Reason and Rationality in Public Debate: The Case of Ron Paul

Reason and Rationality in Public Debate: The Case of Ron Paul

by Jim Fetzer

During the organizing meeting of The Human Behavior and Evolution Society at the University of Michigan in 1988, I raised my hand after a presentation by Lida Cosmides, then the doyen of the movement, which had made a certain impression on me, and said, “I have only two concerns regarding your presentation”. She said, “Yes?”; and I continued, “One is your conclusion”. She took a few paces with her hand on her chin and again said, “Yes?”; and, I added on, “The other is your premises.” The audience burst out in laughter, since a scholar’s position, like that of anyone else, only has two parts: their premises and their conclusion!

Most of us know that much about arguments, which are conclusions, hypotheses or conjectures supported by premises, which provide grounds, reasons or evidence, where the stronger argument, in rational discourse, tends to prevail. But that assumes an appropriate correspondence between objective standards of rational belief and subjective degrees of conviction. The measure of the difference between them serves as an index of the degree of divergence of a person’s opinion from normative standards and therefore functions as an index of the extent of the irrationality of their degree of belief from what beliefs are rational.

While most Americans know that much about arguments, they do not also understand that there are two broad classes of arguments: deductive and inductive. Deductive arguments are non-ampliative, in the sense that they do not contain any information in their conclusions that was not already in their premises. It is for this reason that their conclusions cannot be false if their premises are true. If “Jack and Jill went up the hill” is true, then “Jack went up the hill” cannot be false. Likewise, when “All ducks are white” and “This is a duck” are both true, then “This is white” must be true, too.

That is not the case for inductive arguments, whose conclusions go beyond their premises. If “Jack went up the hill” and “Jill is usually with Jack” are both true, then probably “Jill went up the hill”. But that conclusion could still be false even when those premises are true. Inferences from the past to the future, from samples to populations, and from the observable to the unobservable are familiar cases. Even if every duck we have observed so far is white, there may be those we have not yet observed that are not. Our knowledge of laws of nature and of historical events is inductive, which is why we can never be sure our conclusions are true, but only whether they well-supported or not.

Truth versus Belief

Sentences (or assertions) are true whenever they correspond to reality (or to how things are or to everything that is the case). But absent some kind of privileged access, we have to depend upon our own personal experience and the evidence available to us in determining what we ought to believe by exercising reason or rationality. The coherence of our beliefs based upon the evidence available to us thus functions as a criterion for us to judge the difference between what we take to be true and what we take to be false, where we may be mistaken. This diagram compares levels of strength of personal conviction and objective degrees of evidential support:

Notice that personal degrees of subjective conviction are measured on the basis of psychological considerations from beliefs we cannot imagine are false (“indubitable”) to those we cannot imagine are true (“inconceivable”). With respect to objective measures of evidential support, they range from those that are logically contradictory (that “2 + 2 = 5” or that “This is both a circle and a square”) to those that are logically necessary (“2 + 2 = 4” and “A square has four sides and four equal angles”). But our beliefs about the world around us, including current events, are inductive and uncertain.

Thomas Jefferson was once asked if he would prefer a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, to which he replied that he would prefer the latter. But Jefferson was not contemplating a time in which newspapers would be controlled by governments or by corporations, which is the situation that we confront today. It has become increasingly difficult to sort out information we are given that is true from information we are given that is false. And that is especially true when editors and reporters can slant the news using a variety of techniques familiar to students of logic and critical thinking but not to the average American, including the straw man (by exaggerating a position to make it easier to attack), special pleading (by citing only the evidence that supports your point of view), and the appeal to authority (by citing sources that are authoritative on one subject as experts on another), which can be illustrated relative to news coverage of the candidacy of Ron Paul, the "Wall Street" protest and of the assassination of JFK, where the differences that are displayed here offer powerful proof that the American press is not "free".

The Coverage of Ron Paul

Perhaps the most egregious illustration of special pleading of my lifetime—apart from the bias the press has displayed in relation to 9/11 and JFK (on which I am planning to publish a complementary column)—has been the shameless suppression of information about the candidacy of Ron Paul for the GOP presidential nomination. He has won straw poll after straw poll, in California, in Ohio, at the Conservative Political Action Conference held in Louisiana and at the Value Voters Summit held in Virginia; he has raised millions of dollars in funding, second only to Mitt Romney and Rick Perry; and he has won run-away polling victories in relation to the GOP debates. On 11 October 2011, he won the Value Voters Summit poll 37% to 23% for Herman Cain, where Tony Perkins of the Family Research Counsel, which sponsored the event, repudiated his own poll and declared Cain as the one who had attained the real victory. On 24 October 2011, Ron Paul won the Ohio straw poll, 54% to 26% for Herman Cain and just 9% for Romney.

After a GOP presidential debate held on 22 September 2011, FOX NEWS published poll results showing that Ron Paul had won with 30% trailed by Romney with 27%, Perry with 15%, and Cain with 9%. Even Russia Today reported “Fox Freaks after Ron Paul Wins Debate” by taking down the poll results after Ron Paul took the lead. RT even quoted Ralph Nader, whom most of us have long admired, who said that, in his opinion, Paul was the most appealing of the GOP candidates and offered the following reasons:

“He wants to get out of these wars overseas, he wants to bring the soldiers back, he wants to cut the bloated military budget, he wants to change some of the anti-civil liberty provisions in the Patriot Act, he hates corporate welfare and all these bailouts of Wall Street crooks,” said Nader. “He ought to get more attention, instead of ten times more attention being given to Michele Bachmann.”

Ron Paul’s opposition to corporate welfare and crony capitalism has now been reinforced by Bank of America’s transfer of $75 trillion in risky derivatives liabilities from one side of the ledger to the other (and thereby shifting it to the back of American taxpayers) and another $79 trillion by JP Morgan are only the latest and most breath-taking demonstrations. That bankers and corporations--including those dominated by the promotion of Zionist interests--fear him should come as no surprise, as many Americans are beginning to perceive.

The Debate Poll

Perhaps the most astounding result of all followed the Republican debate held at the Reagan Library, where msnbc published the following results:

Since this poll occurred following the Republican debate on 7 September, I infer that, by 22 September, when Fox pulled its results, the corporations that control the media had determined that it was better to publish no poll results at all than to publish poll results that massively favored Ron Paul.

Some might contend that Ron Paul was even featured on “Meet the Press” on 23 October 2011 as part of a series that featured the GOP candidates. His exclusion would have been too blatant a form of bias for any American to miss, so they included him. As I watched the program on that Sunday, I was not the least surprised by the direct and pointed fashion in which Ron Paul answered the questions that were posed by David Gregory, even one that was loaded about student loans. I was equally unsurprised when his proposal to phase them out (but without explaining his Constitutional rationale) was the only answer that was featured in an article in the Wisconsin State Journal (24 October 2011, A13) which led to a letter (28 October 2011, A13) of complaint about that move, but which was also accompanied by another objecting to the near-compete media blackout.

Notice how this technique combines special pleading with the straw man, where his proposals to end these wars of aggression, bring our troops home, close our bases abroad, cut defense spending, abolish the FED, restore civil liberties, and end crony capitalism are just too much for the major corporations who control the media to tolerate. They do not even publish the Constitutional reasons he would end student loans, which may not be a plank we all want to support but deserves a fair explanation. So if there are any lingering doubts about whether we in the United States have a free press, they are decisively refuted by this example, where the media are combining the suppression of information about Ron Paul with special pleading by only publicizing positions of his that they believe will diminish his support, which betrays the principles upon which this country was founded. Thomas Jefferson would not have been pleased.

Jim Fetzer, a former Marine Corps officer, is McKnight Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

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From New York to Occupy the World: Will it Work?

From New York to Occupy the World: Will it Work?

by Jim Fetzer

"Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent revolution inevitable."-- John F. Kennedy (1962)

Protesters at "Occupy Wall Street"

The responses to "Occupy Wall Street" have ranged from hypercritical and dismissive to completely sympathetic and supportive. Some have suggested that this is really COINTELPRO in action, while others submit that it is instead a preemptive move by the far right to undermine the public's growing disenchantment with endless wars, bank bailouts, and the decimation of the middle class, where everyone in power appears to be going for everything they can get, no matter how catastrophic the effects upon the middle class and working families. If a single phrase were required to sum it up, we have a denunciation of insatiable greed that have led to gross abuses of the interests of the people by bankers and war-mongers, who are leaving the rest of us nearly bankrupt and almost completely powerless.

