Obit.: Keyboardist Merl Sauders was Booked on Flight 93, but Rescheduled to Watch a Football Game

Star keyboardist Merl Saunders dies
www.sfgate.com
Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic
October 25, 2008

(10-24) 16:44 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Keyboardist Merl Saunders, the gentle lion of the San Francisco music scene best known as co-captain of guitarist Jerry Garcia's solo excursions outside the Grateful Dead, died Friday at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center after fighting infections.

The 74-year-old musician suffered a debilitating stroke 6 1/2 years ago and, although he lost the ability to speak, he made numerous sentimental guest appearances at shows over those years playing with one hand.

"I never met anybody so happy who had a stroke," said Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. "In the end, the only thing that lit him up was the music. Sometimes he'd cry, but I've never seen anybody so happy in the realm of music."

The native San Franciscan attended Polytechnic High School with singer Johnny Mathis.

After serving in the Army from 1953 to 1957, he played jazz organ on the same circuit as Jimmy Smith and Brother Jack McDuff. He worked as musical director of the Billy Williams Revue and served in a similar capacity in Oscar Brown Jr.'s off-Broadway show "Big Time Buck White." He backed up Dinah Washington and jammed with Miles Davis. Mr. Saunders, who was rarely seen in public without his trademark aviator shades and black leather fisherman's cap, started playing with Garcia in 1971 at a small Fillmore Street nightclub called the Matrix, where the Grateful Dead guitarist liked to hold informal jam sessions on Dead nights off. Within months, the loose-knit band was playing to packed houses at small local clubs like the Keystone Korner in North Beach every weekend the Dead wasn't working. Members sometimes included former Creedence Clearwater rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty and former Journey rhythm guitarist George Tickner.

The Saunders-Garcia Band, as the group came to be called, backed Mr. Saunders on his 1971 solo album, "Heavy Turbulence," and recorded two albums for Berkeley's Fantasy Records.

"Merl was an ensemble guy, a groupist," said Hart, who played with Mr. Saunders in his early '80s solo group, High Noon. "He brought those sensibilities to the Garcia band. He let Jerry have his flights of fancy."

Mr. Saunders told The Chronicle in 1972 that playing with Garcia offered them both an opportunity to experiment and explore different forms of music. "We do it just for fun," he said.

With the addition of saxophonist Martin Fierro in 1974, the group transformed into the Legion of Mary and disbanded the following year. Mr. Saunders also played in Reconstruction with Garcia in 1979 and 1980. Garcia appeared on Mr. Saunders' 1990 solo album and video, "Blues From the Rainforest," a surprise hit on the New Age music charts.

After Garcia fell into a diabetic coma in 1986 and lost some of his basic motor skills, Mr. Saunders spent hours daily with the stricken guitarist running scales, working him out on jazz standards such as "My Funny Valentine."

Mr. Saunders' music appeared on such soundtracks as "Fritz the Cat" and "Steelyard Blues." He worked on the TV series "Nash Bridges" and, as musical director of the 1985 TV series "The New Twilight Zone," inveigled the Grateful Dead into a new recording of the classic theme song.

He recorded numerous albums, toured constantly and earned a welcome spot in the post-Dead jam band scene. Mr. Saunders headlined the Haight Street Music Fair for 24 consecutive years.

After his stroke, Mr. Saunders' musician son, Tony Saunders, completed his final solo album, "Still Groovin'." The album featured duets with Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples. Huey Lewis stepped up with a lead vocal after Mr. Saunders was disabled.

In his first public appearance following the stroke, Mr. Saunders attended the September 2004 CD release party at the Great American Music Hall, and played a handful of notes on the keyboard.

Mr. Saunders cheated death twice before. He was booked to return to San Francisco on United Flight 93 out of Newark, N.J., on Sept. 11, 2001, but decided to take an earlier flight so he could get home in time to watch the 49ers on Monday Night Football. In 2002, he underwent surgery for cancer, only weeks before his stroke.

He is survived by his longtime companion, Deborah Hall; his sons, Tony of Martinez and Merl Saunders Jr. of Novato; daughter Susan Mora of Oakland; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at First AME Zion Church, 2159 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/25/BAGK13NQGB.DTL

Shake-Up at Scholars for 9-11 Truth & Justice Over Draft Bill Sent to Eight House Members

www.prweb.com
Press Release for October 25, 2008

On October 18, 2008, an OpEdNews article titled, "8 House Members View Draft Bill on Independent Science/Tech Probe of WTC 1, 2, 7 Collapses," was published by four members of the group Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice (STJ911.org). The authors of the article and draft bill are not spokespersons for Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice, and therefore are individually responsible for it. Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice does not endorse the draft bill due to the inclusion of numerous unscientific claims and misrepresentations, and condemns in the strongest of terms any associations between the organization and the claims presented by the authors of this bill. As stated at the front page of their website, Scholars for 9-11 Truth and Justice "take[s care to present the strongest, most credible research available..."

