I learned a lot at the 9/11 Symposium this weekend. Barbara Honegger's analysis of the recent revelations about the US Government's anthrax story were especially poignant.
The biggest breaking news is that former FBI Director of the Amerithrax Investigation has now gone whistle-blower. I hadn't heard that at all - but as of April he is suing the FBI for wrecking his life, and ruining his career, since he was critical of the way the FBI sat on his investigation of Anthrax.
Of course, we in the truth movement always said that Bruce Ivins couldn't have done it. It looks like Ivins was the patsy, and when he took his tylenol over-dose, the FBI was next door, and they did nothing about it. Or maybe the late Mr. Ivins didn't actually "take" his over-dose, willingly....
Don't believe Scott Shane at the NY Times - he takes the US Government's side, blatantly, and every single time. Look at how much ink he wastes repeating the official story.
Even Lambert himself on Fox News is not as good as the analysis over at Washington's Blog>>>
The Declassify the Truth 9/11 Anniversary Symposium was a rousing success. I counted around 200 people there. People still care about the truth about 9/11. Especially this year, when the headlines keep on mentioning the controversy around the 28 Pages, the material censored by Bush about who financed 9/11.
I am coming away from this weekend fired up. At the lunch, we had about 50 people upstairs organizing themselves by Congressional District.
We are GOING to pressurize Congress to release the 28 Pages! To pass HR14 is the will of "We, The People!"
In my circle, at our meeting of the 12th District, we had ten people to discuss how to reach out to our Congressional Rep, Carolyn Maloney.
We decided to meet again. We're meeting this Sunday, 9/20, at 7 PM, at the reasonably priced Ukranian East Village Restaurant.
But I think, since this will be the first meeting, post-Symposium, I'm going to suggest that we should open up the meeting to all concerned citizens around the 28 pages, from all Congressional districts. Let's build it up, and we will seat people by Congressional District, again.
After all, there is a large back room at this restaurant, and if we have enough RSVPs we could reserve it. So RSVP back to me! And remember, we always bring one more person into the movement, with each meeting.
Heck, can you bring TWO? We will make it exciting. We are going to change the world. The 9/11 cover-up is over. Politics as usual are OVER. People rejected Bush and Clinton this election season. We Rip up the old rules. We Release the 28 Pages. Can you see it?
Those "28 Pages" continue to be the issue that just might take the 9/11 truth movement mainstream.
You see, there's a little piece of legislation floating in Congress, and it just might change everything. HR 14 would force the US Government to release the 28 pages, which hide who funded 9/11.
Bush did this, he hid them. That is a fact. And now HR 14 has 18 co-sponsors in Congress. It's a start.
I was inspired by this post just now today at 28Pages.org -
As pointed out over at 28Pages.org, young Congressman Thomas Massie said,
“Trust me, it’s a dangerous thing to cosponsor this because they want to keep this under the rug.” Nonetheless, he said it’s important “to release those 28 pages in the 9/11 report that will once and for all show the American people what caused 9/11 and who funded it.”
I mean, even Obama promised to release them, but then chickened out.
Why?
What is that powerful? Can we call is a Deep State? A Shadow Government? And will I be called a "conspiracy theorist" one year and "ahead of my time" some time in the near future? I sure hope so!
Well, anyway, I made a brand new poster, with Lizzy, my designer, for the 9/12 event:
this Saturday's
9/12 Declassify The Truth Symposium in NYC.
This may be the biggest NYC 9/11 Anniversary event in a while.
We have a great schedule and some solid guest speakers. Best-selling author Jon Perkins and 9/11 survivors are joining us.
We have a 300 capacity hall booked in Manhattan, and we are looking to fill it.
We just raised $700 to run an ad in a local paper, hoping to put the question in front of two million more people. And this new poster is pretty cool - it graphically makes the case, in an emotional, compelling way. We have the momentum! Are you coming? RSVP here on Facebook.