Matt Taibbi, "Why OWS is Bigger than Left vs. Right", however, may have put his finger on the importance of what has been taking place by virtue of bringing together elements of the left and of the right in American politics. "What nobody [at the top] is comfortable with is a movement in which virtually the entire spectrum of middle class and poor Americans is on the same page, railing against incestuous political and financial corruption on Wall Street and in Washington. The reality is that Occupy Wall Street and the millions of middle Americans who make up the Tea Party are natural allies and should be on the same page about most of the key issues, and that's a story our media won't want to or know how to handle." And one that poses a major challenge to the status quo. Not only the bankers and traders on Wall Street are being confronted by this movement, but those who stage manage political events in this country, from the President on down.

Some commentators have been alarmed by what they perceive to be the role taken by an organization located in Vancouver called "Ad Busters", which has even been discussed at Above Top Secret. Those who visit their web site, http://www.adbusters.org/ will discover that they describe themselves as "a global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society", which would appear to be worthy goals. Sean Dix, who has participated in the protest a dozen days or more, has told me that he has discovered that some of those who are there with him have the destruction of capitalism on their agenda. But capitalism in our society is largely a myth today, where none of the five principles that Adam Smith specified as necessary for the "invisible hand of the free market" to operate properly are present today, including transparency in pricing to reflect the full costs of the natural resources and the labor that was required to produce a product or the free and open competition between alternative sources that is supposed to maintain market stability at the lowest price for the benefit of the consumer.

So if Ad Busters is anti-consumerism and anti-exploitative-capitalism, that does not mean they are on the wrong side of the issues. They may not appreciate that persons like Sean Dix illustrate the problems that inventors confront in dealing with corporate giants like Johnson & Johnson. Sean's "Floss Rings" product has been estimated to be worth $250,000,000 in sales yearly and to potentially employ as many as 1,000 new workers. Yet he has been harassed by some of those who do not grasp the complexity of the situation, where instead of open and fair competition, we have crony capitalism, corporate welfare, and monopolistic practices that are well-encapsulated by the slogan, "Banks get bail outs, we get sold out!" Whether or not Ad Busters have been the force initiating the OWS movement and even if some of their supporters are incapable of recognizing the dimension of the problem represented by Sean Dix's experiences with Johnson & Johnson, they have featured an excellent video on its world-wide spread:

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/10/18/from-new-york-to-occupy-the-world-will-it-work/

And those who complain that the movement has never specified its objectives appear to be on equally flimsy grounds. As "Occupy Wall Street objectives are clear" explains in a critical response to articles in the Associated Press, "A little homework as simple as checking the Occupy Wall Street website would have found that their demands include a universal single-payer health care system; guaranteed living-wage income regardless of employment; free college education; $1 trillion in infrastructure spending; $1 trillion in ecological restoration; decommissioning all of America's nuclear power plants; open borders migration and immediate across-the-board debt forgiveness for all." These are not objectives that promote the interests of the rich and powerful, which suggests that those who claim this movement is un-American, anti-democratic, or even COINTELPRO are seriously mistaken or completely off-base. This movement appears to be profoundly populist and egalitarian and opposed to the exploitation of the middle class and of working families for the benefit of the rich and powerful.

Is OWS actually COINTELPRO?

The most extreme response has come from Henry Mankow, "Occupy Wall Street is COINTELPRO (Phony Opposition)", who resurrects some not-s0-ancient history regarding government abuses in the past: "COINTELPRO was the FBI acronym for 'Counter Intelligence Program'. COINTELPRO not only infiltrated domestic antiwar and civil rights protest groups, it also created them. By 1968, the largest leading 'counterculture' groups were entirely FBI/CIA controlled. In fact the leading 'Anti-Establishment' figures of the late 60's early 70's were outed years later as having been double agents for the CIA." But while there are multiple reasons across a wide range of contexts to reflect upon Lenin's observation, "The best way to control the opposition is to lead it", that appears to be extremely unlikely with a movement that appears to have deep roots in the American experience of the past several decades, which originated with the "supply side" economic policies of Ronald Reagan, which even David Stockman, who was his chief economic adviser, has acknowledged were intended to drive up the federal deficit to astronomical levels where the social welfare programs initiated by FDR would no longer be sustainable.

Discussing the movement on Russia Today

It was a disastrous plan that has made the rich richer and the poor poorer while concurrently undermining the strength and vitality of our nation's economy. No one who has been following this movement, however, should take Mankow's idea seriously. Consider the following sampler of developments related to the movement, which include the arrest of Princeton Professor Cornell West and of anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, where even the Los Angeles City Counsel has voted unanimously to support the "Occupy LA" movement in its own community:

Arrests made after Phoenix 'Occupy' protests 16 Oct 2011 About 50 Occupy Phoenix protesters descended on the Fourth Avenue Jail in Phoenix to support the 45 demonstrators arrested early Sunday. "Bankers get a bailout and we get jail," they chanted before marching back to Cesar Chavez Plaza on Sunday afternoon. Later that evening, about 150 demonstrators crowded the sidewalks at the plaza under the watch of police officers. Three demonstrators were arrested when they refused to get off the street after the plaza's closing hour.

Cornel West one of 19 arrested at Supreme Court 16 Oct 2011 Liberal professor Cornel West was one of 19 people arrested on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Sunday, according to the Associated Press, as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. West, a former Harvard University professor now teaching at Princeton University, took part Sunday in the dedication of the monument to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He then, according to media reports, moved on to a protest at the home of the high court. A well-known commentator on civil rights issues, West recently got into a TV spat with presidential candidate Herman Cain, telling Cain to "get off the symbolic crack pipe."

Cindy Sheehan arrested at Wall Street protest in Sacramento 16 Oct 2011 Anti-war mother Cindy Sheehan was arrested along with 18 other demonstrators at Cesar Chavez Park in Sacramento early Sunday, police said. Sheehan, 53, was booked into Sacramento County Jail at 3:15 a.m. for unlawful assembly in the park and failing to follow police orders to disburse, police said. Occupy Sacramento reported there have been 58 arrests at the park at Ninth and I streets across from City Hall since the nationwide protests began Oct. 6.

L.A. City Council Votes to Support Occupy LA 12 Oct 2011 Occupy LA has gained the official support of the Los Angeles City Council after it unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday afternoon. It now heads to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for his approval or veto... A handful of local banking leaders spoke up, reminding the council that they invest in the community, but the crowd was overwhelmingly in support of the nascent national movement that seeks to bring attention to and solve a number of issues surrounding jobs, banks and corporations.

More Balanced Assessments

Among the most responsible discussions of this movement has come from Ted Morgan, 'US Congress in jitters over OWS' (17 October 2011), who believes that the movement has reached a critical stage, where both parties in Congress are becoming worried that the political situation may be spinning out of their control. The movement has now spread to ten or more major cities in the United States, including Seattle, LA, Dallas, and Boston, where the spate of arrests suggests that police and local officials may also be willing to take strong-arm measures to suppress these protests. Consider:

Hundreds arrested at 'Occupy' events in Chicago, Denver, Arizona, as movement spreads across U.S. 16 Oct 1011 Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested in Chicago and other cities on Saturday night and Sunday morning, as the anti-corporate fury from the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York continue to spread across the country. Shortly after 1 a.m. in Chicago, police arrested some 175 protesters who had set up a makeshift tent city and formed a human chain in Congress Plaza by Grant Park, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.

175 Chicago protesters arrested after being told to leave Grant Park 16 Oct 2011 Chicago police arrested about 175 Occupy Chicago protestors in Congress Plaza just after 1 a.m. Sunday, about 90 minutes after police issued their first warning that the group was violating municipal code. Police completed the last arrests and cleared the plaza of protesters at 3:30 am, more than two hours after arrests began. The protesters will likely be cited with municipal violations and face fines, police said.

Peaceful protesters in New York

NY police arrest dozens of protesters 16 Oct 2011 At least 74 people have been arrested in New York City as police on horseback clashed with protesters in Times Square during a global day of demonstrations against corporate greed. Police loaded at least 45 "Occupy Wall Street" protesters who'd been detained at the square onto waiting vans. Thousands of demonstrators who'd mixed with tourists had poured into the major commercial intersection, amid a heavy security presence.

Thousands of protesters fill NYC's Times Square 15 Oct 2011 Thousands of demonstrators protesting corporate greed filled Times Square on Saturday night, mixing with gawkers, Broadway showgoers, tourists and police to create a chaotic scene in the midst of Manhattan. "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!" protesters chanted from within police barricades. Police, some in riot gear and mounted on horses, tried to push them out of the square and onto the sidewalks in an attempt to funnel the crowds away.