Berkeley, CA (PRWEB) October 25, 2008 -- On October 18, 2008, an OpEdNews article titled, "8 House Members View Draft Bill on Independent Science/Tech Probe of WTC 1, 2, 7 Collapses," was published by four members of the group Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice (STJ911.org). The authors of the article and draft bill are not spokespersons for Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice, and therefore are individually responsible for it.

Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice does not endorse the draft bill due to the inclusion of numerous unscientific claims and misrepresentations, and condemns in the strongest of terms any associations between the organization and the claims presented by the authors of this bill. As stated at the front page of their website, Scholars for 9-11 Truth and Justice "take[s care to present the strongest, most credible research available..."

While in agreement with the authors of this bill that a new investigation into the tragic events of September 11, 2001 is warranted, representatives of the Scholars group note that the draft bill and article lack basic scientific rigor and credibility, with statements such as, "the entire WTC [complex was destroyed by directed energy weaponry (DEW)," and the ideas that "nuclear materials, missiles or DEW weapons were used." The sister publication of the Scholars group, The Journal of 9/11 Studies www.JournalOf911Studies.com, has numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles refuting such claims.

Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice believes that a much better bill can be crafted using the strong analysis in articles by its members, several of which are recently published in scientific journals, including The Open Civil Engineering Journal, The Environmentalist, and the Journal of Engineering Mechanics.

Kevin Ryan, a former Underwriters Laboratories (UL) manager who was fired in 2004 for publicly questioning the NIST report, and a committee member of the Scholars' group, says the bill is harmful to the cause of exposing the truth. "Basically," he said, "asking Congress to investigate many poorly defined, and highly implausible hypotheses minimizes the chances that Congress would be willing or able to investigate the actual evidence for the demolition of three WTC buildings." In fact, the bill also omits any mention of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee, which provided hundreds of questions left unanswered by the 9/11 Commission.

Scholars' member Dr. Steven E. Jones, a Professor of Physics, also notes that statements attributed to him in the bill are "errors . . . misrepresenting my published statements." Dr. Jones goes on to say, "It is unacceptable to misrepresent my views, as is done in this document by Ellis et al., and to ignore my published technical papers in established journals."

Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice is a non-partisan organization of over 500 independent researchers analyzing the September 11, 2001 attacks with a strong emphasis on the scientific method.

For information: http://www.stj911.com or
Contact: stj911 @ gmail.com
Phone: 510-769-5109

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/10/prweb1518304.htm

Thomas Kean & UnitedHealth Backdating

1) Thomas Kean is a director at UnitedHealth Group Inc.

http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/invest/2001/ar2001_leaders_p58.pdf#search=%22thomas%20kean%20and%20unitedhealth%22

Thomas H. Kean
President
Drew University
Compensation and Human
Resources Committee
•••••••
2) Thomas kean covers up the company stock option backdating scandal:

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2006/8/11/195638/195

Backdating stock options: The plot thickens
by PsiFighter37
Fri Aug 11th, 2006 at 07:56:38 PM EST

... The board of UnitedHealth Group Inc. met on May 1 to deal with questions about unusually well-timed stock-option grants to top executives such as Chief Executive William McGuire. The gathering heard a briefing from a lawyer who was running UnitedHealth's internal probe of how the options were dated.

One director whose recollections would be important to the investigation was THOMAS H. KEAN, a former New Jersey governor who had served on the compensation committee that approved options grants.

The same day as the board meeting, some UnitedHealth directors and executives were supporting a campaign by Mr. Kean's son for a U.S. Senate seat from New Jersey. Some of them attended a fund-raiser for Tom Kean Jr. that day, in UnitedHealth's home state of Minnesota. It isn't clear whether Dr. McGuire and his wife attended, but each donated $2,000 to the cause. So did Richard T. Burke, who sits on a special board committee that is overseeing the options investigation. All told, UnitedHealth-affiliated donors have contributed $25,000 to the campaign.

[...]

When the donations to the Kean Senate campaign were described to former SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt, he said they struck him as "ill-advised and strange" and something that could be seen as an attempt to influence a witness because of the senior Mr. Kean's role on the compensation committee. A spokeswoman for the Kean campaign said the fund raising came at a "UnitedHealth breakfast" hosted by Minnesota Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, and there was absolutely no effort to curry favor with the elder Mr. Kean. The former New Jersey governor didn't return calls seeking comment.

Kerry CIA Foe's Dossier Spans Films, 9/11 Hearing

By John C. Drake
Boston Globe
October 24, 2008

Republican Jeff Beatty, a former CIA agent, faults the US political response to national security challenges. (MARK WILSON/GLOBE STAFF)

Republican Jeff Beatty says he has been compared to Jack Bauer of Fox TV's "24," the antiterrorism agent who rushes headlong across the small screen to foil evil networks intent on destroying America.

Now, after a career providing antiterrorism advice to governments and Hollywood, the Army veteran and former CIA agent has embarked on the ultimate long-shot mission: toppling US Senator John F. Kerry.