Concept: The Ultimate Vision – Accountability & Justice for 9/11
Although there have been many previous coups, 9/11 is the most recent and is the most consequential. Up until now, the issue of who funded the 9/11 attacks has been shrouded in secrecy. But the after-effects of 9/11 are all too apparent: reduced civil liberties, wars of invasion, torture. Astute analysts of deep state crime know that the perpetrators of 9/11 are still alive. Obtaining justice is still possible.
But how do we get justice? We need to define what is feasible, and what it will take, identify leaders with the skills and drive to make it happen, and provide the support they need.
Current Opportunity
There is legislation today in front of the US Congress and Senate that will release the censored 28 pages of Congress’s own investigation into 9/11. This “28 Pages” issue has attracted positive mainstream news coverage, from the New York Times to FOX News. Millions of people are being informed that information on responsibility for 9/11 has been withheld for 14 years. It’s a cover-up. But this time, the exposure of this cover-up is being done by mainstream media and Members of Congress.
The official narrative on 9/11, and the global war on terror, is unraveling. The 28 Pages contain information needed for real national security.
With the upcoming presidential campaign, we have an opportunity to make “9/11 transparency” a presidential issue. Never before has the 9/11 Truth Community had an opportunity to create a bona-fide DC lobbying group to achieve political action on this issue. The 28 pages is the ideal opportunity for the activist community to become a bona fide movement. Our time is now.
Our Mandate
We must organize Congressional district by Congressional district in a process to become a real political constituency that can work towards political change.
This will entail combining several approaches such as grass roots organizing, coalition building, and social networking.
We must think bigger than ever before. We must build on 14 years of efforts by the alternative research community which has already informed millions of people on the reality of 9/11. We must devise methods to reach the huge reservoir that exists within the population to connect, inform, and mobilize. We know this reservoir is serious and sizable. Over 50 million people have viewed “Loose Change”. Millions more have seen 9/11 specials on C-SPAN, or other 9/11 videos on Youtube.
Methods to reach these millions will include social networking, Facebook and Twitter ads, print and radio, and cable access. Through this effort we can mirror other progressive movements that resulted in shifts in mass consciousness that led to institutional changes. (i.e., the recent victories of medical marijuana, or the recent NY ban on fracking.)
Goals
Establish the first-ever 9/11 Transparency Lobby-ing organization, with organizations in DC and NY.
Begin monthly nation-wide video conference calls via Skype or other online video-conferencing, to galvanize the national 9/11 Truth Movement.
Raise money through a crowd funding campaign. Our first goal will be $25,000. We will then assess costs for feasible projects over the next 6-12 months.
Initially, this money will go towards the following projects:
Make a short video appeal (work with people in our network)
Hire publicist for this fund-raising campaign, assemble a team of publicity volunteers, too.
Create a good looking brochure, or printed material outlining the case, and the cause.
Update current website HR14.org with a slideshow and “In the News” section.
Hire interns.
Organize volunteer base. Find office space (or rent some cheap from Sander, or Sander can donate some at his offices/woodshop at 52-05 Flushing Ave, in Maspeth/Bushwick)
Contract with social networking guru as a consultant or head of a team
Create a few videos for cable access. (I've got one storyboard already)
Facebook, Twitter, and maybe even Google ads to attract people to site
Creating content for social Media: Use Youtube, FB, Twitter.
Web banners on well-traveled sites like Coast2Coast. Identify more sites.
Advertise on Google AdWords.
Reach out to sympathetic podcasts.
DC Presence: start to create a “grassroots” lobbying effort to get people to come to DC and visit their Congress
Member. List all the members of Congress, and try to figure out exactly how many we would need to support us to get to get HR 14 to pass.
Look up the Members of Congress who supported Curt Weldon's effort to get public hearings on Able Danger.
Go to DC and visit with the staff from the offices of Jones, Lynch, Massie, and Rand Paul to learn about their experiences so far. Then we could meet with the local DC activists to help plan a lobbying effort.
Contract with web pro for HR14.org. Create slideshows for the site.