Current Developments

Jerry Mazza, who lives and works in New York, has been following the movement from its inception. Saturday night was only October 15th, but "New Year's Eve-size crowds of Occupy Wall Street protestors filled Times Square with their incredible chants and signs, surrounded by a sea of cops, many of whom we find out were paid mercenaries, some not even cops but ex-military, some rent-a-cops, purposely inciting an incident that causes 70 arrests," he writes, "the most amazing thing I've seen since the end of WW II as a boy."

"On the other side of Seventh Avenue, there were an equal number of protesters waving their wonderful slogans in the chill breeze. I think someone should publish a book of their chants, secular poetry for the New Police State. A soldier held a sign “2nd TIME I’VE FOUGHT FOR MY COUNTRY, FIRST TIME I’VE KNOWN THE ENEMY.” The rhythm of the crowd and chants was like an ocean. It just took you in its current. You talked to strangers and they talked to you, as if you were old friends against the system and knew all about it." The enthusiasm and sense of shared commitment he sensed in the crowd suggested that they are serious and here for the long run, nothing less.

Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the only independent in the United States Senate, has called for a boycott on the nation's largest banks. As "The Hill" reported it, "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) doubled down on his anti-Wall Street rhetoric over the weekend, encouraging protesters to withdraw money from the major banks and calling the financial industry “the most powerful, dangerous and secretive” institution in the United States. “People might want to think about going to your local community bank and withdrawing funds from these large institutions,” Sanders said in tweet on Sunday, which was replaced with a toned-down version of the same proposal: “People might choose to move their money out of the large banks and into local community banks or credit unions.”

‎"The Vermont senator has been a vocal supporter of the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests, but these latest comments were his sharpest to date. In a string of tweets leading up to his call for a run on the banks, Sanders offered ideas he says would "change the system to work for all Americans, not just the top one-percent," including a Wall Street speculation fee and a cap on credit card interest rates. Sanders continued criticizing the financial industry on Monday, both in an editorial at Roll Call and to a newspaper in his home state." It would be admirable if others were to follow his lead, including Ron Paul (R-TX) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). But it would be too much to expect from Barack Obama, who has long since sold out his followers for wars that he claimed to oppose and policies, like the PATRIOT Act and The Military Commissions Act, which he as President should have repealed, not to mention closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Does he have any concept of the irony that he is bombing Libya while we are protesting for benefits they already had?

Future Expectations

Somewhat surprisingly, the most astute assessment of the movement was presented on PressTV (Iran), "Israel and US, assassination experts" (October 17, 2011), during an interview with Rodney Shakespeare, a qualified UK barrister and Professor of Binary Economics at Triskti University, the largest private institution of higher learning in Indonesia, who has offered a sobering evaluation of the current situation and why the governments of these nations, especially the United States, are likely to respond with force, which, I fear, may lead to the eventual fulfillment of JFK's observation that those who make peaceful change impossible make violent revolution inevitable. Consider:

Press TV: Rodney Shakespeare, tell us what you think, these are not as the headlines say against the banking industry, but it's really not just about that is it? It's about... if you want to call it inequality, of course which spreads to many different facets of people's lives in particular in the UK. Tell us how and why people have these gripes and are discontent and unsatisfied?

Shakespeare: Inequality is not quite the description. You're looking at what I assume is soon going to be thousands of very uneasy and/or distressed people. They are uneasy because even if they have a job, the chances are that that job is part-time and they're going to lose it. They're uneasy because if they're students they're going to end up with huge levels of debt and they'll never be able to get a housing level.

They're distressed when they are actually out of work and have no prospects of work in the years to come. They're distressed because they're not going to retire at a normal age; they're going to work for the rest of their lives. They're distressed in particular as they see that the whole system is in fact collapsing and the governments / authorities have no effective remedy whatsoever. In their thinking there is no... They think they have a solution but in practice they do not know what to do.

The calm before the storm

We're looking at the first stages of what is a global insurrection in which people realize how precarious and fragile their economic position is. You made a point, you and [Press TV correspondent] Narges, about the peaceful protests. Well, yes; very largely, certainly in London, the protest is peaceful. But such a process is now so fundamental that it amounts to a direct challenge to a collapsing system. And at some point, those in charge of the system are bound to turn nasty.

And that is why, yes, you are seeing the police putting on their riot gear; yes, you are seeing people arrested, because the repression at some stage, perhaps not today, but certainly in the weeks to come, is going to turn nasty and very, very violent because the government has no other alternative in its mind. And [the government] basically thinks that those who are protesting are in the wrong. And it thinks that because its assumption is that it represents the system, which is always basically in balance.

And when it gets a little bit out of balance, after a period of weeks or maybe a period of months, the system will come into balance, in which it assumes there is justice and fair outcomes. But there is none of that. People realize that there is none of that and the system is collapsing; so you're looking at the early stages of massive protests and what, I'm sorry to say, is going to be a very nasty, sluggish suppression.

In my view, the deregulation of the banking system to restore the right of banks to be both investment and savings institutions represented a crucial blunder in recent US history, where the Glass-Steagall Act (1933) was intended to preclude the very kinds of speculations that have brought the American economy to its knees: "The year before the repeal, sub-prime loans were just five percent of all mortgage lending. By the time the credit crisis peaked in 2008, they were approaching 30 percent." Even though John McCain (R-AZ) and others have proposed its reinstatement, most Republicans have opposed it and the Bank of America came out squarely against it. When Obama took a swing at it, he was initially supported by Paul Vokler, but during an interview in May 2010, he denied that he was supporting a return to Glass-Steagall.

The kinds of reforms that the movement represents, such as a universal single-payer health care system; guaranteed living-wage income regardless of employment; free college education; $1 trillion in infrastructure spending; $1 trillion in ecological restoration; decommissioning all of America's nuclear power plants; open borders migration and immediate across-the-board debt forgiveness for all, are worthy of support by every civilized American. It will take much more to reform our political system, including public financing for federal elections, jettisoning the use of voting machines that can easily be rigged, and keeping lobbyists from writing legislation that regulates the interests they represent. None of this is likely to happen without a long and protracted struggle, which will demonstrate the wisdom of JFK's observation.

Jim Fetzer, a former Marine Corps officer, is the founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth and McKnight Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

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Flossing can be Murder: Inventor becomes Victim

Flossing can be Murder (Update): Inventor becomes Victim

Jim Fetzer and Sean Dix

Sean Dix at "Occupy Wall Street"

Sean Dix has invented an ingenious device known as "the floss ring". He brought it to Johnson & Johnson (hereafter "J&J") in 1994, unaware that J&J had been attempting to develop a similar product of its own, but without success. That began a series of horrendous experiences that culminated on 21 December 2009, with an apparent attempt on his life by means of a massive injection of flouride administered by his long-time dentist. He has made heroic attempts to expose the malfeasance by J&J by contacting local and state authorities. As you will read here, they now include efforts to file charges for attempted murder that have reached as high as the offices of Manhattan District Attorney then Robert Morganthau/now Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., the Office of the Attorney General then Andrew Cuomo of the State of New York, and even the Office of then Governor David Paterson/now Andrew Cuomo of New York.

On Sunday, 5 December 2010, Sean Dix, the inventor of the Floss Ring, sent the following letter to the prominent law firm of Dear, Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Lason, Anello & Bohrer, P.C., which lays out the basic elements of his story. To facilitate easy of reading, I have done some stylistic editing and added a few graphics. I have found his history so compelling that I interviewed him as my featured guest on "The Real Deal" on Friday, 1 April 2011, where the interview is archived at http://radiofetzer.blogspot.com. But there is nothing the least bit "April Foolish" about what he has had to endure. This is such a stunning example of corporate corruption that I am going to devote several blogs to exposing it. Lest anyone doubt that Sean had invented something of great interest and potential value, here, as a preface, is an excerpt from an article that appeared in The New York Times:

The New York Times
Business Day… Monday, November 16, 1998

Patents – Sabra Chartrand
“An entrepreneur hopes that sterilized dental floss will encourage people to keep their teeth cleaner.”

Many people dislike flossing their teeth and do so irregularly. Flossing has such a bad image that people tend to floss erratically even when they understand that it is the only way to really clean below the gum line. But Sean Dix is hoping that those people who do use dental floss will prefer a sterile product. Mr. Dix is a former diamond cutter turned inventor who won a patent a few years ago for inexpensive plastic rings that aid flossing. He had trouble flossing himself because of a skin condition: wrapping thin floss around his fingers irritated them. So he designed the rings, won a patent, quit his diamond-cutting job and became a full-time floss entrepreneur. Now Mr. Dix, who lives in New York, is expanding his business to include his newly patented sterile dental floss. His latest invention started when he learned how floss is traditionally manufactured...."

