Flyby News Home - Flyby News Archives - Casinni NoFlyby - Flyby Links

Flyby  News

"News Fit to Transmit in the Post Cassini Flyby Era"




US Withdraw * SOA * RFK * Feingold 2008


07 June 2006

"The Democrats were in the majority in the U.S. Senate when we voted
for the Iraq war and passed the U.S. Patriot Act. It's not enough
to be in the majority, you have to stand for something."

-- Russ Feingold

03 June 2006
NH Democrat Party Convention
Saint Anselm College, Manchester

1) "Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal”
- - Let's Stay in Iraq Until it's Peaceful or We're Sane
- - Was the 2004 Election Stolen? - RFK, Jr.
- - Stand Up for Democracy With Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
- - Close the School of the Americas
- - Documents Shed Light on CIA's Use of Ex-Nazis
2) Politics for Regime Change in the USA
- - State Democrats hear from potential 2008 candidates
- - Letter handed to Senator Feingold by Jonathan Mark
- - Some Inconvenient Truths About Al Gore
3) NY Times and 9/11 Truth Conference, Zogby Poll


Editor's Notes:

Item one begins with another excellent David Swanson article; he reviews "Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal" by Anthony Arnove. Following are links for actions you can take to support Senator Russ Feingold's efforts for making 2006 the year for bringing US troops home from Iraq. Also, in this item note the article by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the vote fraud in the 2004 US Presidential Election. Also note on action to take ASAP to stop the US funding of a “School of Assassins.” A big vote in Congress is happening this week!

Item two covers the NH Democrat Party Convention and election 2008 taking shape. The first two pages of FN's Campaigns for reclaiming a lost USA democracy offer a perspective on past and current actions, and why we are supporting a coalition behind Russ Feingold for US President. Also, this item contains an important article by Stephen Marshall, using an excerpt from his forthcoming book, “Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing” that includes a conversation with Gore Vidal about some 'inconvenient truths' about cousin, Al Gore.

Item 3 is more on the Zogby poll and 9/11 international truth conference, which was held in Chicago last weekend.



"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government
owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.
To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance
between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task
of the statesmanship of the day."


Theodore Roosevelt

(April 19, 1906)



1) "Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal”

- - Let's Stay in Iraq Until it's Peaceful or We're Sane
- - Was the 2004 Election Stolen? - RFK, Jr.
- - Stand Up for Democracy With Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
- - Close the School of the Americas
- - Documents Shed Light on CIA's Use of Ex-Nazis

Let's Stay in Iraq Until it's Peaceful or We're Sane,
Whichever Comes First

By David Swanson

Have you ever heard someone try to argue that the Iraq War was a mistake but that now the proper course is to continue the mistake a bit longer or to carefully end it in a long and complicated way that could take months or years? Have you ever wondered how such a position, if examined in detail, could possibly make any sense?

Wonder no more. Such a position, in various forms, actually makes no sense. In fact, such a position requires a stunning degree of illogic.

There's an important book at endthewartour.org called "Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal" by Anthony Arnove. The book has a Foreword and an Afterword by Howard Zinn, who in 1967 published "Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal." Arnove's book is important because it refutes all the major claims against immediate withdrawal.

Arnove begins with some historical background, and then lays out an overwhelming case for the following points. I'll list them here, but you'll need to read the book (it's only 100 pages) for the arguments:

1. The U.S. military has no right to be in Iraq in the first place. It turns out the Iraq war was not a mistake at all, and so the mistake cannot be continued even for an hour. The Iraq War was and is a crime.

2. The United States is not bringing democracy to Iraq. Spreading democracy had nothing to do with why this war was launched or why it is being continued. As Arnove writes, "The U.S. government opposes genuine democracy in the Middle East for a simple reason: if ordinary people controlled the region's energy resources, they might be put toward local economic development and social needs, rather than going to fuel the profits of Western oil companies." Does that sound outrageous or paranoid or "anti-American"? Read the historical context that Arnove provides, or check the evidence at www.afterdowningstreet.org , and then explain to me how you can see it any other way.

3. The United States is not making the world a safer place by occupying Iraq. In fact, this war has made the world much less safe. We've set a precedent for other nations to attack each other. We've driven other nations to invest in weaponry to try to hold off a U.S. attack. We've heightened anti-U.S. sentiment and significantly increased the incidents of terrorism each year.