Print ads in local papers attracting people to web site.
Create nationwide webcasts.
Core Philosophy
We aim to create a dream team of skilled, talented, visionary activists who work together in unity and harmony with the goal of lifting 9/11 activism to the political level. We will establish ourselves as a bona fide movement with the most comprehensive and powerful grasp on the underlying reality of political power structures, and how the masses can become the new super-power.
Professional Roles
Just as organizations like as Greenpeace, MoveOn.org, and many others, have funding for professional management and staff, it’s time that the 9/11 activist community does the same.
This will begin with leadership from Les Jamieson and Sander Hicks.
Brief Job Descriptions:
Les Jamieson: central management and oversight for strategy, grass roots and legislative organizing, communications, creative graphics, video production
Initial salary: TBD
Sander Hicks: Marketing, raising money, recruiting talent, building teams, envisioning strategy, implementation, procedures and protocols, and execution.
Initial salary: TBD
Your comments and suggestions are welcome below. We will be launching our crowd-funding program soon, and want you to stay in touch with us. We are on the path of victory, justice and a rare breakthrough in US government accountability.
This week marks a turning point. Two free-thinking Americans confronted Jeb Bush about his role in the 9/11 cover-up. Even if it seems like the corporate media show no interest in this side of Bush, that inaction does not limit us. We know there's something serious here.
These two stories should inspire us to demand answers, especially in this highly-charged time.
Let's take a look at what happened, what the deeper story is, and then I'll conclude this post with some "How-To Confront Jeb Bush" advice, for new activists going forward.
That means YOU!
A great and mighty spirit of truth is motivating us. We are not dismissible. We are a mountain. Many great opportunities rise up to meet us every day. 1. Jackman Vs. Bush
Let's start with the most recent event, first. This week, on August 20, on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, my friend Mike Jackman (the co-founder of "Student Scholars for 9/11 Truth") asked a well-prepared question about Jeb Bush's role in the frenzied 9/11 cover-up in Florida:
Notice Jeb Bush's body language. He visibly stiffens, even sort of freezes at the mention of the name "Wally Hilliard."
Hilliard is one of the murky figures behind 9/11 and the terrorists in Florida. The kind of guy who will loan Televangelist Jerry Falwell one million dollars, and never ask for it back. Hilliard was one of the more connected owners of the Florida flight training centers in Venice Florida. Here, the key so-called "9/11 hijackers" Like Mohamed Atta, did "flight-training."
The truth is that earlier one of Hilliard's planes was discovered by the DEA with 43 pounds of heroin, as reported by the Orlando Sentinel, and yet no one was charged. It looks like the whole thing was part of a protected CIA operation. Sources said Hilliard had a "Green light from the DEA."
The same reporter who scooped that story is someone Jackman and I know personally, Daniel Hopsicker, of the Mad Cow Morning News. Hopsicker found an on-the-record source inside Florida law enforcement, Sgt. Marty Treanor, who reported that the Florida Flight Training Center's records were raided and seized by Governor Jeb Bush, right after 9/11:
The FBI took all our files, everything. They loaded the files right outside this window into two Ryder trucks, then drove them right onto a C-130 military cargo plane at the Sarasota airport, which took off for Washington with Jeb Bush aboard.
According to Sgt. Treanor, Governor Bush personally escorted the flight of these records.
As Mike Jackman demonstrated last week in New Hampshire, Jeb Bush needs to be confronted, personally, to answer that allegation. It's not dismissible, with a simple "no, not true."
Jackman made history, by being the first US citizen empowering himself to break through fear and cultural suppression, finally asking Jeb Bush about whether this in fact happened. Jeb Bush laughs off the question from Jackman, and, sputtering, calls it a "weird email." He rolls his eyes, and shares a mocking grin with his supporters. There's a tone of harsh sarcasm, and a condescending edge in his answer. Jeb says, "No, not true...." and swiftly goes on to take the next question, but then interrupts that next questioner, to pivot back to pontificate at Jackman.