Elderly woman with Sean's J&J flyer on Wall Street

Ironically, "Occupy Wall Street" has created an opportunity for Sean to interact with a concerned and supportive audience. He has handed out thousands of his flyers. His story of the exploitation of an individual by a powerful corporation resonates with those who are there is protest the abuse of the people by bankers and traders who are only interested in enrichening themselves, no matter what the cost to the American public. He has been interviewed by reporters from many nations, but not by ABC, CBS, NBC or CNN, which flee as soon as they notice the name of "Johnson & Johnson". As I have explained to Sean, this may be because their airing of his charges against J&J might trigger a lawsuit by that company against them. That they have not put him on the air, therefore, does not mean that they would not be equally disturbed by what his experiences have to tell us about life in Amerika, the new fascist state blending big business with big government and dominating the media with propaganda and misinformation.

Here is my first but not my last interview with Sean on 8 April 2011, "Corporate Corruption Extraodinaire",

http://nwopodcast.com/fetz/media/jim%20fetzer%20real%20deal-dental%20floss%20conspiracy.mp3

and my subsequent interview with Mary Sparrowdancer on 27 April 2011, who has championed his cause:

http://nwopodcast.com/fetz/media/jim%20fetzer%20real%20deal-mary%20sparrowdancer.mp3

For more about this case, search "Sean Dix poison", including especially the virtually complete records of his astonishing case.

Sean's Story (told in the first-person)

In 1993 I invented "Floss Rings" and the first truly Sterilized Floss.

In 1994 I offered them to J&J not knowing that J&J had lied by falsely advertising its own floss as "Sterilized and Surgically Clean" 120 years ago as one of the longest false-ad campaigns in corporate history.

Few know that J&J helped underwrite the first Food and Drug Act of 1906 to ensure that this lie, among others, would not be exposed. On 30 September 2010, the Congressional Oversight Committee had J&J and the FDA answering questions about J&J's largest recall in corporate history. It's no mystery as to why J&J was reprimanded along with the FDA together, since J&J had been instrumental in the creation the FDA.

I own 55 years worth of these false floss ads--more than the ADA and Google combined. Here are some samples of its false advertising from 1906, 1912, and 1921:

Johnson & Johnson's "ABSOLUTELY ASEPTIC" floss (1906)

Johnson & Johnson's "guaranteed surgically clean" (1912)

Johnson & Johnson's "Surgically Clean Floss" (1921)









The floss discovery led me to uncover the biggest of J&J's misrepresentations, namely: that J&J had founded its company with the first "Sterilized Sutures" beginning in 1887. (You can visit J&J's website for its own "History".)

I have every J&J ad from January to October 1887, where J&J did not advertise in November or December of that year. All ten months in 1887 are full page advertisements for "Zonweiss Dental Cream". J&J claims as of this date to have pioneered Sterilized Sutures beginning in 1887. The truth is that J&J's first ad, which appeared in January 1887, had a "Gulliver's Travels" theme ending in October 1887 with a witch, who was selling "Zonweiss Dental Cream".

Sterilized sutures would not come for several more years and only after J&J had exhausted its advertisements for the failed Zonweiss Dental Cream. J&J had to finally get serious and come up with something that was useful. They did, but it took over a decade to perfect sutures and, as you can see, even today they are still recalling them because of contamination issues, so they never really did even get that right.

Of course this has nothing to do with J&J's Cat-A-Logs from the 1950s, where J&J mockingly joked about selling "Contaminated Sutures" in their Ethicons Suture Catalogs. (See Ethicon Catalog 1 and Ethicon Catalog 2). That was in poor taste even in 1950, but with people dropping like flies from J&J's products in hindsight, that is probably something J&J would prefer I hadn't found with several original volumes, with each picture and caption worse than the next.

Needless to say, J&J had and still has a vested interest in keeping me silent and off the market, which they have done for the most part for the past 14 years to everyones detriment, beginning with influencing CNN to air a hatchet job on my company on 12 June 1996, which was one week before my "FlossRings" were placed in the National Museum of Dentistry, where they are additionally listed under "George Washington's Ivory Teeth" as one of its 32 permanent public exhibits.

The Pursuit of Justice

My pursuit of justice eventually appears to have led J&J to have an operative contact me to threaten my life by describing the numerous ways that I could be killed and make it look like an accident or suicide. Poisoning was mentioned more than any other method--and several times. This was unsettling as I had originally offered my patents to J&J, where its unethical negotiating practices had prompted me to end discussions with them. Concerned about these death threats thinly disguised as "worldly advice", I contacted as many of the proper authorities as possible, only to be ignored at the mention of CNN or J&J. I have included three clips of over ten mentions of how I could be killed. [Co-author's note: several of them were played during the interview on "The Real Deal" on Friday, 1 April 2011, which can be accessed above and at http://radiofetzer.blogspot.com.]

Supporting expert documentation

Frustrated with having my business ruined on CNN and being threatened for pursuing justice and being ignored on both complaints, I felt I had no choice but to document it for the public record by forcing their hand. Seven months after becoming tired of looking over my shoulder, I generated a federal trial by issuing a letter containing threatening language designed to generate a trial to expose the true threats that were made against me insofar as the government was doing nothing on my behalf. My intentions to get into court by violating positive law were not only described in my letter but were explained to Joel Klein--the head of the Federal Anti-Trust Division at the time--in a letter prior to the letter that generated my trial. The arresting detective by the name of "Everett" even testified that this was my stated purpose and that he was had been hired by CNN to try and prevent my letter from going out before I faxed it. They all knew.

I was arrested and finally had a day in court because the government had refused to listen any other way. The federal judge and prosecutor did everything possible to tilt my trial in their favor beginning with introducing me to the jury pool with my hands behind my back being escorted by two correctional officers. I was offered "time served" but declined in favor of documenting the truth for history. Needless to say, I was railroaded and spent a year in jail and was put on probation where my court ordered psychologist, Dr. Caffery, agreed on tape that he believed that what J&J did was criminal and that he was willing to "bet money on it" along with the fact that he knew I generated my trial to expose what happened to me and that the government had further harmed me, knowing full well why I had generated my trial. He stated that he could do something about it, but he, like everyone else. chose not to; so I stopped going to him, which prompted my re-arrest one calender year to the day later.

Another Miscarriage of Justice

This time Federal Judge Clarence Cooper acknowledged on transcript that he knew that I had generated my trial to expose what happened to me and that Turner (CNN) had perpetuated a wrong upon me, but still sent me to prison--this time for another year--stating that at some point I had to give up my campaign for truth and justice. I found it especially ironic to be lectured on giving up by a black judge (Clarence Cooper) in Atlanta, no less, the home of the civil rights movement whose struggles had eventually afforded him his lofty position only by not giving up. In prison I suffered a severe MRSA infection, which I believe was intentionally given to me and lasted for a solid year after my release. This may have actually been the first attempt on my life, since some of the boils were so severe I almost passed out; but I refused to go to the doctor on the prison compound, fearing that they were waiting for me to show up. Pulling out boils the size of marbles with no anesthetic in a prison with inadequate medical supplies was an experience I would not wish even upon those who gave me the experience.

When Governor Paterson replaced Elliott Spitzer, I sent him a package with the death threats and supporting documentation in the hopes that he would open an investigation. He sent back a letter stating for the first time that my difficulties were a "criminal matter". This was the first time any government official had ever classified what has happened to me as a criminal matter and instructed me to contact District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, which I did three times over the next year-and-a-half via certified mail. DA Morgenthau never responded and, when I called to follow up, I was told that the DA's office didn't care what the Governor thought.

On 25 February 2009, I contacted Lucinda Franks, Morgenthau's wife, in an attempt to reach Morgenthau. (I have Lucinda Franks' E-mail.) I had no other agenda other than to reach him but, two days later, I read in Crains, NY, that Morgenthau would be ending his re-election bid. I later explained this to a State Supreme Court Justice, who personally knows Morgenthau, who told me he would look into it. When I subsequently saw the Justice, who refers to me as his friend, he told me, "You did it!", in reference to our conversation about Morgenthau days earlier; and I believed him, even though I had no intention of ending his re-election bid. I simply wanted him to address my concerns.