4. The United States is not preventing civil war in Iraq. This is the same myth the British spread in 1920, when they didn't want to stop occupying Iraq. Our occupation, and the constitution we've imposed on Iraq, deliberately pit ethnic groups against each other in an effort to direct violence away from the occupiers. Still, the bulk of the violence is directed at the occupying army and its collaborators. And it is getting worse, not better.

5. The United States is not confronting terrorism by staying in Iraq. Al Qaeda arrived in Iraq AFTER the invasion.

6. The United States is not honoring those who died by continuing the conflict. That thinking is a recipe for compounding the tragedy without end.

7. The United States is not rebuilding Iraq. Halliburton and Bechtel are looting, not repairing. It is a racist and imperialist frame of mind that allows us to imagine that Iraqis could not best rebuild their own country. We owe them financial support in that effort. At present we are draining their resources, not adding to them.

8. The United States is not fulfilling its obligation to the Iraqi people for the harm and suffering it has caused. We are making things ever worse for the Iraqi people. Our first obligation is to stop harming them. We should then pay reparations.

Arnove does not make his case for immediate withdrawal contingent on persuading the United Nations or any other group to take over. He argues, and argues well, that the Iraqis themselves can best handle the rebuilding – assuming we liberate them from our liberation:

"In demanding an end to the U.S. occupation, we do not need to call for some other occupying power to replace the United States. The United Nations, the most likely candidate in such a scenario, has shown through the years of the sanctions it imposed, the buildup to the war, and its endorsement of the U.S. occupation that it is not able or willing to confront U.S. power… Any outside power will not be accountable to the people of Iraq. And the United States is hardly alone in bearing responsibility for the suffering of the Iraqis. The United Nations is deeply implicated. The Arab League countries did nothing to protect the people of Iraq. Indeed, a number of its member states provided support for the invasions of Iraq in 1991 and 2003 while seeking to profit from the war and from the sanctions. Many countries besides the United States also supported Saddam Hussein, armed him, and protected him."

Recognizing that being right is not always enough, Arnove offers advice to the anti-war movement based on what worked during Vietnam. Among other ideas, he suggests making civil disobedience part of mass demonstrations rather than smaller efforts the next day (as was done in DC last September).

Arnove also points to electoral politics and suggests that we will never end the war as long as we support pro-war candidates. "The U.S. left made a terrible mistake," Arnove writes, "in supporting the presidential campaign of John Kerry, giving up its independence and political principles to support a prowar candidate. Kerry called for sending more troops to Iraq, insisting that 'it would be unthinkable now for us to retreat in disarray and leave behind a society deep in strife and dominated by radicals.' Kerry also asserted that he would still have voted to authorize President Bush to invade Iraq even if he knew [as of course he DID] Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction, a position that he only clearly retracted after losing [that is, coming close enough to have it stolen] the election."

Arnove believes, and I agree, that we will not turn the anti-war movement into a powerful enough force to end the war unless we oppose the war for the right reasons, the reasons that compel us to demand immediate withdrawal and to sacrifice until we've achieved it:

"Some liberals have staked their opposition to the war in Iraq on the idea that Iraq is a 'distraction.' The problem with this line of argument is that it accepts that Bush is now waging an otherwise legitimate war…. The stronger the consciously anti-imperialist current in the anti-war movement, the stronger the movement to end the war will be, and the greater the chance we will have to bring about the fundamental change needed to stop future wars."

Get Arnove's book here http://www.endthewartour.org It would make a great Father's Day gift!

www.afterdowningstreet.org/arnove

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It's time for America to get out of Iraq.

The troops who are there agree, the American public agrees, and a growing number of Congressmembers (including veterans) agree. There's a piece of legislation on Capitol Hill right now which could bring us close to ending this nightmare -- but we need to push every Senator in Congress to get with the program.

The amendment, introduced by Sen. Russ Feingold, says that Congress will only hand over the latest $68 billion that President Bush wants for the Iraq War if his administration gets the troops out of the quaqmire by Dec. 31st, 2006. It would support the troops, but not the unending war.