Instead of talking about what he did, on those days after 9/11, Bush goes into blowhard mode, and engages in a little speech about his leadership in Florida, how he aided in the recovery and rebuilding of tourism in the state, after 9/11. It was an irrelevant talking around the question, practically begging for applause from the adoring fans. And of course, that applause was promptly given. When the applause came, Jeb smiles, relaxes his shoulders, and is clearly relieved it's over.
Maybe that's because Sgt. Treanor's quotation effectively says that Jeb committed a major crime: that Jeb participated in an illegal removal of evidence at the crime scene, the Florida Flight Training Center. If that is true, then amid the chaos and the deep grief of 9/11, Bush was deliberately acting to cover up the truth.
Bush is clearly nervous on this subject. He will crack under pressure. He's not a born politician, and as we saw from the first Fox debate, is not really all that great at debating or campaigning. He even makes his brother look like a savvy, charismatic professional, by comparison. And I never thought I would say that about Dubya.
Last Friday, (Aug 14, 2015) in Rachel Maddow's "Tale of the Tape" Jeb Bush way back at age 27 said that running for President is "not something I would like to do for the rest of my life, I get nervous...." There is great footage of Jeb's knees literally knocking with shivers and tremors, stumping for his dad in Puerto Rico.
That nervousness is something we can exploit, in the name of truth. Because documented details about the 9/11 cover-up go back to Florida.
It was in Florida, in August of 2001, that the CIA apprehended and deported an entire phalanx of Israeli spies, who were posing as "art-students." The Mossad spies were tracking the 9/11 terrorists, and when CIA kicked them out, they retaliated by publishing a list of Al Qaeda operatives who were planning an attack in the USA. They named names of the future 19 "hijackers."
It was in Florida that the CIA kicked Mossad away from the "19 hijackers" because the 19 hijackers were a protected operation. People like Wolfgang Bohringer, Mohamed Atta's "CIA drinking buddy" were arrested in a Joint Terrorism Task Force sweep in year 2006, but then quietly released.
It was in Florida where 9/11 whistle-blower Randy Glass languished in jail on 9/11/01, after working as an under-cover agent, infiltrating terrorist-linked arms dealers for the Joint Terrorism Task Force and Florida FBI. He knew of detailed plans to attack the World Trade Center with planes, but he was silenced and imprisoned when his usefulness expired.
It was in Florida that Jeb Bush, back in the 1980's, as a young Dade County GOP Chairman oversaw different parts of the Iran/Contra operation, working closely with his father, the Iran/Contra figure George H. W. Bush, the former CIA director, then Vice President. According to Naval intelligence operative Al Martin, (in his book The Co-Conspirators) Jeb Bush was visibly nervous when confronted over his personal role in the killing of CIA drug-runner Barry Seal.
One good place to go deeper on Barry Seal is this thread on Democratic Underground. But the Barry Seal topic is hardly one that makes Democrats look good: don't forget that 9/11 Commission member Richard Ben-Veniste, an old friend of the Clintons, was the personal attorney for Barry Seal, before Seal was gunned down on the streets of Baton Rouge.
When Iran/Contra insider Al Martin asked Jeb Bush about his role in Seal's murder, this is what transpired:
I think Jeb understood what I meant. It would certainly place him into a conspiracy to assassinate a CIA drug runner for the sake of political expediency. When I was through speaking, Jeb became quiet and his demeanor became serious and changed. He became flushed, as he often does when he's frightened. Jeb responded by telling me that it would be most unfortunate if I were to do that [i.e. go public], since I might wind up like George Morales or Johnny Molina. [lower level drug-running operatives who had recently been liquidated. Source: The Co-Conspirators by Al Martin]
2. The 28 Pages
Also in New Hampshire, on the rocky campaign trail earlier last week, (August 7, 2015) Jeb was confronted with another careful question. A soft-spoken older woman asked Bush to support the declassification of the 28 Pages, the pages that Bush's brother personally censored from the 9/11 Report of the Congressional Joint Inquiry.