A notice about Floss Rings from PREVENTION Magazine (November 1997)




The Attempted Murder

Six months after my last letter to Morgenthau in April 2009, I was poisoned at my dentist's office. The date was 21 December 2009. I was given a syringe full of fluoride sublingually that left me unable to hold a conversation that night with a friend who had called me. I was in a fluoride induced stupor for the next 17 days. I recorded all of my calls with my dentists office beginning the next morning; I was lied to over 40 times by being told that no fluoride was used until she slipped and admitted using fluoride twice two weeks later. I have in total 17 conversations with no less that 60 confirmed lies including the "smoking gun" that fluoride had been used on me. I even saved my urine the morning after as it was the darkest urine I had ever seen in my life. It was blood I was urinating.

My urine later forensically tested positive for fluoride with levels of 160-132mg/L (the EPA standard being 1mg/L or lower), while my creatinine levels were 5636mg/L, which is indicative of acute kidney failure. The normal range is 300-3000 where 1000 mg/L being the normal range. My kidneys, eye sight, bones, and other body parts have been affected, even though, fortunately, I continue to recover due to my diet of primarily raw fruits and vegetables. I have been told that my alkaline diet is what saved me and that I should be dead, with no doubt, where others have died with less fluoride in their urine.

On 27 January 2010, I tried to file criminal charges, but was basically discouraged by the NYPD and the FBI; and, after contacting the DA's office, I left a voicemail message that was never returned. I was told by the NYPD to get a lawyer to bring this case to the DA; but the lawyers I spoke with would not touch my case unless I could have a toxicologist summarize the raw forensics. I found a toxicologist who agreed to provide a narrative and began asking for more data without ever giving me a cost or completion estimate. Six months into this ordeal, I was told that the toxicologist wanted to publish my case in a peer review journal and in her book, at which point I felt awkward saying "No" after she supposedly had been working on her narrative for six months.

A False Criminal Complaint

Eventually the dentist who knew she was being privately investigated filed a false criminal complaint stating that I threatened to kill her no doubt citing my previous case. On 31 August 2010, I was threatened with arrest by a detective named "Morales" from her precinct, who sounded more like a friend of hers who was attempting to intimidate me and who told me that my charges would not be entertained at their precinct, the 19th.

I then asked the toxicologist to please contact the DA's office to let him know that she was working on a narrative and would soon conclude it, since she had finally set a deadline of 1 September 2010, which came and went without the narrative as promised. The toxicologist told the Special Prosecutor, Thomas Wornom, that she would be ruling that I was poisoned but that she was also going to publish it in an article and subsequently promised him a copy of the narrative before I was to receive it, which I objected to since the DA's office had all but ignored everything that led up to my being poisoned.

This led to a rift that was not to be resolved when the toxicologist changed our agreement yet again by stating that she wanted to provide the narrative as a "private letter" to the DA, which, in my opinion, was to protect the publishing rights which had now apparently superceded my request for a one page statement from our first meeting in February 2010, which I needed to have in order to file charges as instructed, so I could discover exactly what kind of fluoride compound I was poisoned with, how much and why. I believe J&J is behind it but that needs to be proven in court through a real investigation.

The Toxicological Report

Eventually I had to hire another toxicologist to review the same forensic data and found Dr. Michael J. Norvell, a Board Certified Toxicologist with 25 years experience, who was able to provide a simple one page statement of fact that I had suffered a classic case of fluoride poisoning and that finding out exactly what the fluoride compound was and how much was critical to my current and future health. I submitted his report (see Flossrings.rtf & CV1.rtf) on 26 November 2010 via fax and followed up monday morning asking whether Thomas Wornom had questioned the dentist Diana Deidan to find out what exactly she poisoned me with, how much and why. I was unable to reach him until Thursday, 2 December 2010, when Thomas Wornom told me that he had not questioned Diana Deidan and had no intention of questioning her and that I should seek a civil attorney.

Stunned at this blatant disregard for my life even after a Board Certified Toxicologist had ruled that I was poisoned, I called the next morning 3 December 2010 and spoke with Jeanette Molina in Cyrus Vance's office to explain that a Board Certified Toxicologist had issued a statement that I had suffered a classic case of fluoride poisoning, while the dentist is clearly on record denying it over 40 times before admitting it twice and then denying it again, after I have been threatened with being poisoned and spent two years in prison for attempting to expose it!

Of special note : Several days after I was poisoned I ran into the Supreme Court Justice with whom I had conversed about Morganthau. Upon seeing me, he looked as if he had seen a ghost. His body language immediately registered as someone who did not expect me to be walking around and he has since avoided speaking with me at all costs. And this is a man knows Morgenthau personally. What am I to make of that?!

Reflections on My Death

A poster fitting the occasion

If I am to be openly murdered in the not too distant future, I would like a few facts to be known.

I have tried to be a productive citizen but this has been denied in every way possible or the past 14 years.

After living with the threat of premature death for simply trying to fulfill my potential and enjoy the fruits of my labor, I have been unconstitutionally incarcerated and finally poisoned in similar manner to that which I was threatened with. I have suffered the near total loss of all but my physical life and that is still not guaranteed. This is not a life, and I believe that the functions of these various methods of social isolation, financial ruin, intentional poisoning and then denial of any justice is designed to push me over the edge so that I may be murdered "legitimately" by this government .

Unfortunately for this government, I am no murderer and I will not give them an opportunity to destroy what I have tried to build and offer humanity, which has been clinically proven to be as effective as the toothbrush if not more so. Valued at over $250 million a year by Florida State University (using figures supplied by J&J), one would think the government would want to see me thriving instead--but apparently not. There is no shame dying or being murdered for trying to live in peace and contributing to humanity with whatever talents one has the potential to offer. There is shame in never living for any other purpose than to deprive others of their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and the fruits of their labor.

For the Firm

I believe I have a solid case against the City, & State of New York, Robert Mogenthau, the current DA's office, J&J, and many others, where my purpose for contacting you is two-fold:

I hope you [Co-author's note: the firm to whom this letter, in its original version, was directed] can take my case on contingency, given the overwhelming proof that I have backed up in multiples at the minimum to prevent being wiped out as I have almost been and you can do the right thing by not only me but humanity or you can recuse yourselves, as you might have to defend the current DA, in which case this will serve as a sample discovery for you to digest. I believe in transparency and so I have no problem sharing all of my files with anyone J&J included. That is what a fair trial would consist--a comparison of facts available to both sides.

On a final note. I have been told that I was responsible for Morgenthau stepping down, even though that wasn't remotely on my mind. I am curious to know what a serious effort might yield along with irrefutable facts in an article that is soon to be posted. The last one can be found googling "CNN J&J" where you should find, "Sean Dix: The American Dream and Justice, Part One", by Mary Sparrowdancer. "Part Two" was nearing its completion when I was poisoned. Now my story has become even more convoluted. Truth is stranger than fiction.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Sean Dix
The FlossRing Company
145 East 15th Street 12-A
New York, NY 10003
www.FlossRings.com

P.S. I forgot to mention that the 86 year old holocaust survivor whose shop I learned the jewelry business in some 25 years ago right around the corner from your office on 47th street stated right off the bat that J&J must have been behind my being poisoned without any prompting on my part.

Jim Fetzer, a former Marine Corps officer, is McKnight Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Sean Dix is the inventor of "The Floss Ring" and a dedicated American who stands up for the principles on which this nation was founded.

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Libya, Green Flags, and The Heart of Darkness

by Jim Fetzer (and Christof Lehmann)

 


NATO bombing in Tripoli, Libya

One of the great virtues of Veterans Today appears to be that diverse opinions about the most important issues that confront us are welcomed with respect as long as they are well-reasoned and responsible.  I have been dismayed by the support for NATO's intervention in Libya from some of our most significant contributors, which has led me to conduct interviews and additional research about what is going on there.  That the first act of this "rebel uprising" was to found a new central bank told me that something very strange was taking place.  That NATO, which was founded as a collective defensive alliance to respond to an invasion of Europe by the USSR, has been involved in the bombing of civilians in a nation that has not attacked any other, has stunned me.

Ghadafi has brought Libya a national health care system, public education and funding for  attending college, sharing oil revenues with the Libyan people and the highest standard of living in Africa. Every Libyian has an inalienable right to have a home.  If appropriate training and eduction was not offered in Libya, stipends are granted for studying abroad.  Every newly wedded couple  receives up to $50,000US to start their own family.  Ghadafi promised that his own parents would not have their own home until the rest of the people had theirs--and he kept that promise.  The adult literacy rate in Lybia was on the order of 89% in 2009, 94% for males and 83%  for females.  99.9% of its youth are literate, according to the U.N.  To the extent  to which he qualifies as a "dictator", he appears to be an unusually benevolent one.