Beatty is a Cape Cod resident with no experience in public office who was trounced by US Representative William D. Delahunt in a House campaign in 2006. This year, he won the state's GOP nomination for the US Senate race by default. The party favorite, Jim Ogonowski, did not collect enough signatures to get on the ballot.

So Massachusetts residents this fall find the unproven Beatty stumping around the state and airing a smattering of television spots that try to blame Kerry, who is seeking his fifth term, for the nation's economic crisis.

Beatty also launched an aggressive assault on Kerry on Monday night in a live NECN debate, accusing the senator of playing presidential politics when he voted to authorize the Iraq war in 2002. Beatty is hoping he can eat into the 32-point advantage Kerry had in a recent Rasmussen poll.

"I still think we can win this race, because we still have the opportunity to get the word out to people," Beatty said last week during a campaign swing through his hometown of Harwich.

Beatty said he decided to run for office because he grew tired of issuing warnings about vulnerabilities in the nation's security systems that went unheeded.

"I'm frustrated about seeing and understanding these national security challenges and seeing politicians who don't get it," Beatty said. "We need people in Washington who don't just throw money at a problem."

Beatty pitches himself to voters as a middle-class veteran and businessman. An easygoing, divorced man with a soft spot for dogs, the 56-year-old lives in the 1,200-square-foot Cape Cod house that his parents retired to in 1973. The ranch-style house sits just off the seventh green of a public Harwich golf course where a tree is planted in memory of his adoptive father, Sergeant Raymond Beatty, a World War II veteran who died of a heart attack on the course's sixth green.

"You'll have to dynamite me out of this house," Jeff Beatty said.

Beatty was an ROTC member at Rutgers and joined the Army after graduating with a sociology degree in 1974. He was awarded a Purple Heart after taking part in the 1983 rescue of American medical students taken hostage in Grenada, a Delta Force operation in which the Black Hawk helicopter he was riding in was shot down. In the run-up to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, he served as a special adviser to the FBI's hostage rescue team. And for seven years until 1992, he conducted counterterrorism training and operations as a CIA agent based in the Middle East and Europe.

In 1992, he formed Total Security Services International, which conducted security training and provided consulting services to government agencies, operators of National Football League stadiums, and even school bus drivers.

"When I got out [of the CIA], I was a little frustrated that I didn't think we were as serious about preventing terrorism as we ought to be, so I decided that I would go form my own business and try to consult [for] people, people who we thought were likely targets," Beatty said.

The company also sold a few products, including blast-proof trash cans at a cost of about $1,600 apiece. The MBTA, which had retained Beatty as a consultant, bought about 250 of the trash cans in late 2001, a no-bid sale Kerry's campaign has lambasted as a waste of taxpayer money. Beatty defends the product as a fairly priced, essential tool for subway systems, saying trash cans are a well-established hiding place for bombs.

As a consultant, he says, he issued dire warnings about some of the country's worst terrorist attacks. As an adviser to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Beatty said, he warned organizers that the openness of Centennial Olympic Park left them vulnerable to a package-bomb attack that could injure dozens. It did happen, on July 27, 1996. And before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Beatty warned that a terrorist attack was likely, saying in a January 2000 Boston Herald op-ed: "When the terrorist improves his logistics to be as effective as the drug smuggler, more death will come across our borders."

His media savvy and antiterrorism expertise landed him on CNN the afternoon of 9/11 and increased demand among government agencies for his consulting work. In October 2001, he testified at a US Senate hearing on protecting mass transit systems from terrorist attacks, winning public praise from Senator Joe Biden, now the Democratic nominee for vice president.

Beatty said he also has been sought out by Hollywood. He was tapped to consult on "The Siege," a 1998 film starring Denzel Washington and Annette Bening about a string of terrorist attacks in New York City, getting his name in the film credits. He was also an adviser for Martin Lawrence's "Big Momma's House," a 2000 action comedy about an undercover FBI agent.

Beatty's Hollywood work, he said, led to an October 2001 meeting in California in which directors like Oliver Stone and Dick Wolf dreamed up nightmare terrorism scenarios for the government to plan for at an Army-funded research center.

Despite a military and professional career defined by national security issues, Beatty is also trying to speak to voters' economic worries by criticizing Kerry's personal wealth. A critic of the federal bailout package, he has hit the Kerry family's financial investments in insurance giant AIG, which has received its own bailout. Kerry said a firm handling his wife's finances once placed some of her assets in AIG stock but that the family no longer has a stake in the troubled insurance giant.

Beatty generally holds close to traditional Republican positions on domestic issues: He opposes abortion, supports gun rights protection, backs giving parents school choice through vouchers, and wants to reduce income taxes. He also supports Question 1 on the November ballot in Massachusetts, which would repeal the state income tax.

"I want to see everybody get a tax cut," he said, suggesting he could find significant cost savings in the federal government's Homeland Security budget to help pay for tax reductions. "We've got to do the [Barack] Obama tax cuts and do the Bush tax cuts."

But his campaign - directed by a small coterie of paid advisers and Cape Cod-area volunteers often working out of the candidate's home - is largely on its own, with the cash-strapped party offering only token support.