Use the True Majority form at this following URL to support Russ Feingold and the USA – bring to bring our troops home from Iraq.

http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/livingwithwar/
and call via congressional switchboard - 202-224-3121

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

- - Was the 2004 Election Stolen? - RFK, Jr.
Published on June 1, 2006 by Rolling Stone magazine
Was the 2004 Election Stolen?
Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio
from casting ballots or having their votes counted –
enough to have put John Kerry in the White House.
by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Like many Americans, I spent the evening of the 2004 election watching the returns on television and wondering how the exit polls, which predicted an overwhelming victory for John Kerry, had gotten it so wrong. By midnight, the official tallies showed a decisive lead for George Bush -- and the next day, lacking enough legal evidence to contest the results, Kerry conceded. Republicans derided anyone who expressed doubts about Bush's victory as nut cases in ''tinfoil hats,'' while the national media, with few exceptions, did little to question the validity of the election. The Washington Post immediately dismissed allegations of fraud as ''conspiracy theories,''(1) and The New York Times declared that ''there is no evidence of vote theft or errors on a large scale.''(2)

But despite the media blackout, indications continued to emerge that something deeply troubling had taken place in 2004. Nearly half of the 6 million American voters living abroad(3) never received their ballots -- or received them too late to vote(4) -- after the Pentagon unaccountably shut down a state-of-the-art Web site used to file overseas registrations.(5) A consulting firm called Sproul & Associates, which was hired by the Republican National Committee to register voters in six battleground states,(6) was discovered shredding Democratic registrations.(7) In New Mexico, which was decided by 5,988 votes,(8) malfunctioning machines mysteriously failed to properly register a presidential vote on more than 20,000 ballots.(9) Nationwide, according to the federal commission charged with implementing election reforms, as many as 1 million ballots were spoiled by faulty voting equipment -- roughly one for every 100 cast.(10)

The reports were especially disturbing in Ohio, the critical battleground state that clinched Bush's victory in the electoral college. Officials there purged tens of thousands of eligible voters from the rolls, neglected to process registration cards generated by Democratic voter drives, shortchanged Democratic precincts when they allocated voting machines and illegally derailed a recount that could have given Kerry the presidency. A precinct in an evangelical church in Miami County recorded an impossibly high turnout of ninety-eight percent, while a polling place in inner-city Cleveland recorded an equally impossible turnout of only seven percent. In Warren County, GOP election officials even invented a nonexistent terrorist threat to bar the media from monitoring the official vote count.(11)

Truncated, for the entire article, see:
www.commondreams.org/views06/0601-34.htm

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

- - Stand Up for Democracy With Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Published on June 4, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
Stand Up for Democracy With Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
by Thom Hartmann

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has written a brilliant new article about the biggest political story in the history of the United States: An American politician illegitimately took the office of president by outright theft and fraud. Although such high crimes and misdemeanors have been rumored in previous elections, none in the history of the republic have been so thoroughly documented. George W. Bush is not the legitimate president of the United States.

For the complete article, see:
www.commondreams.org/views06/0604-20.htm

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

- - Close the School of the Americas

Over its 59 years, the SOA/WHINSEC has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people.

At last, Congress will soon vote on an amendment to shut down this infamous school of torture, but it's expected to be close. I thought you might be interested in this TrueMajority e-activism campaign to close the School of the Americas. If you go to the URL below you can check out what is at stake and send your own message directly to the relevant decision makers.

Take action on this action alert from TrueMajority at
http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/schoolamericas?rk=F1APfB91hXf5W
and Call via congressional switchboard - 202-224-3121

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

- - Documents Shed Light on CIA's Use of Ex-Nazis
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060606R.shtml



2) Politics for Regime Change in the USA

- - State Democrats hear from potential 2008 candidates
- - Letter handed to Senator Feingold by Jonathan Mark
- - Some Inconvenient Truths About Al Gore

- - State Democrats hear from potential 2008 candidates
By Holly Ramer, Associated Press Writer | June 3, 2006

MANCHESTER, N.H. --Despite Republican scandals, Democrats will not win back majorities in Congress by default, U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold told New Hampshire Democrats on Saturday.

Speaking at the state party's annual convention, Feingold, D-Wisconsin, rejected the idea that Democrats should just lay low and let Republicans self-destruct.