But he has also abandoned the petro-dollar and plans to place Libyan currency on a new gold standard, which the world's banking cartel has opposed, which appears to be the real reason NATO has been bombing his nation and massacring tens of thousands of its citizens. From interviews I have done with Ellen Brown and others, I am convinced that the attack on Libya has nothing to do with freedom and democracy and everything to do with the independence of Libya from the international banking system, which is capped by the Bank of International Settlements as "to top of the pyramid" of the New World Order.  That is my take on this, where the parallels with Iraq are disturbing.

Like Ghadafi, Saddam Hussein was also demonized. Iraq was the most modern and sophisticated Arab state, with national health care and public education systems, a reliable infrastructure producing water and electricity, as well as antiquities and artifacts dating back thousands of years.  But it was a political rival that offset the influence of Israel and had to be taken out.  I am therefore featuring the latest study by Dr. Christof Lehmann, a practicing clinical psychologist, a life time peace activist, political advisor, and advisor in behavior, finance, economics, conflict resolution and peace building, which I have edited for publication here. He has been and is active as political advisor, in work on human rights, international relations and peace, Palestinian issues, and other activities.  You can learn more about him and nsnbc in the closing note.

 

Libya, Green Flags, and The Heart of Darkness.

 

Posted on October 9, 2011 by nsnbc

Reflections by Dr. Christof Lehmann (with Jim Fetzer)


Dr. Christof Lehmann

After Muammar Ghadafi recently encouraged the Libyan people to peacefully protest NATO aggression and occupation, there are demonstrations throughout Libya. Both Russia and China have voiced gravest concerns about NATO´s abuse of resolution 1973 on Libya and The African Union is following suit. Will any of the players that could be decisive put their money where their mouth is.  The truth embargo of Western Media on Libya is slowly undermined by independent media, and the defeat of NATO and the TNC becomes increasingly difficult to mask.  The result so far has been an humanitarian disaster and overt NATO aggression on unprecedented scale.     

Since Muammar Ghadafi addressed the Libyan Population and world political leaders on 6 October 2011, there are careful, but widespread demonstrations throughout Libya, calling for an immediate end of NATO´s bombing and ground campaign. With over 2,000 civilians killed in Sirte alone and one military defeat after the other, even Western Corporate media find it increasingly difficult to mask the bitter truth. All that NATO and its bitterly divided TNC proxy with their CIA imported “rebels” have achieved so far is the murder and massacre of tens of thousands of Libyans, an unprecedented ongoing humanitarian disaster and an unprecedented infamy in NATO´s aggression that is bound to have global consequences.

China and Russia's recent veto on a U.N. Resolution on Syria was a long expected response to NATO's aggression. Both China and Russia voiced that they would not allow any new U.N. Resolutions that could possibly be abused like NATO`s abuse of U.N.-Resolution 1973 on Libya. A nsnbc source in Moscow reported from a meeting at the Russian State Duma on Friday that all political parties of Russia agree that Russia should vote against a prolongation of a U.N.-Mandate in Afghanistan; further more Russia would “demand” a significant reduction of U.S. and NATO military presence in the former Soviet republics bordering Afghanistan, Pakistan and China. The question is, will this new found courage of the Russian Bear manifest in action that stops NATO's aggression in Libya before further tens of thousands have lost their lives?


Muammar Ghadafi

After Russia and China took a stronger position on NATO's aggression in Libya, the African Union has followed suit, emphasizing that NATO had abused the African Union's support of Resolution 1973. The “protection of civilian lives” by NATO is daily killing unarmed civilians. To answer the question of, Will the members of the African Union will put their money where their mouth is?, the answer is, “without Libya, many have no money, so they would be best served by backing their recent political grand standing before corporate media up with diplomatic as well as military action“.

According to a Libyan diplomat, Libya is one of five African Countries, besides Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa, who have together stood for 75% of the African Union's budget. Mali, Congo, Liberia, Niger, Chad, the central African Republic, Mauritania, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Gambia have all received substantial support that has secured these nations development and their political stability, security and peace. The best advise any independent political advisor could give those nations, and the African Union, therefore, is that great challenges require great leadership and courageous decisions. Anything less than unequivocal solidarity in demands for an immediate end to NATO's aggression in Northern Africa and a shift in foreign policy towards China and Russia will inevitably project Africa into a second era of colonization. How would Joseph Conrad write about Africa today?  where is the heart of Darkness today?


Edward Said (1935-2003)

While Western Corporate Media, including Al Jazeera, have increasing difficulties in maintaining the positive narrative of "singing tomorrows" and "Arabian Spring Rebels" depicted as the worst case scenario of an Applied Orientalism that would be put to shame in an instant had the world not lost Edward Said, their narrative is increasingly rejected by even the most misinformed. As a life long journalist and Middle East Expert Einar Schlerth said in a correspondence with nsnbc this morning, “The Alternative Media are slowly sticking holes into Mainstream Medias Narratives“.

The TNC ("Trust No Colleague”) has today been plagued by one more shootout among its top level representatives. A planned meeting between representatives of the TNC and the Italian Oil Firm ENI at the Riksos Hotel in Tripoli ended in a shootout between the TNC representatives and their respective bodyguards, after the delegation from ENI failed to manifest. Only a few days ago the oil field installations at Babu Avel that produce oil for Italian ENI were destroyed by Libyan Forces. Yesterday the oil field should have come on line again, but installations were immediately destroyed by Libyan Forces. A nsnbc source close to the TNC could yesterday evening inform nsnbc that representatives of the TNC had been approached by “a US-Intelligence Service", suggesting a division of Libya into a Northern and a Southern State.

The military situation for NATO and the TNC has not changed significantly. The majority of NATO and the TNC's casualties are those unlucky enough to be in the way for indiscriminate artillery fire and precision bombing. But with today's “smart bombs”, what excuse could there possibly be for yesterday's bombing of the major hospital in Sirte? The Libyan Forces in Sirte are holding on. The fact that the city is still allowed to endure the thick of a full-scale modern colonial war by NATO; the fact that neither China nor Russia, nor the African Union, nor any of its member states have put their money where their mouth is with respect to the daily massacres and the rape of Libya; the fact that the U.N. is utterly discredited and impotent and nothing but the instrument designed to provide apparent legitimacy for the rape of sovereign nations; and the fact that leaders like Robert Mugabe are trembling from suppressed outrage when speaking “in the chambers of this most august organization” are all significant for one reason and one reason only.


Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe

Unless African Nations rapidly change their foreign and security alliances towards China and Russia and unless African Nations and other nations that are at the receiving end of “Humanitarianism a la the U.N.” will most urgently initiate diplomatic initiatives to build a true international community; and unless the African Leaders will show a long-awaited and long overdue display of personal and political integrity and courage in leadership and defiance against the continuous colonization of their continent, there will be many a Joseph Conrad needed to point out where the Heart of Darkness is today. Sunday in Libya.

About nsnbc

nsnbc is a news-media, edited by Dr. Christof Lehmann. Born in Germany in 1958, Masters and Doctoral Degree in Psychology, 1982 and 1986, Dr. Christof Lehmann is a practicing clinical psychologist, a life time peace activist, political advisor, and advisor in behavior, finance, economics, conflict resolution and peace building. He has been and is active as political advisor, in work on human rights, international relations and peace, Palestinian issues, and other activities. Dr. Christof Lehmann founded nsnbc in August 2011 in indignation about the prevalent embargo on truth. nsnbc is bringing you No Spin News by Christof Lehmann, as well as a number of other independent experts, writers, journalists and activists from throughout the world.  View all posts by nsnbc →

 

Jim Fetzer, a former Marine Corps officer, is McKnight Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Duluth and a collaborator with Dr. Christof Lehmann.

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9/11 Interview with IRNA (The Islamic Republic News Agency)

9/11 Interview with IRNA (The Islamic Republic News Agency)

Jim Fetzer

Perhaps the most interesting of my 9/11 interviews was one with IRNA (The Islamic Republic News Agency) of Iran, which came in the form of a series of written interrogatories. I have discussed it and the problems entailed by its translation into Farsi and then back into English in a column on Veterans Today. Here I want to present the bare bones of the questions asked and answers given, for those who may be searching for an overview about 9/11.

As the founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth and retired professional scholar, I have expended considerable time and effort interacting with those in professions complementary to my own in the history and philosophy of science, including pilots, physicists, engineers (aeronautical, structural, mechanical) and many other disciplines. A summary of our scientific findings about 9/11 may be found at this link and of our analysis of the politics of 9/11 here.