Beatty had $58,000 in his campaign account this week, compared with Kerry's $5.3 million, the Associated Press reported yesterday. He will get another shot at Kerry in a debate on Oct. 27, on WTKK-FM.

John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/10/24/kerry_foes_dossier_spans_films_911_hearing/?page=2

Kean and Hamilton Invited to Participate in “a Real 9/11 Commission/Investigation"

By Paul J. Landis
http://arkansas.indymedia.org/newswire/display/22725/index.php
14 Oct 2008

A May 2006 Zogby U.S. poll found that 42% of adults polled believe the U.S. government and the 9/11 Commission "concealed or refused to investigate critical evidence" that contradicts the official explanation of the attacks. 9/11 Commission chairs Kean and Hamilton were upset with their own commission.

The original press release below has been updated to be consistent with the new “A Real 9/11 Commission Will Help Free America Now! - ISBN: 097604-0825, April 2007, our new web site www.wethepeoplewethemedia.com and the just released “We the people – We the Media Tribune Gazette, www.wethepeoplewethemedia.com/tg.htm

Tuckahoe, NY (PRWEB) October 19, 2006 -- As I announced updates to my April, 2005 “A Real 9/11 Commission,” “it seemed appropriate to suggest that Mr. Kean and Hamilton join the 42% of us who ‘believe the U.S. government and the 9/11 Commission "concealed or refused to investigate critical evidence" that contradicts the official explanation of the attacks.’ See note 1. The April 2007 edition has significant new information and additional content covering a number of critical current issues, thus justifying the new title “A Real 9/11 Commission Will Help Free America Now!” (ISBN 0-9760408-24; US $14.75, UK, £ 9.85), now available.

In addition to the 42% above, the same May 2006 national Zogby respondents show that “More than 40 percent of Americans believe that the 9/11 Commission Report that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is a cover-up”.

Wow! And now, hold on to you hats. Based upon a review of their book “Without Precedent”, we have significant doubts being expressed by these two 9/11 commissioners. See note 2

With this perspective, a reminder that “Bush and Cheney asked then Senator Daschle to limit 9/11 Investigations”. See note 3

Join us Mr. Kean and Mr. Hamilton for “A Real 9/11 Investigation”.

“A Real 9/11 Commission”, see note 4, or if you like, a new, trustworthy 9/11 commission, what would it do differently?

Participants in “A Real 9/11 Commission” are invited to review evidence, before it gets filtered by Bush and Cheney or hidden behind the “New Iron Curtain Around the U.S.A., a Media Iron Curtain”, see note 5. They are invited to see documentaries of footage that was shown on live TV the morning of 9/11/2001. Then these participants are given the opportunity to “Render their Decision”, to participate and be a part of the tabulated results. See note 6.

How would or could, Don Rumsfeld prove to the American people that the 757 he says hit the Pentagon really did? If asked, participants in “A Real 9/11 Commission” would say, “he can’t!” Not only are there NO pictures showing a 60 to 80 ton 757 on the lawn of the Pentagon, we would play for Don the 9/11/2001 AM CNN Live report on “Loose Change 2nd Edition”, www.loosechange911.com, “there is no evidence that a 757 has hit anywhere near the Pentagon!”.


There is also now a You-Tube video clip from a VHS tape made on September 11, 2001. It shows CCN and Jamie Mcintyre stating that “No 757 hit the Pentagon!” see note 4

We would also remind Don that the famous collapsed Pentagon wall section, if that is where he tells us the plane is; that section collapsed twenty minutes after the explosion. Did the 757 just wait around for a hole to climb into?

So Mr. Kean and Mr. Hamilton, have you any comments?

The New York City Twin Towers, where 3,000 people lost their lives, we were told ‘collapsed’ because of the planes that hit them. If we asked Don or Dick Cheney to prove this, what could they use? There is a NTST report that supports this claim. But does the evidence support this report?

Briefly: No. We now know that molten steel, 3,000 degrees, was found in the sub-basements of both Towers (and WTC 7) four and five weeks after their collapse. Jet fuel burns at maximum at about 1,400 degrees. We can only suggest in the space available here, that the reader look at the Special Report I at www.wethepeoplewethemedia.com/areal911commission.htm and in “A Real 9/11 Commission Will Help Free America Now” on pages 42 to 47.

You will see photographs of the buildings ‘collapse’ and can compare these pictures with live TV statements by TV news reporters: “this looks as though the buildings are being demolished”. We have pictures of multi-ton steel columns projected horizontally into near-by buildings and multi-ton steel structures thrown 600 feet or two football fields away from the ‘collapse’. Is this how you would envision the ‘collapse’ of these massive structures?

There are photographs of the Towers ‘collapse’ with the sounds of the ‘demolition charges’. Would that help Don and Dick? Obviously not, “911 Eyewitness”, www.911eyewitness.com by Mr. Ricard A. Siegel.