The questioner wisely asked this on behalf of "those of us with military deployments and the people that suffered in 9/11."
Bush claimed ignorance of the 28 Pages, which is completely ludicrous. It's evident that he didn't want to talk about it. As pointed out by Brian McGlitchey at 28Pages.org, Bush asked the lady to "please explain it" but then cut her off repeatedly when she tried to!
Bush can not be ignorant of what is being covered-up here, because it's a serious vulnerability for his Presidential aspirations. The Bush Family has long cultivated relationships with the Saudi Royals: going back to Iran/Contra, and various finance and oil-drilling deals. One just has to glance at the incredibly brutal and complex Bank of Credit and Commerce International, the shadowy capital behind Iran/Contra and CIA in the 1980's. The Bush Family and Saudis were connected here, and major BCCI figures funded Dubya's first oil venture, Arbusto Energy.
We really are living in a Matrix, where emotions, patriotic fervor, corporate media slant, CIA shadow state machinations, willing allies in Israeli and Pakistani intelligence, the Bush Family, and Saudi Money, all came together to perpetuate one of the biggest hoaxes of all time. And for 14 years now, the American People have been hearing that there are these weird, blacked-out 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry Report, that only Members of Congress are allowed to view. And those who view them come away visibly shaken, as if they took a "red pill," and now Morpheus has told them that everything they knew was a lie:
“If it (the 28 pages) came out it would be devastating to some Republicans who are thinking about running for president. I think that’s one reason there’s been a drive not release it."
Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas.
With this second confrontation Bush had with the truth, I want you to notice a pattern here. If Bush wanted to win votes, and appear smart and sensitive, he could have said to the dear mother, "This sounds like it's important to you. I will look into it and get back to you."
Instead, just like in the brush-up with Jackman, Bush's body turns away from the questioner, and turns fully to the crowd. With a grin, he says, "Since I don't have classified information, I can't tell you whether it should be declassified." But when that didn't get the laugh, he had to go further. Bush makes a joke about how the surely Chinese will be able to tell us, since they have such access to US classified information. And the crowd roars their approval with laughter, as if to dissipate Bush's clear discomfort around the topic.
It's ludicrous to imagine that Bush could be ignorant of the 28 Pages. Former Florida Senator and Governor Bob Graham has been advocating for their release, since the 28 pages point directly to who funded 9/11, and how the Saudis, and certain other parties, were involved.
3. How-To Confront Bush
In election campaigns previously, I have confronted Eliot Spitzer and Rudy Giuliani, among others, regarding 9/11 cover-ups. I learned a few things, and want to share some skills.
Jackman, and the unnamed woman in New Hampshire, both did a great job. But their examples are only starting points. All activists should take the next step, and consider asking a question, publicly, of Jeb Bush. There is certainly a lot of meat left on the bone.
Here are my tips on how to make a Jeb Bush confrontation thorough, and effective.
A. Have follow-up questions prepared.
Don't just ask one question. Expect him to dodge, in the same way he dodged the two questions above. Start out polite, and respectful, but become steadily more demanding. You are going to have to be assertive, and yet, not lose your cool. Get louder, and yet, don't look too crazy.
In the case of the Mike Jackman situation, a follow-up question could have been, "But as Governor, why did you fail to launch an investigation into how the 9/11 terrorists trained in your home state of Florida? How could you not care?"
It's going to be your moment. It's up to you to control the situation. It will get messy. Be fine with that.
In fact, determine to build it to a climax. Start polite. But you don't want to start polite and stay polite, and end it civilly. This is truth-force, it's non-violence, and non-violence is not passive. Remember Gandhi, beaten with iron rods at the salt march, or Jesus on the cross. That's what non-violence looks like. B. React to What is Happening, in the Moment.
Learn from the examples above, study how Bush reacts to hard questions: He deflects. He grins when he's not comfortable. He is insulting and diminutive. We don't have to accept that. You need to command respect, with your preparedness and planning and manner.