"Some say 'we've got it made ... let's not rock the boat,'" he said, "but I believe that's exactly how we lost in 2002 and 2004. We won't win by default. We won't win by just running out the clock. We'll only win if we show we are willing to discuss tough subjects or else we will be perceived as weak and full of fear."

Regaining the majority will be meaningless unless Democrats develop the backbone necessary to stand up for their principles, said Feingold, considered a possible 2008 presidential hopeful.

"The Democrats were in the majority in the U.S. Senate when we voted for the Iraq war and passed the U.S. Patriot Act," he said. "It's not enough to be in the majority, you have to stand for something."

Feingold said wherever he goes, conservatives, liberals and moderates all ask him the same question. "When are you guys going to start standing up?"

To emphasize his point, Feingold listed all the things he's voted against, including the Iraq war, the Patriot Act, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the No Child Left Behind Act.

When it comes to Iraq, Feingold said there's some truth to the perception that Democrats "won't stand up when the administration starts its saber rattling."

Feingold, who has called for removing U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year, said many Democrats started to back him up but eventually "went back into their fox hole."
"Why are so many Democrats so timid about saying what everyone in American knows -- it's time to get the troops out of Iraq," he said.

Another potential presidential hopeful, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, put his own spin on the "stand up" theme, telling the crowd that his biggest problem with the Bush administration is that "this president has never asked us to come together as Americans to stand up."

He said Bush has missed numerous opportunities to ask Americans to put aside their differences and work together, including the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq.

"After our troops were in harm's way, if the president had said, 'Maybe we ought to have an energy policy that's a little different,' I would've done my part, you would've done your part. Americans would have done their part. But the president missed his opportunity," Warner said.

He cautioned against removing troops from Iraq too quickly, saying "going out without a plan is just as bad as going in without a plan." The only way Iraq's new government will succeed is if Americans bring Iraq's neighbors to the table to help bring stability to the region, he said.

The crowd reacted most enthusiastically to Warner's criticism of the Bush administration's energy policy. He noted that the United States spends less than $2 billion a year on research into renewable energy, compared to $7 billion a month in Iraq and that Bush has failed to connect the dots between energy policy and national security, and between renewable energy and creating jobs.

"That would require an administration that believes in science," he said.
© Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2006/06/03/state_democrats_hear_from_wisconsin_sen_russ_feingold/

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

- - Letter handed to Senator Feingold by Jonathan Mark

To: Senator Russ Feingold
NH Democratic Party – June 3, 2006
Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH

Re: Ideas and support for 2008 Elections

[EXCERPT]

Dear Senator Feingold:

..Flyby News came from my involvement in exposing the high risk NASA Cassini Earth flyby in 1999, which contained 72.3lbs of highly radioactive plutonium on board (while traveling at more than 10 miles per second for a sling-shot, gravity assist maneuver to accelerate towards Saturn after two flybys of Venus). The author of The Wrong Stuff: The US Space Program’s Nuclear Threat To Our Planet, Karl Grossman, revealed that this civilian exploratory space mission had the hand-mark of the Department of Defense with plans to use control of outer space for world domination. This was why, after the election-Supreme Court-coup of 2000, the termination of the ABM Treaty, the events of 9/11/01 and its cover-up, we joined efforts with Dennis Kucinich for the 2004 Primaries to take back the White House with a commitment to serve in the principles of the US Constitution.

Please, especially read the enclosure, “Campaigns for reclaiming a lost USA democracy.” In it you will find more background and of the path that leads Flyby News to support your running in 2008. I have learned much from the Kucinich campaign, and believe you can win hands down by a large margin due to your record in representing the majority’s interests in voting NO against the authorization of the Bush-War Resolution, your commitment for civil liberties, universal health care, energy independence and the environment. You may be interested in checking my Company that has designed a prototype engine to convert waste-heat for on-site commercial-industrial electrical power generation. The company’s name is ReGen Powers, Systems, Ltd. – www.rgpsystems.com. This invention could significantly help lower emissions, and benefit the economics of many industries, while conserving our natural resources.

I will also enclose DVDs of films regarding 9/11 and our Constitution in crisis. Please note the flyers on public forums. I hope to be a supporter, consultant, and volunteer for your campaign to win in the first primary state, NH. This way the media will be forced to cover your campaign, which includes policies in the best interest for the vast majority of US citizens, and for world peace.