We might ask the commissions: How is it that the collapse of these structures produced only pulverized debris and steel beams conveniently cut into sections that fit on the backs of the trucks used to haul them away. And if the Towers ‘collapsed’, where did the 2,600 pollutants come from that have thus far claimed the lives of dozens of NYC Ground Zero First Responders and have caused 70,000 illnesses?

For the assertion that Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania, we will just suggest you see statements by coroners on the scene in Pennsylvania saying “there was no blood or evidence of human remains at the site”, Loose Change 2nd Edition, www.loosechange911.com.

So Don and Dick appear to have no EVIDENCE to justify the statements they made. How about Mr. Kean and Mr. Hamilton, perhaps they want to explain their lapse of not considering the above EVIDENCE or any EVIDENCE that the 42% of poll respondents say was ignored?

EVIDENCE shows us that “We the People” were not given accurate accounts of the events of 9/11. We were mislead by the same people who recently made us ‘Torturers’, who are using in Iraq, their own Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD), the radioactive weapon called Depleted Uranium. This WMD is killing OUR soldiers and causing their wives to give birth to deformed babies. We were mislead by the same people who have their own Non-U.S. Constitution – the “Project for the New American Century” (PNAC), see note 7. These people are not Osama bin Laden or Al-Qaeda. They are Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and their friends who support the Non-U.S. Constitution the “Project for the New American Century”. It is PNAC that provides their motivation for the attacks of 9/11/2001.

Please, see also, the just completed “We the People – We the Media Tribune Gazette” at

www.wethepeoplewethemedia.com/tg.htm,with significant 9/11 evidence and supporting information.

Note 1: Opinion split over 9/11 report by: Keith Phucas, Times Herald Staff, 05/28/2006
www.timesherald.com/site/news.cfm

Note 2: Book: “Without Precedent" - Sept. 11 Panel Doubted Officials
By HOPE YEN The Associated Press August 4, 2006
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/04/AR2006080401026.html

Note 3: Bush - and Cheney - ask Daschle to limit 9-11 investigations!!
www.wethepeoplewethemedia.com/limit.htm

Note 4: “A Real 9.11 Commission”
www.wethepeoplewethemedia.com/areal911commission.htm
And www.youtube.com/paullandis, the first clip, also available at
The above web site

Note 5: “A New Iron Curtain Around the U.S.A. - A Media Iron Curtain”
www.wethepeoplewethemedia.com/corporate_control.htm

Note 6: “A Real 9/11Commission” Render your Decision
www.wethepeoplewethemedia.com/areal911commission.htm

Note 7: The Constitution of Bush and Cheney is not the Constitution of the United States. Major articles about their Non-U.S. Constitution, the “Project for the New American Century” (PNAC) www.wethepeoplewethemedia.com/pnac1.htm

Also: “We the people – We the Media," Tribune Gazette, www.wethepeoplewethemedia.com/tg.htm

Review: "Blocking 'The Path to 9/11': The Anatomy of a Smear"

By BRIAN LOWRY
Variety
Oct. 10, 2008

A Citizens United Prods. presentation. Produced by David N. Bossie, John Ziegler. Executive producer, Bossie. Directed, written by John Ziegler.

In "Blocking 'The Path to 9/11'" -- the latest in a string of conservative documentaries still irritated by Michael Moore's success -- former talkradio host John Ziegler seizes on a legitimate point worthy of perhaps a newsmagazine segment, then beats at it for a laborious 93 minutes. There's obvious passion behind the message, but all Ziegler ultimately proves is that ABC didn't stand behind a controversial miniseries and that playing the victim of big, bad media grows tedious quickly, whether the aggrieved party hails from the left or the right.

To recap, ABC commissioned an expensive miniseries ostensibly based on the 9/11 Commission's findings to mark the five-year anniversary, reconstructing the failures and missteps by both the Clinton and Bush administrations that preceded the terrorist attack. Writer-producer Cyrus Nowrasteh, however, expanded his research beyond the report to indict Clinton for missed opportunities to neutralize Osama bin Laden in the 1990s.

Subjected to withering criticism, ABC made minor edits in the film, seeking to quell the controversy, and eventually aired the project without advertising. The network has not yet released it on DVD.

Anybody who watched the entire miniseries knows both administrations are depicted as having dropped the ball in the run-up to Sept. 11. But because Nowrasteh went beyond the 9/11 Commission report to paint an unflattering portrait of the Clintons, he came under fire, and his political leanings were scrutinized, including his relationship with conservative talkshow host Rush Limbaugh. (An early screening in Washington, D.C., of the miniseries' first part, devoted to the Clinton years, also fed the impression that this was a one-sided right-wing hit job.)

Ziegler's goal, ultimately, is to expose the fact that the project was prejudged and its producers were unfairly tarred in the process and thrown under the bus by ABC and parent Disney. The only real news here, however, is that such a reaction could emanate from the left, inasmuch as conservatives regularly employ such tactics by criticizing what they haven't seen in regard to movies and television (Lionsgate's "W." comes to mind).

As the doc's hero, Nowrasteh also exhibits what can at best be construed as naivete about the potential response, given the polarized political climate and how raw the wounds from Sept. 11 remain, especially when he acknowledges ad-libbing portions of a crucial scene that presents Clinton officials -- in full cover-your-ass mode -- failing to act when they have bin Laden in their sights.

The filmmakers "took sort of the highlights of a number of different episodes and incidents and coordinated them into one, which is what you do when you write a docudrama," Nowrasteh explains. Yet it's precisely such bastardizations of history that outsiders (and that would include Washington) view with rightful suspicion, not trusting a mass audience to do the requisite homework to distill fact from fiction.

To the extent the Clintons and their associates overreacted to the miniseries, Ziegler makes his point. He overreaches, however, in his eagerness to provide Nowrasteh redemption, and conveniently overlooks a long history of docudramas evoking similar responses, while padding his witness list with right-wing attack dogs like David Horowitz and Mark Levin.

Disney and ABC refused comment for the project, which is also hardly a surprise. All this might be news to Ziegler, but "Blocking the Path to 9/11" is an awfully slow road to a pretty obvious conclusion.

Anthony Marinelli. Reviewed on DVD, Sherman Oaks, Calif., Oct. 2, 2008. Running time: 93 MIN.
Narrator: John Ziegler.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117938666.html?categoryid=1263&cs=1

"Authorized" Biography of Warren Buffett Traces his Road to Wealth

Caveat: Warren Buffett's avuncular centrist image is a lie. Buffett has a secret life. The Berkshire Hathaway billionaire is a covert operator like his Nazi father, Bircher/Senator Howard Buffett, and I've documented this fact time and again over the years. The Great Brainwashed admire his gross wealth and media-propelled seedcorn persona, but deep down Buffett himself doesn't care all that much about money - he lives in a $100,000 house. That's in Omaha, where he is involved in a CIA-operated national pedohile ring with ties to the RNC (see The Franklin Cover-Up, by John DeCamp). Buffett's alleged co-conspirator, Robert Wadman, the disgraced former police chief of Omaha, filed a frivolous lawsuit recently against my publisher in a failed attempt to silence me. Both are linked to the "suicides" of Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake, "conspiracy theorists" in the process of connecting the founder of AT&T Cable to the aforementioned pedophile network when they supposedly checked out. No, truth be told, Buffett doesn't care about money - like his father, he cares about covert operations and the nurturing of fascism in America. The rich "Uncle Warren" PR is a cover story for stock manipulation and worse. The media perform the same service for Dr. Kissinger, another fascist covert operator.

As long as these slimy predators are perceived as credible "experts," body bag futures will remain a lucrative investment.

- AC

Biography traces Warren Buffett's road to wealth
BY JOHN MARK EBERHART
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
OCTOBER 19, 2008

"The Snowball" is a fast-paced, precisely drawn profile of a man who, despite his high visibility in the financial world, isn't someone we've known much about.

We do now. And unless we've been hoodwinked, Warren Buffet lives here, warts and all, on the pages of this authorized biography by Alice Schroeder.

The young Buffett was a financial prodigy but also something of a juvenile delinquent, and the book makes it clear that the man who went on to make a fortune could have wound up in jail instead.

He peddled chewing gum door to door, sold soft drinks and was a newspaper delivery boy. Mostly, though, he saved money. And saved. And saved. By 14, he was filing federal tax returns on his income.

But in junior high, when a new Sears store opened in Omaha, Buffet and some buddies became shoplifters. "We'd just steal the place blind," Buffett recalls. "We'd steal stuff for which we had no use. We'd steal golf bags and golf clubs. I stole hundreds of golf balls."

Early on Buffett displayed an almost obsessive penchant for counting things; now he counted golf balls. But he found it hard to explain to his parents why his closet was overflowing with sacks of them.

Eventually, his father lowered the boom: Quit screwing around or I will forbid you from running your paper routes. Faced with losing his income, Buffet cleaned up his act and went on to make financial history.

Moving through Columbia Business School and a brief stint as a stockbroker, he acquired a textiles company. And part of the Washington Post. And the Buffalo Evening News. And a piece of ABC. And a portion of Coca-Cola.

Schroeder gets bogged down in details and that's the book's chief drawback: As good as her writing is, a good editor could have trimmed this book to a more manageable length.

http://www.freep.com/article/20081019/FEATURES05/810190317/1030/FEATURES

Maryland Navy Commander Sued over Funds for 9/11 Injury

www.insurancejournal.com
October 16, 2008

Federal prosecutors have filed a civil lawsuit against a Navy commander from Maryland's Anne Arundel County who was granted a Purple Heart for injuries he claimed to have suffered when a plane crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Washington has filed the suit, claiming now-retired Navy Cmdr. Charles Coughlin, 49, of Severna Park, falsely claimed he suffered "a partial permanent disability'' after falling debris hit him on the head.

Coughlin received $331,000 from the Victim Compensation Fund after claiming injuries so severe he could no longer perform simple tasks and avoided activities "requiring abrupt turning of my head or raising my left arm above my shoulder for any length of time.''

However, Coughlin kept playing basketball and lacrosse and ran the New York City marathon in under four hours two months after the attacks, prosecutors said.

The lawsuit filed last month at the federal courthouse in Washington does not raise questions about Coughlin's actions during the Pentagon attack, but challenges the account of injuries he submitted to the compensation fund. Coughlin still has the Purple Heart, and the honors are not under review by the Navy, officials said.

Coughlin's lawyer denies the allegations and said the matter would be resolved in court.

Prosecutors claim the medical terminology he used to describe his injuries duplicated the language that a doctor used to diagnose him in 1998 and he had a "a history of neck and shoulder ailments predating September 11, 2001, including an injury as early as 1978 to his left shoulder.''

The compensation fund denied Coughlin's first application in February 2004, but reversed its decision when it was appealed and Coughlin was awarded $60,000. Prosecutors said Coughlin appealed again, citing services he had to pay for because of his injuries and his award was increased in June 2004 to $331,034, including $151,034 for economic losses.

Government attorneys are seeking to seize Coughlin's $1 million house, his Mercedes-Benz and minivan because he used money from the victims' fund to get them. Coughlin used at least $200,000 of the money to buy his home six months later and to pay off loans on the vehicles, prosecutors said.

The government has taken the vehicles pursuant to a seizure warrant, which is approved by a judge. Prosecutors want the court's permission to seize them permanently.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2008/10/16/94694.htm

Lies, Lies and More Lies

BY DAVE DARTON
www.rutlandherald.com
October 11, 2008

Seven years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden's wanted poster still hangs in the post office. It lists him as a suspect in two African embassy bombings but 9/11 is not mentioned. According to FBI's head of investigative publicity, this is because there is no hard evidence linking bin Laden to 9/11. We know that the invasion of Iraq was on the agenda from the start of the Bush administration. However, Jane's Online and the BBC both had reported that regime change in Afghanistan was also in the works prior to 9/11, and it seems clear that the planning and mobilization for the invasion on Oct. 7, 2001, took considerably longer than three weeks.

After the 9/11 attacks, the two senators who could give Bush the most trouble received letters containing U.S. weapons-grade anthrax, as did two major news organizations. Bush finally agreed to authorize an investigation on the condition that administration insider Philip Zelikow be the commission's executive director.

Even Arlen Specter did not believe that the failure to prevent the attacks was simply a failure to connect the dots. DIA project Able Danger had identified alleged plot leaders including Mohammed Atta, and the FBI was conducting 70 investigations of bin Laden-related activity within the U.S. During a period when the terror threat level was at a historic high, numerous highly credible whistleblowers have testified that these and other efforts were obstructed, sabotaged or ignored. A suicide hijacking had, in fact, been contemplated as a likely scenario, yet four jets were hijacked simultaneously with no mayday signals from the cockpits. Forty minutes after the towers were hit and it was clear the U.S. was under a coordinated air attack, no effort was put forth to defend the nation's capital.

It is also interesting that the twin towers and 47-story Building 7 somehow just happened to be symmetrical free-fall speed implosions. Only a handful of companies in the world can bring a skyscraper down in this manner and the odds that this type of collapse occurred on three instances in one day due to asymmetrical damage and fires on 9/11 is essentially zero. The molten metal found under the wreckage of all three buildings and the previously molten splatter found in WTC dust, which is chemically identical to the byproduct of the incendiary Thermate, presents solid forensic evidence that the buildings were professionally demolished.

The incredible lack of skepticism about 9/11 has been a result of the media's ongoing deference to the government: The press falsely promoted the idea that the 9/11 Commission was thorough and independent; and has been actively withholding coverage of the rapidly growing movement of highly credentialed Americans who question the official story of 9/11. There are Pilots for 9/11 Truth, Scholars for 9/11 Truth and by year's end there will be 500 architects and engineers who will be calling on Congress to authorize a new investigation.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081011/ELECTIONS12/810110369/

Video: The Political Abuse and Misuse of 9/11

Lumberjack Editorial Board
Issue date: 9/10/08 Section: Opinion

Over the last seven years, we have seen the events of September 11 progress from being a shocking tragedy in our nation's history to becoming an issue of policy and political agenda.

On Thursday, Sept. 4, prior to Republican presidential candidate John McCain's acceptance speech, the Republican National Convention aired a video entitled, "9/11: The Day The World Stood Still." Airing at 9:11 p.m. CST and lasting almost three minutes long, the video falsely linked the 9/11 attacks to Iran amid an ominous voice-over. Graphic footage from the day of the attack was played, including the initial impact and subsequent collapse of of the twin towers, individuals jumping from the buildings and blood-splattered displays of missing persons. A smattering of networks aired the tribute, including C-SPAN and MSNBC.

The creation and airing of this 'tribute video' was grossly inappropriate, a fear tactic and an obvious political statement. The video aired was propaganda.