This interview has been published in Farsi here. I would be most grateful to anyone fluent in that language if they could compare my submission with the translation provided there. The limitations of machine translation (from Farsi into English) are, at this point in time, rather severe, which means that the gross inadequacy of such a translation does not mean that this was not translated properly by IRNA. Here are the questions I was asked and the answers I gave.


Hello Mr James Fetzer
Again I thank you for this interview.

Questions:

1- Has this incident been faked or terrorist? What are your reasons?

The events of 9/11 were elaborately staged to instill fear into the American people to make them easier to manipulate for political purposes, especially by supporting a "War on Terror" involving invasions of countries that never attacked us, including Afghanistan and Iraq, especially. See "Peeling the 9/11 Onion: Layers of Plots within Plots", Veterans Today.

2- Despite the strong security system in the USA, is it possible for such an incident to occur?

Because elements at the highest levels of the Department of Defense and the Pentagon--no doubt including the CIA were involved in planning and executing these events, including the 17 "anti-terrorism" drills that were taking place that morning. They completely defeated any possibility of a military response to these "hijackings". And because the American press has been bought--lock, stock, and barrel--by powerful corporations who no longer have the dedication to investigation and integrity to expose the truth about 9/11.

3- What are the goals behind the incident?

They were to seize the opportunity created by the demise of the USSR that left the USA as the sole remaining superpower. Those who were involved in the Project for the New American Century believed they could create a world in which the United States would dominate the world for the next 100 years--if only the American people could be convinced there existed a threat justifying the restriction of civil liberties and massive expenditures to support wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan--and potentially Libya, Pakistan, Syria, and even Iran. It was a diabolical plan.

4. What do you think about existence of Al Qaeda? Is it a fictional group or a real?

Al Qaeda was a creation of the CIA for the purpose of funding resistance to the Soviets when they invaded Afghanistan. The US provided missiles to the resistance that enabled them to shoot down Russian helicopters, which made the incursion too costly to continue. The role of Osama bin Laden as an American operative in that operation has been conveniently omitted from the history books and films like "Charlie Wilson's War".

5. What about it's leader, Ben Laden? In 2002 Mr Alex Jones, Film Producer Radio host, announced, he was dead. Do you think that is true?

Yes, Osama bin Laden died on or about 15 December 2001. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Afghanistan. David Ray Griffin has a book about it, OSAMA BIN LADEN: DEAD OR ALIVE? (2009), which lays out evidence of his death at that time. In "Seven Questions about 9/11", Veterans Today, I quote experts who were not only told that Osama by the nation's highest ranking general at the time that Osama died in 2001 but that the events of 9/11 were a "false flag" attack, as I have described it above.

6. Please explain your theory about 9/11?

My most extensive discussion may be found in "Peeling the 9/11 Onion: Layers of Plots within Plots", Veterans Today. There were many forms of deception. The first was to suggest that the Palestinians were involved. The second that it was done by 19 Islamic fundamentalists. The third that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were involved. The fourth that it happened by accident because the US intelligence agencies were not communicating, all to cover up that it was arranged by the CIA, the Department of Defense, and the Israeli Mossad. No one gained more from 9/11 than did Israel, which I also address in that article and in "The BBC's instrument of 9/11 misinformation", which is also archived at Veterans Today.

7. What is the connection between 9/11 and financial crisis?

These wars of aggression have undermined the national security of the United States, which depends upon economic vitality, military strength and moral standing. We are not only depleting our military strength by conducting too many wars at the same time with repeated rotations of the same troops, over and over, but they are depleting the national treasury of trillions of dollars, while the world stands in dismay at the corruption of the standing of America, which used to be a beacon of truth and justice for the people of the world. Sad to say, that is no longer the case today.

8. Some say that before 9/11 certain shareholders traded their shares because they were aware of this incident. What is your opinion?

Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, the co-chairs of The 9/11 Commission, have indicated that they know who placed those short-options, but that they could not have had anything to do with 9/11. Apparently, they traced it back to the CIA. If these guys had no more understand that this, they had no business being co-chairs of that commission, since they had no grasp of the depth of duplicity of the CIA, the FBI, and other federal agencies.

9. Who are the winners and the losers of 9/11?

The greatest beneficiary, no doubt, has been Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu, when first asked about 9/11, said it was good--then realized his blunder and added, "Well, it's not good. But at least the Americans will know what it's like to have to deal with terrorism". There are many indications that the Mossad was involved, from 200 "art students" in this country, many of whom were following those who would be cast as the "patsies", to "the Dancing Israelis", to the dual US-Israeli citizens who dominated the Department of Defense, to Dov Zakheim, who was the comptroller of the Pentagon when $2.3 trillion when missing, to Michael Chertoff, who directed the release of "the Dancing Israelis" (who returned to Israel, where three of them went on television to report that they were there to "document" the destruction of the World Trade Center), to Urban Moving Systems, a Mossad asset, and much, much more.

US military force is being used to destroy the integrity of Arab states for the benefit of Israel by turning them into smaller "statelets" based upon religious and ethic affiliations, where Iraq will dissolve into Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish mini-states, and similar consequences will occur throughout the region, which will leave Israel as the most dominant state in the Middle East--except for Iran, which is why they are trying to promote a war with Iran. The US has been the big loser, where the depletion of its national treasury, the sapping of its military strength, and the damage to its standing as a beacon of truth, justice, and morality has taken a massive hit--which has become even more costly with the corrupt and immoral use of NATO as an instrument of aggression in attacking Libya, another state that has never attacked the US.

10. Could this be related to Zionism?

Yes, without doubt. Virtually all the principals involved in 9/11 were fervent Zionists, who believe in Jewish superiority and the entitlement of Israel to the lands of Palestine, which rests upon dubious historical precedents. I regard Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Pearl, Donald Feith, William Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, Gen. Richard Myers, Rudi Giuliani, and Larry Silverstein as among the principals behind 9/11. Dick Cheney even appears to have been the one coordinating events at least at the Pentagon, if not in New York as well. Bush deserves honorable mention, but he was too dumb to be informed of what was really going in, where Michael Ruppert, CROSSING THE RUBICON (2004), has drawn the same conclusion.

11. How do you assess the future repercussions of this incident?

Enormous and enduring. The loss of civil liberties in the US because of the PATRIOT Act, the Military Commissions Act, and other insults to the integrity of the American people, including the absurd screening processes being employed at airports across the country, are intended to induce more fear into the public. Indeed, the use of violence and threats of violence to induce fear in a population to make it more amenable to political manipulation is a defining characteristic of terrorism. So it turns out that the US government (under Bush and Cheney) was practicing terrorism on the American people, which has not been undone by Obama and Biden. So we appear to have crossed the Rubicon, indeed, by shifting this country toward a neo-fascist police state where the rich and powerful rule in their own interests and not those of the American people.

Best Regard
Morteza


Jim Fetzer, McKnight Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Duluth, is a former Marine Corps officer and the founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth.

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Mike Palacek's "New American Dream" — Post 9/11

Presented on the occasion of Minnesota 9/11 Truth's 10th year observance of 9/11 in the Rotunda of the Capitol in St. Paul, MN, 11 September 2011.

We have a dream ...

Mike Palacek

... of bringing the United States politicians, journalists and generals who have brought about this long ten-year war and debacle to trial — and put on TV just like O.J. — every goddamned afternoon — so every American can watch ... just like the McCarthy Hearings and the JFK funeral procession ...

------

What we need is a New American Dream.

Not of new homes and toasters and microwaves, but of becoming the type of country we always thought we were.

And part of that is becoming the quality of people who are capable of telling the truth.

Right now we live on lies. We subsist on lies, but it's not really living.

We lie to ourselves about how we deserve this country and we deserve to shut others out after we took the land from others.

We lie to ourselves and our children about all aspects of our history.

The New American Dream means never having to say some question or idea is not valid. We are allowed to ask any questions that we have ... there are no wrong questions. There is no hidden black military budget, there are no UFO files Americans cannot see, no JFK documents that will not be opened during our lifetimes, no destroyed RFK murder photos by the L.A. police, no evidence from Ground Zero taken away before we can even look at it — we are not the Soviet Union of the 1960s — this is supposed to be America. That is our dream, to become America, The New America, the real hope of the world.

I believe that 911 was an inside job.

bush, cheney, rice, powell, rumsfeld, ashcroft

obama

bill clinton

hillary clinton

Joe Biden

They all know that and yet they refuse to acknowledge what they know. They kill and continue to kill. They allow others to die and continue to send others to their deaths for a lie.

What we need in America is a Truth Commission like they had in South Africa to heal their broken country.

Our country is surely broken as well.

We need a Truth Commission. We need to put certain people on the stand and we need to be allowed to ask questions.