You are there as a representative of the people, and the people have questions. In fact, asking these questions is the most American thing any one of us can do right now.
Do not accept Jeb Bush's laughter at you, or his sarcasm, jokes at your expense, or insults. Calmly interrupt his laughter, raise your hand like a stop sign, or like someone taking an oath, and state, "A lot of Americans suffered and died on 9/11 and we never got the answers, so I would ask you to show us common decency and some respect, Sir."
It helps to meditate beforehand, and calm the mind. This helps to keep you on your toes, and in the moment. Keep breathing, think about the "spirit of truth" in your breath. Be firm, polite, and completely intransigent. Be a mountain of truth. You can't be brushed away.
Take a lesson from the great confrontation of Jeb by Ivy Ziedrich, who confronted Bush about his brother's mis-handing of Iraq. The video went viral and was picked up by CNN and the New York Times. When Bush tried to pat the fiery young college student on her arm, she practically bit his hand, saying, "You don't need to be pedantic to me, Sir." (She probably meant to say "patronizing," since pedantic means scrupulous about details, but hey, maybe I'm being pedantic.) Don't touch the young lady, Jeb, hands off! C. Don't Let Him Play to the Mob
Notice what Jeb did in both examples above, he turned AWAY from the question, and smirked (just like Dubya Bush) to the crowd. But you can call Jeb out on this. You can say, "Sir, I'm right here." Or, "Please can you look at me, and respectfully answer what I asked of you?"
D. Be Willing to Get Arrested
Like Jesus and Gandhi, we aren't willing to sit down when tapped on the shoulder by security. You aren't there to be a sheep. You are there to be the mountain of truth. You are there because you are peace, and we know that another Bush President means another Bush War. So, in the spirit of non-violence, be willing to get arrested. Have no fear. An arrest will help the cause greatly. The fact that activists have such passion that they are being dragged away from Jeb in hand-cuffs? That will play very well on the nightly news, and it won't make Bush look good. It will bring attention to our cause.
And the 28 Pages issue already has a significant amount of mainstream media and government support. (HR14 has 18 co-sponsors inside the US Congress. It is beginning to get serious mainstream media attention.)
E. Be Visual
What if the 28 Pages Movement began to show up at Bush rallies in New Hampshire, dressed up in the head-dresses and robes and sunglasses of Saudi sheikhs, with signs that said "Saudis For Bush?" or...."Saudis for the 9/11 Cover-Up?"
Visuals are great - cameras love them. They become iconic.
In the 1992 race, Bush wouldn't debate Clinton as much as the Clinton team wanted, so the Clinton campaign started sending a guy in a chicken suit to every Bush appearance. That chicken suit guy became symbolic of the Bush campaign falling apart. Not only did it make for great video, but Bush start to kind of lose it around that time, and started talking to the chicken, in the middle of speeches.
Perfect. F. Be Prepared.
When I confronted Eliot Spitzer, about his failure to investigate 9/11, I was shocked at how easy it was. The media were there for his campaign event, but when Spitzer fled the stage, the media actually turned to me, to figure out who I was, and what the issue I had raised was.
In a similar way, when We Are Change Colorado and I confronted Rudy Guiliani, the media were there, looking for a real story. We became that story, and got positive coverage in the Denver Post, Raw Story, etc. The fact that I was in handcuffs talking about the Bill of Rights was an interesting point. G. Work with a Team
In Colorado, we had such a great team effort. We even prayed and meditated together before the event. We dressed up like Republicans, and spread out inside the campaign event. One of us would pop up and ask Rudy about removing evidence at Ground Zero, after 9/11, and that person would be escorted out by police. But then, another one of us would pop up and ask a loud question. It drove Giuliani mad - and he started laughing out-of-controllably. Weird.
Watch Selma. Great film. King had such a great team. That whole struggle wasn't about one man. It was about people uniting around a spirit of truth.
In the comments section below, please add your own advice, and possible questions for Jeb Bush -
Friday, August 7, 2015 An Open Letter to Pope Francis
Dear Friend, I write to you now, happy to imagine you will listen to me, a simple carpenter in New York City, taking a break from working in my shop to steal some time upstairs in my little office, clearing away the sawdust to write a letter to you, in the Holy Spirit of justice. First of all, I am so happy that you are alive. You are a gift to the Church, and to history. The Church has been longing for a leader with a flair for social justice, like a lover pines for a long lost love. Your recent encyclical on the environment was gutsy and great. I know you are coming to New York City today to lead an interfaith service at Ground Zero. There is something I wanted you to know about Ground Zero, and the matter is urgent. In the spirit of inter-faith understanding, turn your fatherly gaze for a moment onto an ugly truth few will look at: an insidious hoax has been perpetrated on the followers of Islam. Our fellow Children of Abraham have been blamed for the 9/11 attacks, and two wars have been waged on Islamic nations, in the name of the War on Terror. Many advocates of social justice don’t have the spiritual skill to see through this thick illusion: that the case for the guilt of the Islamic “terrorists” was never made, never proven, and can no longer be taken seriously by anyone with penetrating insight, common sense, or high school science. There are just too many anomalies. George W. Bush is guilty of murder and fraud, according to leading authors about his Iraq War. I assert that 9/11 was an even greater fraud. It was the product of a heart drained of love. It was the product of a cynicism so frigid, one could almost call it demonic. In the words of Father Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, of the Center for Christian Nonviolence, “According to the laws of physics the three WTC buildings could not have been destroyed, as they were, by a plane flying into two of them.” Steel framed structures have never collapsed before, due to fire. When the 9/11 Commission tried to look into the financial backing of the terrorists, they were stymied, until they finally just gave up. But we don’t have to give up. This financial issue of the source of 9/11 is a gateway to a broader understanding between nations, and a big step away from modern war-mongering. The truth about this issue will destabilize the secrecy and fear that rules so many today. Here’s something we can all do about it, and the time is now. There were 28 pages blacked out and with-held from the public, by George W. Bush, from the Congressional Joint Inquiry’s 9/11 Report. These pages implicate the Saudis, who have worked closely with the CIA, Israel, and the Bush Family, for years. This issue has gained a wide following in the US Senate and Congress, and has enjoyed major media exposure. A part your challenge today, at Ground Zero, is to go beyond the cheap sentimentalization and knee-jerk hate that the 9/11 memory often brings up in New York City. For far too long, people who have asked deeper questions about 9/11 have been silenced, or ridiculed. But we are the people of great hope. We can reclaim the legacy of Jesus, and re-make Christianity, not as a standard-bearer for more war and invasions against oil-rich Muslim nations, but as a springboard into a time of global non-violence. You, my brother Francis, can help us lead into a time of radical Jesus-based non-violence. Now there is legislation in the US Congress (HR14) and the Senate (S1471) and we need your prayers, and your positive pressure on President Obama, and your public support. You will help us release the 28 pages? Please Holy Father. We are so close. What would Jesus do? I love how he said, about the Pharisees, “Don’t fear them, for there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed.” For 14 years, a lot of us in New York have heard the call to make our work for peace and non-violence linked into a deep digging for the truth about 9/11. The 28 Pages will be released, but we need all the prophets, and all the peace-lovers, and we need a Pope, too, to stand with us. In the Love and Peace of Jesus Christ, Sander Hicks Co-Signers, please Co-Sign and Comment, below.
Happy
New Year 2014. I am writing you this with deep intention. My son and I woke up
this New Year’s Day morning, did yoga and zazen. Now he is sitting down to
write at the kitchen table, and I am in my easy chair next to my meditation
space.
This is
the year of Vow To Awaken. Two projects of mine have been up in the air, but I
think, over the course of the last couple of months, that there is a way to
focus them, to make them effective, and socially beneficial, by uniting them
both under the banner of Vow To Awaken.
It’s
just a phrase. It’s a little bit out there. It’s a little bit too spiritual for
non-spiritual people. It’s empty now, but it’s open and can be filled with
energy. It is a powerful name. It has become special to me. It’s an imperative.
It’s a suggestion, and a subject. It’s
spiritual, sure, if you want to call it that. It’s also universal. It is
designed for the sleeping, to rouse them. Earlier, in the debate with White
Collar Crime, my band, about how we were going to change our name together, I
suggested “A Word That Will Rouse Them” from the quote from the Book of Isaiah.
“I have been given a well-trained tongue, that I may speak to the weary, a word
that will rouse them.”
My zen
practice has been transformative over the course of the last two and a half
years. It helps me to clarify what is essential. My life overall can seem like
an asteroid burning through the friction of the Earth’s atmosphere, crashing in
flames through the air. I do things all the way, and my way is a way of too
much. So I had to get sober, stop smoking herb, drinking Dogfish, although I
loved those things, and couldn’t imagine giving them up on my own. But I found
a universal spiritual practice called the Program, and the love of God flashes
on me every day I open up to it, in the words and eyes of other people. I was
given a path, a word, a chance to wake up. And so I woke up. Or began to.
With
Nick and Elysia, I have been talking about starting a new newspaper here in
NYC. The tentative name has been “The New York Transformer” but it’s a name
that has always been a kind of a placeholder for me, good but not great. The
ambitions of this paper are bigger than New York. To speak the truth in a time
of universal deceit, to bring spirituality to the struggle against deception,
to dig out a vision of deep politics, to confront the demonic forces of abuse,
to tell the stories that unite us. Vow
To Awaken. Why not make the name of the paper that name, and unite the band and
newspaper and other projects under one name, making them a new form of social
movement? They will feed each other this way, and both become stronger for
their association with each other.
A big
part of the reason the band had to have a positive, strident name, was that I want
a name that will last. Other band names that we debated were too negative. Coy,
ironic and clever, but we have all had an overdose of those things in this
world.
I am
about to help Steve Olson Crazy Monk start his music company, and contribute to
it as an artist as well. I have already helped Lo Nathamundi start his
Kaleidoscope Community Yoga corporation, and our weekly phone meetings have
gone very well, this Fall. I was right. What I saw on tour in May was right: I
CAN actually spark people off, turn them into fellow asteroids, comets of fire.
A lot of people are just waiting for the push: start your company, do your
mission. Capital Cooperative Corporation is my baby, my construction and
contracting company, and it’s doing so much more. It’s an incubator for
spiritual, world-changing companies. Vow To Awaken. 2013 was just our entrance
into the world stage.
I am
planning a two week conference at the Dai Bosatsu Zendo, in the Catskill
Mountains, for all people of peace, truth, and Awakening. October 3-12 are our
tentative dates. Save those dates!
In 2014,
I want to help Lo from Kaleidoscope do a small East Coast tour in the Spring.
I want
us all to tour again, as The Truth Party, this Summer. What was The Truth
Party? Well, in May 2013, it was just me, Crazy Monk, and Lo Nathamundi out on
the road, in an old Dodge van, doing our thing. Speaking, rapping, doing yoga
with people. And it worked. And it’s going to be bigger and better in 2014.
No one
summed up that experience better than a certain young spiritual chocolate maker
in sacred Portlandia. Lesley Beth wrote that her favorite memory of The Truth
Party was:
“The time a small group of us held hands and took an oath that
we would NEVER take some mediocre job we hate….
This is what the Truth Party was about to me. It's that
accountability, that pact, that on the verge of each new moment we are beaming
with trust, wisdom, and courage. In the spirit of Truth, I pray that each of us
continues to find purpose in every moment and action no matter how seemingly
mundane, and that we continue to breath in and out that spark of inspiration as
it echoes into the grand macrocosm, interlinking us all, like a playful pose of
Kaleidoscope yoga!”