Regardless of the video's political affiliation, this was a thoughtless act. Some of us lost friends, and others lost family members. Every American was touched by the tragedy. The images shown on television that day have been forever burned into our memories. After seven years, the pain is still raw - and for some, it will never go away.

Even though it was labeled as a 'tribute video,' it was not created as a tribute to the American and foreign men and women who were killed in the attacks and recovery efforts. The misrepresentation of Muslims in this piece of propaganda was racist.

The exploitation of 9/11 has been a political tool for the past seven years. It is unjust for any political party or candidate to continue to evoke the memory of 9/11 and use the fear associated with it to sway a political vote.

Before we are Republican or Democrat, Green or Independent, we are American and Americans stand up for what is "right." As Americans, we believe that this video, used in this manner, was not right.

It's time to practice the justice that we preach. Political parties and their members need to stop desecrating the memory of 9/11 and let the memory of those lost rest in peace.

America and the world needs to know that the values that unite us as a nation have not been lost. As a nation we see things differently, but share a commitment to freedom and democracy. Above everything else, we are Americans. Let's not let racism and fear keep us from realizing what 9/11 truly was and continues to be.
•••
The video below is the official video released by the RNC. Please be advised that the footage aired could be considered graphic by some.

Viewer discretion is advised.

http://media.www.thejackonline.org/media/storage/paper1142/news/2008/09/10/Opinion/The-Political.Abuse.And.Misuse.Of.911-3423147.shtml

"Who dares to question the 'Big Lie of 9/11'?"

Paul Russell: Who dares to question the 'Big Lie of 9/11'?
network.nationalpost.com
October 04, 2008

What exactly happened on Sept. 11, 2001? Did the Twin Towers fall because of terrorism or have we been duped by the “Big Lie of 9/11”? An avid debate on that question broke out on our letters page last week, in reaction to the dismissal of Lesley Hughes, a Liberal candidate and 9/11 skeptic. Some readers sided with her.

“Numerous military, intelligence and government insiders have gone on record rejecting the official account,” wrote Inge Hanle. “So have firefighters, veterans and scientists. With several U.S. senators now daring to take on the issue, it’s high time for the Post and other media cogs to open your eyes to the lies.”

Adding weight to the skeptics’ side was Anthony J. Hall, a University of Lethbridge professor. In a letter published last week, he noted, “We are living in the toxic fallout generated by the big lie of 9/11.” That statement was flatly rejected by other readers.

“So, Anthony J. Hall thinks that 9/11 was a big lie,” wrote Roy Weston. “He’ll have to take a number and wait behind those who believe the moon walk took place in a movie studio. Piecing together a series of coincidences doesn’t result in a fact ... so far Anthony Hall and his ilk have produced only innuendos, possibilities and probabilities.”

In a follow-up note to the Post, Prof. Hall defended his position through his engaging essay, “A Clash of Conspiracy Theories” (available on the Web). While it may not convince readers to join the 9/11 conspiracy crowd, it does present a cogent argument for why the public should be more receptive to alternative views about that pivotal day.

Prof. Hall opens by assuring readers that he does not side with Ms. Hughes’ “factually wrong and ill advised comment” that Israel knew in advance about what would happen on 9/11; “ ... we must strive to prevent ethnic or religious prejudices from colouring our interpretations of, and responses to, the assaults on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon seven years ago.”

He then notes that “this Canadian election, taking place during the seventh autumn following the events of 9/11, offers a crucial opening to begin ... a rational debate on our most fundamental issue of public policy to arise in this decade Š. [C]itizens are waking up to the terrible implications of constructing public policy based on conspiracy theories rather than on clear assessments of the evidentiary base, however partial and imperfect, that is beginning to suggest the real nature rather than the fictional mythology of the events of 9/11.”

This “mythology” includes what happened to Tower 7, “a 47-storey building that miraculously fell neatly and symmetrically into its own footprint at 5:30 in the afternoon without being hit by any airplane.”

But Prof. Hall always brings it back to what’s currently happening in Canada. “I think it appropriate to pose a simple question of those who made the decision to disqualify Lesley Hughes from running as a Liberal candidate,” he states. “Now that a line has been drawn in the sand on conspiracy theories and 9/11, I think it fair to ask if there is any public space remaining for serious political debate on this matter. In this season, when we are called upon to entrust some politicians with the high responsibilities of public office, how are we to discuss in a civil fashion the contested events of 9/11?”

As he wraps up, Prof. Hall notes: “In the long run, one of the most devastating effects of the lies and crimes of 9/11 may reside in the prospect of alienating independent-minded young people, who have decided to invest themselves wholeheartedly in the push for 9/11 truth. What lessons
should these young people derive from the removal of Lesley Hughes from her effort to represent a Winnipeg constituency under the Liberal banner? ... Is she really a reprobate not fit to serve in the House of Commons? Or does the push to relegate her back to the political margins speak to issues that are not being fully and honestly addressed by the politicians and professional pundits of all stripes?”

Paul Russell is letters editor at the Post.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/10/04/196400.aspx