We are not even allowed to ask questions.

Those who are supposed to ask questions for us refuse to do so. Can you honestly say that Brian Williams or Matt Lauer or Katie Couric or Amy Goodman or Jon Stewart or The New York Times or the Minneapolis Star-Tribune asks the questions that need to be asked?
....

The United States of America is also supposed to be based on the constitution. It is not based on the constitution. The president does not ask anyone before he goes to war, bombing, killing people.

It is rather based on those in power being focused like a laser beam not on truth and social justice and doing the right thing - which is why we voted for them - but rather on doing whatever it takes for them to remain in power.

It is based rather on the shooting of Jack Kennedy from perhaps as many as six vantages in Dealey Plaza. That is the Big Boom – the Big Boom theory of the creation of this country.

Before that instant we had a chance to fight poverty and racism and war, get the truth, the truth about whatever, because before that moment everything seemed bright and possible, even probable.

But after that Big Boom, the dustbowl clouds of power and greed and violence came out and blotted the sun.

The United States of America is not based in the Constitution or the teachings of Jesus as we proclaim that it is.

It is based on the collaboration of the U.S. Army, FBI, CIA and Memphis police to murder Martin Luther King. It is also based on the shooting of Robert Kennedy from behind his ear, rather than from the front where Sirhan Sirhan was standing.

We do not make cars anymore in America but we do psy-ops like the Greeks and Romans did philosophy, astronomy and speeches and literature.

These Great Misdeeds are where we honed our master craft, where those who rule founded this country, where our gears, our tool and die were cast.

Forget about the Liberty Bell. Forget about Mount Rushmore. Forget about the Grand Canyon. They are as much window dressing as CNN or NBC News or National Public Radio.

The Lorraine Motel in Memphis is our true Plymouth Rock.

Dallas’ Dealey Plaza is our real Mount Rushmore.

The Ambassador Hotel pantry is our actual Grand Canyon.

Waco is our Arlington Cemetery.

Oklahoma City is our Yellowstone Park.

The woods near Eveleth, Minnesota where Paul Wellstone’s plane went down is our National Mall.

And with the confidence and experience gained in the 1960s our actual Founding Fathers, whoever they are, were able to tack on a Bill of Rights to their version of the Constitution on Sept. 11, 2001. ...

... We have fake history.

Our junior high and high school history books should be in italics --- handed out by the teacher on the first day with a wink – Remember the Maine – Pearl Harbor – Gulf of Tonkin – Waco – Oklahoma City bombing – Waco – moon landings – stolen elections.

Because we accepted the Warren Commission we got the “911 What Controlled Demolition Commission” and our children will get the “XYZ Non-Investigation by Rich People Covering Up For Other Rich People.”

I believe 9-11 was an inside job ----- they got the new Pearl Harbor they wanted to invade Iraq and take the oil.

The troops are not protecting us. That is someone’s spin on the day’s news – somebody’s advertising slogan --- someone else’s sermon.

The troops serve the empire. They are not heroes. They kill and plunder for the empire. The heroes in our country are the protesters, the ones who go face to face with the empire, those who will begin to gather in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 6.
.......

... the Obama election, believing in Hope – I had hope. I had hope that we might enter a brand-new period of openness, no wrong questions, Truth – becoming the type of people, nation that we always thought we were.

It didn’t happen. And we have to ask ourselves why?

It’s one of those questions that we are allowed to ask—that we should ask.

You have to know that Barack Obama knows the whole truth about the 9/11 attacks. He is complicit. He has lied. He has continued the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan based on a lie. And he knows he is lying.

He lied right to our faces on national television when he said that Osama bin Laden had been killed ... and buried at sea. ... Osama bin Laden was buried at sea ... and Jessica Lynch was rescued heroically, the U.S.A. does not torture, Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, George Bush won the 2000 election, see, there is a plane there in that hole in Shanksville, it went all the way into that hole and no, there is no blood and no bodies and no luggage scattered ... or plane parts ... and Osama bin Laden ... was buried at sea. ...

... Can you believe the Warren Commission? I mean believe that it really happened, and we did not have riots because of it, but rather we just say, oh, well … and so … Bush fought the 9/11 commission. He did not want to testify alone … was the commission meeting in the dark, with spiders? ... after 9/11 all the propaganda to promote the war – terror alerts – where did those go? Osama Bin Laden tapes in the middle of the afternoon on Fox and CNN and NBC … 9/11 Commission – finally, and then what a supreme joke that was and we settled for it. Building 7 – controlled demolition – where’s the plane in the Pentagon – Shanksville – dancing Israelis? … and still the Bushes ride in a golf cart down the third baseline waving to the crowd and are greeted by cheers rather than tomatoes, fists and handcuffs … Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney walk free … Condoleeza Rice teaches at Stanford --- rather than being locked up forever in one of these high-tech concentration camps we have, like in Florence, Colorado, and shuffling off to the shower each morning wearing ankle shackles and a waist chain and fluorescent orange pajamas … for the rest of their lives. If we’re going to have these insane places, we might as well put the worst of the worst there, and that would be George and George Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and whatever other dozens have conspired, continue to conspire, to overthrow this country – who know the truth and don’t tell the rest of us: FBI director Moeller, General Tommy Franks and all the other generals who acted as commentators on NPR and Fox, ensuring us that the coming war was so cool, so good, so right …, and now we have how many hundreds of thousands of dead human beings in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just people who were living their lives and found themselves in the way of the American quest for gold, for dominance. And the thousands of young Americans who have died or had their lives ruined because of a lie, a huge, amazing lie, perpetrated by men and women we asked in good faith to lead us on our way.

Bush, Obama … Card, Clinton, Fleischer …

Wolfowitz, Aschcroft, Pearl, O’Reilly, Hannity, Couric, Lauer, Williams, Rather, Jennings, Brokaw, Limbaugh, Blitzer, Sawyer, Rivera --- all those names, who, if history ever rights itself, will be synonymous with Goebbels, Goering, Himmler. …

Back when I was a kid growing up in Nebraska, we thought Lyndon Johnson was just a big, boring dude. — Well, we all need to read LBJ: The Mastermind of JFK’s Assassination by Phillip F. Nelson. — It turns out that the vice-president of the United States planned and carried through the murder of John F. Kennedy. Never in one hundred years would my hometown newspaper, radio station, teachers, coaches, or parents have let us even consider such a thing.

The term “grassy knoll” was said with the same sneer that “liberal” gets today — and even today, almost fifty years later – that seems like a bold statement. …All the while we pointed fingers at the Soviet Union, declaring them a closed society and pointing back at ourselves, boasting forever of a free and open society … we are anything but, have been anything but. The ones who ruled the Soviet Union, well, they had nothing on the ones who rule us.

Yes, these successful lies are …

More profound than anything else in World History ... ever.

It’s just all so very well done. It’s who we are.

And so the most profound, big thing about this big thing called America is that it is a highly successful lie.

… and you can say that’s conspiracy tinfoil, to think like that, about the Bushes and the assassinations and such, but I say it’s just paying attention.

Remember the Anthrax letters, which said “Are You Afraid?” Those were not written with a rock and chisel like Fred Flintstone from the recesses of some cave in Afghanistan. Those letters came from persons within our own government.

Like a horror movie and the killer is in the same house with us.

These killers are right here, with us and “they” want us to be afraid.

“We cannot be afraid."

“... the great city sprawls with people, some smartly dressed, many of them shabby, a few beautiful but most not, all reduced by the towering structures around them to the size of insects, but scuttling, hurrying, intent in the milky morning sun upon some plan or scheme or hope they are hugging to themselves, their reason for living another day, each one of them impaled live upon the pin of consciousness, fixed upon self-advancement and self-preservation. That, and only that. — John Updike, “The Terrorist”

That's perhaps the human condition.

[... forced with having to find a reason for living another day, impaled live upon the pin of consciousness ... to become fixed upon self-advancement and self-preservation]

But the human condition also means knowing when there is something wrong, something not quite right and having the spirit to refuse to live like that, to live within a lie.

That's why so many people have worked for so long, for ten years, against all sorts of obstacles, to find the truth, to make this the country and we the people who can truly make this country great.

People like Kevin Barrett and Jim Fetzer, who have been working almost non-stop for years and years to give us that New American Dream.

They are not afraid.

We take courage from their example.

We also cannot be afraid.

Mike Palecek — author, radio host, former federal prisoner for peace, former Iowa Congressional candidate, seminarian, newspaper reporter, editor, publisher — lives near Duluth.

Website: http://thebooks.newamericandream.info

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