses in the political immune system and risks infecting the entire organism of state and society…"

***************** As always, we thank you all for your continuing, powerful efforts and support of the organization and our collective efforts. The 911Truth.org Steering Committee

Janice Matthews, Executive Director, 816-277-9375, Kansas City, MO, janice@911truth.org  

Mike Berger, Media Coordinator, 314-308-4893, St. Louis, MO, mike@911truth.org  

David Kubiak, International Campaign Advisor, 207-332-3071, San Francisco, CA, david@911truth.org  

Erik Larson, Volunteer Coordinator, Los Angeles, CA, erik@911truth.org  

Michael Richardson, Webmaster & Contributing Editor, 911readingroom@gmail.com  

Bryan Sacks, Research/Editor, 267-228-0136, Philadelphia, PA, bryan@911truth.org  

Michael Wolsey, Rocky Mountain Program Coordinator, 970-576-6431, Greeley, CO, michael@911truth.org  

Administrative calls, tips, ideas and emails: 800.985.1183, info@911truth.org