In business an investor will sometimes take out “key man insurance” to protect investment in the event of something incapacitating a key person critical for a project. I suggest that you, too, consider taking out such a policy, but not for financial compensation, but for the survival of your platform and efforts to unite citizens of the USA in reclaiming our lost democracy. You can accomplish this by making a living will in the form of DVD video tapes of your succession plan, which should be distributed widely to those you trust, and to be released, if necessary. If Senator Wellstone had such a video, the Senate would have remained under the Democratic Party’s leadership. Even leaking evidence of such a plan would do well for preventing, discouraging foul play.

Next, I would suggest in NH, especially, appealing to those of all Parties, voters and nonvoters, in time to convert them to register to vote in the Democratic Party Primaries. Uniting with a grassroots movement would do wonders for such a campaign, and lead to a wide margin victory. It will take many of your visits to the Granite State, but the key is to convince the voters that you can be trusted, and for you to have trustworthy and qualified campaign staff. I encourage you to make a big point of your status as the first NO Voter for the Iraq War interested in running in 2008 – and to request or challenge all other Democratic Party peace-politicians to unite with your campaign to rise above the chatter of those politicians with a blemished record that has led to such catastrophic moments..

Your platform should also include a call for independent investigations on what happened on 9/11; why was evidence destroyed at the scene of a crime? Please watch the enclosed films on this subject. This September 11 is the fifth anniversary. I would use that time to ask some very critical questions. This way you can gain trust with the majority of Americans who agree that investigations are required for truth and justice to prevail. I will enclose some recent issues of Flyby News on this and other subjects. Please use our resources, and my offer to support your campaign. If we meet again I would welcome sharing other important information that may be relevant to you campaign.

Thank you for your service as US Senator and consideration in running for President of the United States. I hope you can withstand the pressures and corruption of this current administration, and a shadow government, especially since the development of the atomic bomb. We must put such intelligence, the genie, back into the bottle for human integrity to regain a balance with life, nature, and creation.

Best regards,

Jonathan Mark
Flyby News
P.O. Box 1999
Wendell Depot, MA 01380
Email info@flybynews.com
Email flyby@mtdata.com
Web Site - FlybyNews.com

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Enclosures included the first two pages of
Campaigns for reclaiming a lost USA democracy
[which was also distributed to many attending the Convention.]

Plus these DVDs

* LOOSE CHANGE 2nd Edition with Federal Reserve addendum
* Professor Steven Jones of BYU lecture on explosives in the towers.
* "Confronting the Evidence: A Call to Reopen the 9/11 Investigation."
* “9/11 and the American Empire” (with David Ray Griffin), plus
* "Truth and Politics: Unanswered Questions About 911"
* “What I've Learned About US Foreign Policy: The War Against the Third World”
* “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”

Plus, recent issues of FN, flyers of events with Films that Make a Difference!

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

- - Some Inconvenient Truths About Al Gore
By Stephen Marshall
Published by the Guerrilla News Network
25 May 2006

The inside track on "Cousin Albert"

[GNN] Editor’s note: With the release of his global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore has reemerged as one of the Democratic Party’s most high-profile stars. Despite his repeated statements that he is a “recovering politician” and is not interested in running for office, many believe Gore will throw his hat into the presidential ring come 2008. But despite his many years in high elected office, what do we really know about Gore’s politics?

In this exclusive excerpt from his forthcoming book Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing (Disinfo, Jan. 2007), GNN’s Stephen Marshall talks with Gore Vidal about some inconvenient truths about his relative:

While his “cousin Albert” has effortlessly inhabited the vestments of a liberal politician, to hear Gore Vidal tell it, the former Vice President’s liberalism is merely a prop developed to bring him to the head of the Democratic Party.

“Well, although we are cousins, and I was a friend of his father’s, I’ve always thought he was absolutely pointless as a politician. He’s just another conservative southerner.”

In fact, Al Gore’s voting record as a senator was surprisingly conservative until he rolled his eye toward the White House. Throughout most of his career, he was pro-life and had an 84% anti-abortion rating from the National Right to Life Committee. From 1979 – 81, he voted five times on the side of a Republican sponsored rider that granted a tax exemption for schools like Bob Jones University that discriminate on the basis of race. He was openly anti-gay, calling homosexuality “abnormal” and “wrong,” and telling the Tennessean in 1984 that he did “not believe it is simply an acceptable alternative that society should affirm.” Gore was such a strong supporter of the gun lobby – ultimately voting against the critical 1985 legislation for a mandatory 14-day waiting period for handgun purchases – that National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre once said, “We could have made Al Gore NRA Man of the Year – every single vote.”

Finally, when it came time to vote on conservative Supreme Court nominees, Gore publicly praised but voted against the scandal-ridden Clarence Thomas. He voted in Antonin Scalia. If the wider public had been more aware of his legacy, few would have recognized the Al Gore of 1988 who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Pulling his hat down so that his eyes are shadowed from the sun, Vidal continues his effortless assault on Al Gore: “Another border-state, southern lover of the Pentagon…there was never anything the Pentagon asked for that Cousin Albert wasn’t down there giving it to them; he voted for the first war in the Gulf.”

Indeed, Al Gore was one of only ten Democrats to break with the party and vote for President Bush Sr.’s Gulf War in 1991. But while Vidal sees this as a facet of Gore’s eager-to-please statism, others have attributed his dissenting vote to self-interest. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson accused Gore of peddling his vote on the Iraq War in exchange for high-visibility, headline-grabbing speech time on the floor. According to Simpson, the night before the vote Gore stopped by the GOP cloakroom and asked, “How much time will you give me if I support the President?”

Taking him at his word, Simpson and Senator Bob Dole offered Gore twenty minutes, thirteen more than his own party would grant. In Simpson’s account, over the course of the night Gore jockeyed to have the floor during prime time to ensure that he would get coverage in the next day’s news cycle. The negotiations went right up to the last minute, leaving Simpson to conclude that Gore “arrived on the Senate floor with… two speeches in hand. [He] was still waiting to see
which side – Republicans or Democrats – would offer him the most and the best speaking time.”

For Vidal, stories like this just prove the moral bankruptcy of American politicians who serve no master other than their own ambition. And their corporate backers. In Gore’s case, this meant Russian-born oil tycoon Armand Hammer, owner of Occidental Petroleum.

Though it was Gore’s father, Senator Al Gore Sr. who was the primary beneficiary of Hammer’s support – in exchange for political and diplomatic favors to further his international business interests – Gore Jr. slipped quietly into his father’s shoes.

Occidental is one of the worst corporate polluters in the world. In its most scandalous case, an Occidental subsidiary dumped thousands of tons of toxic chemical waste near the residential area of Love Canal, New York, causing birth defects, miscarriages, and incidences of cancer in the nearby community. But Gore remained a friend of the company. And the company, a good friend to Al Gore.

Despite being a predominantly Republican supporter, Occidental funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to the Clinton/Gore Democrats over the course of their two-term administration. In return, Gore maneuvered to facilitate Occidental’s acquisition of oil drilling rights in the Elk Hills National Petroleum Reserve outside Bakersfield, California. Long held as a federal oil resource, Elk Hills represented the largest turnover of public lands to a private corporation in American history. It tripled Occidental’s U.S. petroleum reserves, increasing the company’s stock value by ten percent. Gore later admitted to controlling between $250,000 – $500,000 worth of shares through a family held trust.

Gore’s vaunted record as an environmental populist clashed harshly with the 1996 Elk Hills-Occidental deal. Democratic fund-raiser (and former Gore campaign manager) Tony Cohelo sat on the board of the private company hired to provide an environmental impact report for the Energy Department. After the deal was approved, Peter Eisner of the DC-based Center for Public Integrity remarked, “I can’t say that I’ve ever seen an environmental assessment prepared so quickly.”

Perhaps even more damning, Elk Hills is part of the Kitanemuk people’s traditional lands. Despite protests from the tribe, it took less than five years for Occidental’s massive operations to wipe out any trace of the 100 native archaeological sites, including ancient burial grounds, that were left in Elk Hills.

Throughout Al Gore’s campaign for the 2000 Democratic presidential candidacy, environmentalists protested his relationship to Occidental. This time the issue was Gore’s defense of the company’s plan to drill near the sacred grounds of the Colombian U’wa tribes people. During Clinton’s second term, Occidental spent millions lobbying for American military aide to Colombia in order to bolster the country’s ability to defend its pipelines from rebel armies. The close links between the company and national security forces surfaced when U’wa leaders sued Occidental, claiming the Colombian army used the company’s planes in an operation that ultimately resulted in the murder of 18 innocent peasants. As a measure of last resort, the 5,000 remaining U’wa threatened collective suicide if Occidental refused to alter their drilling plans. And, in February 2000, when U’wa representative Robert Perez traveled to Washington in order to make his people’s case against the company, Gore refused to meet him. In 2002, after a protracted public battle over the U’wa drill site, Occidental pulled out, saying that U’wa protests had “no effect at all” on Occidental’s withdrawal decision. Apparently, neither did Al Gore.

But, for Vidal, the act that most proves Gore’s contempt for representative politics was his total acquiescence in the face of the contested 2000 presidential election result in Florida. The image of Gore presiding over the certification of Bush’s victory was a moving, if tragic, scene in Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. There he stood, banging his gavel as each successive member of the Congressional Black Caucus rose to challenge the assignment of Florida’s 25 electoral votes to Bush. “There was a hell of a lot of people ready to march,” Vidal says defiantly. But Al Gore wasn’t one of them.

“He is of above average intelligence, on issues that people didn’t really care about, like the environment. But if there’s a hot issue, he runs the mile,” Vidal concludes firmly and then, looking up at the clouds that have moved over the sun, rises.

GNN co-founder Stephen Marshall is the director of BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire’s Edge, and This Revolution, a political thriller starring Rosario Dawson, and the co-author of True Lies (Penguin/Plume). He is currently shooting a new documentary entitled Holy Wars and finishing a new book entitled Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, due out in January 2007.

For the original posting of this article, see:
Some Inconvenient Truths About Al Gore



3) NY Times and 9/11 Truth Conference, Zogby Poll


From the editor at 911truth.org

“The Chicago "9/11: Revealing the Truth, Reclaiming our Future" truly was a historic gathering as you yourself shall see as we post our reports and the video record here in the coming weeks. In the meantime allow us to share another bit of history, the New York Times' first recognition of our existence, which has been the most popular story on AOL News all day. Yes, there are the expected hits and snickers, but Feuer had to get it through his editors and to his credit he inserts enough meat and salient points to make our case quite clear, clear enough in fact to already draw attacks from the rightist blogworld.”


500 Conspiracy Buffs Meet to Seek the Truth of 9/11
Published by the New York Times – June 5, 1006
By ALAN FEUER
CHICAGO, June 4
www.nytimes.com/2006/06/05/us/05conspiracy.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
or
www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20060606003353313

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

- - Zogby Poll:
Over 70 Million American Adults Support New 9/11 Investigation


The poll is the first scientific survey of Americans' belief in a 9/11 cover up or the need to investigate possible US government complicity, and was commissioned to inform deliberations at the June 2~4 "9/11: Revealing the Truth, Reclaiming Our Future" conference in Chicago. Poll results indicate 42% believe there has indeed been a cover up (with 10% unsure) and 45% think "Congress or an International Tribunal should re-investigate the attacks, including whether any US government officials consciously allowed or helped facilitate their success" (with 8% unsure).

For the complete press release, see:
www.prweb.com/releases/2006/5/prweb388743.htm

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -
Suggestion - To find other folks to discuss
9/11 or other topics, go to MeetUp.com
and search for "9/11 questions"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -

For more from a flyby perspective, see:

The Bush Conspiracy and 9/11 Investigative Reports,
looking into the unanswered questions.



Translate this Page!


The views expressed herein are the writers' own and not necessarily those of Flyby News.
A "Fair Use Policy" that describes FNs' use of copyrighted material is posted at FlybyNews.com.
Your feedback for story suggestions and networking Flyby News are welcomed and appreciated.
You can write to the publisher/editor Jonathan Mark via email: info@flybynews.com
If you would like to receive more Flyby News alerts for the New England
region, send an email to flyby@mtdata.com & insert "subscribe" in subject


Flyby News is educational and nonviolent in focus, and has supported critical campaigns
for a healthy environment, human rights, justice, peace, and nonviolence,
since the launching of NASA's Cassini space probe in 1997.

=====News Fit to Transmit in the Post Cassini Flyby Era====>

= = = = = = www.FlybyNews.com = = = = =




Email address: