USA FAKE TURKEY ACTUALITY

======= READ ABOUT TURKEY ACTUALITY BELOW ==========

War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength

... a nation of cowards

just fake.

Not Only of Cowards

by Mikel Weisser / February 25th, 2009

Howdy ever. body, my name is Mikel W. and I am a fake.

[Crowd murmurs .howdy. and .welcome..]

Sure nice of you folks to have a support meeting like this here group, Fakers Unanimous. I just never knew that there were enough folks in America willing to face up to their own falseness to where we could even have such a support group. I never would have guessed this many Americans were finally ready to acknowledge our economy, our country.s sense of self, in fact our very existence has been a-swirl in a Chomsky-esque wash of necessary illusions and the truths that were always mounting behind the masks are now massing to destroy us. The threads are at last unraveling; and the emperor.s new suit has arrived worn and wrinkled, shoddy and soiled.

And we ourselves are to blame.

Yipes! I am duly impressed by the pitiless self-awareness of the members of the F.U. group; but I am not sure I am ready to join just yet. There.s all that stuff about admitting we are powerless to our weakness, acknowledging our mistakes, making amends. Twelve steps may be a little bit further than I am currently willing to walk to change the channel. I am an American after all.

I want my MTV. I want all that and a bag of chips. I want to feel wanted and safe and plush and adorned and forever young and forever oblivious and I am willing to spend like crazy to get that feeling. I want it my way or the highway.

Look, I.ve already spent all of your money and all of mine. Talk about generational theft, I.ve already spent your kid.s future and my parents. past. Yes, like most Americans I want more than my share and want you to leave me alone about it, OK? I mean it.s a free country, isn.t it? I can believe what I want to believe. I.ve got the right to do what I want, even the right to be wrong.

So that.s why I don.t want to make the effort to fix our health care and education systems. We know both continue to slide in comparison to the rest of the civilized world. In health care you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than of affording health care that can save your life and at least with the lightning the charges would make more sense. In education, American urban high school students rank in achievement somewhere between Romanian meth-baby dropouts and moldy sweat socks.

It.s easier to pretend it.s not broken than to try to seriously fix education, so that.s what we do. We say schools are about the joy of learning then budget-cut all the fun out of it. We say there is so much they need to know then only teach them how to pass one test. We teach our kids to glory in stupidity then wonder why they.re not bright. We create every convenience item we can imagine then wonder they.re so lazy. We make money off of the punks and twerps and criminals we sell to them as idols and then wonder how it happened we.ve raised all these punks and twerps and criminals. We teach them sluts are cool, and then wonder why abstinence-only education isn.t the only thing around here that sucks.

We also tell our children how important learning is then invent every other way for them to fill up and thus empty their time. We say we love entertainment because it relaxes our mind when in fact we know it destroys it. The visual mediums, whether TV or the Internet, are meant to limit our interests not expand them. Megabyte by megabyte we get trained to learn nothing quite so much our impatience for the next thing to the point we understand no thing as seriously as our urgency for the new.

I would Twitter you about it, but if I tried to actually discuss substantial ideas then this paragraph is too long and I haven.t even said.

Economy.s a fake, entirely. The people on top won.t stop selling us the idea that we could spend all the money in the world because they make all the money in the world peddling the idea to us like dope. Since they won.t stop selling it, we don.t stop buying it and over-spending on it, even though for years folks have been telling us we should know better. We did know, but we did not care.

Small wonder this whole hopped-up fantasy economy had to crash. Every few years a new speculative bubble built up to bursting . now our very homes. Too many houses sold, some say; but from where I stand I see too many houses foreclosed. ARMs made to strangle the homeowner, the banker.s handshake that turned into a clenched fist.

Pundits like to rag on the buyers they claim should have known better. But buying a house is the American dream. It is what we were told to do. We looked to the experts, our realtors and our banks, who told us they were out for our trust when in fact they were just after a piece of our ass. The deals seemed too good to be true, but the banks and the realtors said it would work. We wanted to believe it would work, so we did. We signed on the dotted line, just like they did; but the difference is they knew it would all have to collapse one day. They simply had already planned their way to make their pile of dough first off of our dimes. Become too big to fail, so the poor have to feed the rich.

And it wasn.t just banks. If you really want to see where to start fixing the problem, look in the mirror. Everyone knew that that same house we sat in for five years while the paint rotted did not legitimately gain 100K in value. But somebody told us it did and some other idiot offered us the crazy money for it. We knew we.d get ahead so we went along.

Everyone took a hit. It was the drug of choice. Government officials swam in seas of lobbyist lucre and bent the rules for their newfound friends. Big business and big banks bent the rules for each other. Everyone was the richer. No one was the wiser.

It wasn.t like we.d learn anything from the news. News is a fake. Once upon a time news worried about its myth of impartiality. Now no news is safe from the TV newsreader.s opinion of it. Press can purport a new doggedness claiming they regret the slack attention they paid to Bush. So they pretend to be aggressive in their examination of every potential Obama flaw on the horizon. But this isn.t a case of new dogs up to old tricks. They are mostly aping the Elephant line. After eight years of cheerleading for Bush they don.t know where else to go. So nowadays CNN starts every story with a hostility they.d never have dared with Bush. Perhaps they.ve become .fair and balanced..

Maybe so, but I think they.re fakes. I think Holden.s right, they.re all fakes, phonies. That.s why I.m here, with all of you at F.U. because I.m a fake too. And it takes one to know one. So, so are you too.

[Crowds grumbles]

War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.

[Crowd murmurs in ascent.]

And Eric Holder is also right: we are a nation of cowards, merely faking it when it comes to race relations and many other taboo topics as well, and not in that ultra-qualified and mitigated way Holder used when he spoke commemorating Black History Month. Still right wing pundits from Rush Limbaugh to Anderson Cooper umbrage at his remarks, offering us yet another opportunity to watch rich white guys scold a black man because he doesn.t understand race relations.

But if America now attempts to claim to be a post-racial society, it is not because we no longer act based on the built-in biases 400 years of subservience cannot help but inbreed, it.s not because we no longer see in black and white. It.s because we.re all just wearing masks.

Happy Black History Month, Mr. Holder, no faking.

Mikel Weisser teaches social studies and poetry on the West Coast of Arizona. He can be reached at weisser@frontiernet.net

www.dissidentvoice.org/2009/02/not-only-of-cowards/

BUT THATS ONLY THE SURFACE ... think 911!!!

in TURKEY they are DOING SOMETHING... clean hands!!

24 February 2009, Tuesday

NURI .MRE .STANBUL

Ergenekon ploy of the century, says suspect

The trial and investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine terrorist network believed to have been behind been many violent attacks staged for the ultimate purpose of triggering a coup against the government, is the ploy of the century, Ergenekon suspect and Workers' Party (.P) Secretary-General Nusret Senem said in his defense testimony yesterday at the 54th hearing of the Ergenekon trial, which started in October of last year.

In his testimony, Senem criticized Justice Minister Mehmet Ali .ahin for recent statements regarding the case. "The justice minister should keep his nose out of the trial," he said. He also claimed that the Ergenekon trial was not the "case of the century," as is commonly said, but a major conspiracy plotted by the counter-guerilla, a shadowy behind-the-scenes network.

"This is the plot of the century. There is no Constitution or any other law at work here. There is only the law of Gladio," he said, referring to secret armies set up by NATO in European countries during the Cold War against the threat of communism. These groups often crossed the line between secrecy and illegitimacy, as well as illegality. Some analysts believe the original Gladio is the backbone of similar illegal formations, such as the Ergenekon terrorist organization, that persist to the present day inside state agencies in Turkey.

He said he had fought the counter-guerilla and Gladio for 30 years. "We introduced these concepts in Turkey. But now we are being tried as suspects because of a conspiracy of the counter-guerilla and Gladio. The counter-guerilla is in charge with all its might at this very moment, with its main leaders being President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo.an. Those who have plotted this will one day be tried here themselves," he said.

He also presented his defense about a map detailing all the exits and entrances into the Supreme Court of Appeals building seized by the police in his house during a raid on March 21, 2008. He said this map had not been listed in any of the search reports, and accused the police of planting it. He also denied the prosecution's claim that he was the creator of incriminating CDs found in his home, saying, "I use the computer like a typewriter."

Küçük to speak to journalists' association

In related news, Ergenekon suspect journalist Yalç.n Küçük, who was released after his detention pending trial, is expected to deliver a speech at a panel of the Bursa Journalists' Association (BGC), which invited him as a guest to their series of "Face-to-Face Talks with Intellectuals." Küçük's topic is "Greater Turkey-Little Turkey Policies," news agencies said.

'We will go as far as it goes'

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo.an told reporters on a flight to Ankara from Diyarbak.r on Sunday that the Ergenekon operation, according to polls conducted by Erdo.an's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), was one of the issues on which the Turkish public most supports the government. Saying that overall the people were aware that Ergenekon was not being covered up but thoroughly investigated, the prime minister said his government was determined to fight all illegal organizations and criminals nested with in the state.

"This is an operation of purification. This country always talked about a 'clean hands operation,' but we could never do it. We should have this operation. We will never let this go. We will go as far as it goes, no matter where that may be."

Erdo.an also denied accusations that the investigation process had slowed down, noting that both the police force and the prosecutors were doing their best to bring the investigation to a successful end. However, he said the judiciary, over which the government has no control, also has a key role to play. "We have no power to intervene in the judiciary. If people's expectations of the judiciary and their expectations from us are the same, that would be unfair to us," Erdo.an said.

www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=167844

1 trillion dollars Royal Bank BUST

Do the math.

imagine giving every person in the world $500 us dollars.
imagine what that would do for health and education!

6 billion people, times $500 equals 3 trillion dollars.

Here is JUST ONE BANK of many hundreds....

The Royal Bank of Scotland earned the dubious honor of posting the largest annual loss in British corporate history on Thursday . a 24.1 billion pound ($34.4 billion) black hole fed by the bank's aggressive acquisition spree of recent years.
RBS will shift 240 billion pounds, or 20 percent, of its funded assets to a noncore division, along with 145 billion pounds of derivative balances and 155 billion of risk-weighted assets. Those assets will then be wound down over the next three to five years.

Royal Bank of Scotland posts record loss

===== MORE DETAILS =======

By JANE WARDELL . 2 hours ago

LONDON (AP) . The Royal Bank of Scotland earned the dubious honor of posting the largest annual loss in British corporate history on Thursday . a 24.1 billion pound ($34.4 billion) black hole fed by the bank's aggressive acquisition spree of recent years.

As the bank's new management team unveiled a sweeping restructuring and announced plans to dump hundreds of billions of pounds of toxic assets into a government insurance program, anger erupted over a 16 million pound pension pot bestowed on its disgraced former chief executive.

The very public downfall of RBS, a household name in Britain where it is heavily involved in the retail banking market, has been a lightning rod for much of the public disgust at mismanagement of major financial institutions by well-paid senior bankers.

"These historic and humiliating losses bring into sharp focus just how reckless RBS's former management team have behaved," said Derek Simpson, a spokesman for the Unite union. "The whole country is paying the price through job cuts and repossessions on a massive scale."

New Chief Executive Stephen Hester said the bank was "under no illusions" about the extent of the losses, which compared with a 7.3 billion pound profit in 2007.

Revenue fell 15 percent to 25.87 billion pounds, but the bank's losses were driven by a combined 12.8 billion pounds of credit market and trading writedowns that included exposure to the U.S. subprime market, the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, the failure of Icelandic banks and the alleged Madoff investment scam.

"Put crudely, we need to manage ourselves better," said Hester, who warned that the coming year would be another difficult one for the 282-year-old bank.

Under the radical overhaul, RBS will shift 240 billion pounds, or 20 percent, of its funded assets to a noncore division, along with 145 billion pounds of derivative balances and 155 billion of risk-weighted assets. Those assets will then be wound down over the next three to five years.

Hester said the designated "bad" assets would be culled from a range of regions and businesses, but the bulk would come from the bank's underperforming Global Banking and Markets division.

The restructuring, which includes plans to cut more than 2.5 billion pounds from the bank's cost base, will leave the bank centered on Britain, with smaller, more focused global operations. It will leave some countries entirely while reducing its footprint in others, such as the United States where it plans to retain Citizens Financial Group, its 1,600-branch U.S. banking arm based in Providence, Rhode Island.

Hester declined to comment in detail on potential job losses but acknowledged reports of the bank shedding 20,000 positions, or 10 percent of its work force, were "not unreasonable."

The restructure will be supported by RBS' participation with another 325 billion pounds in the government's asset protection program, a step that could result in the state increasing its stake in the bank to as high as 95 percent.

RBS will pay 6.5 billion pounds to the Treasury to take part in the program, aimed at encouraging a return to lending by increasing the capital strength of banks. The cost will be funded by issuing new shares.

The government has agreed to take a new class of "B" shares worth 13 billion pounds, with the option for another 6 billion pounds worth.

Having already received 20 billion pounds from the government in earlier bailout packages, the new state funds will result in the government's stake rising to between 75 percent and 95 percent. The government has agreed to cap its voting rights at 75 percent under the program, which must be approved by shareholders.

Investors liked the overhaul, with the bank's shares soaring 25.5 percent to 29 pence on the London Stock Exchange. The stock has plummeted more than 90 percent over the past year.

Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Richard Hunter said that the market had welcomed the new board's attempts to draw a line under RBS' troubles.

"The various proposals put some more light between the current business model and the specter of full nationalization," he said. "Even so, the overall strategy must now be implemented amidst a further deteriorating economic backdrop, and it remains to be seen how RBS weathers this further storm."

Similarly, Manoj Ladwa, a senior trader at ETX Capital, said that the better-than-expected figures . analysts had factored in losses of up to 28 billion pounds . were of "little comfort .. when you have booked the biggest loss in UK corporate history."

"Although the share price is likely to rally today, a predominantly state-owned bank that is having a fire-sale on its assets gives investors little reason to buy," Ladwa added.

Much of the anger at RBS' predicament is focused on Goodwin, who engineered the expensive takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro in December 2007 when its investment banking business was heavily exposed to the complex financial instruments hit by the crisis. ABN Amro was responsible for 55 percent of the losses announced Thursday.

Goodwin, 50, and former chairman McKillop both issued a public apology for their roles in the bank's downfall, but controversy continued to rage on Thursday with revelations that Goodwin . who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to banking in 2004 before his stewardship of RBS' aggressive expansion plans took the bank to the brink . is receiving a 693,000 pound ($992,000) a year pension.

"You cannot justify these excesses, especially when you have got such a failure of this magnitude," Treasury chief Alistair Darling told BBC radio.

Current Chairman Philip Hampton said he had asked Goodwin two weeks ago to voluntarily reduce his pension payments, but hadn't received an answer. Darling said his office had made a similar approach, admitting that the government had not realised that the government could have stopped the payout when it took majority control of the bank in October.

PHOTO

Climate change protesters demonstrate outside the headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland in London, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2009. The Royal Bank of Scotland posted a record net loss of 24.14 billion pounds ($34.4 billion) for 2008 the biggest in British corporate history and unveiled a massive restructuring program on Thursday that will hive off many of its international businesses. Britain's second largest bank, which has already been part-nationalized under bailout packages worth more than 20 billion pounds, also said it will offload 325 billion pounds of toxic assets into a government insurance program. RBS' huge annual net loss after minority interests and earnings from discontinued operations, compares with a 7.3 billion pound profit in 2007.The bank's pretax loss was significantly wider at 40.67 billion pounds, compared to a 9.83 billion pound profit the previous year.The bank's revenue fell 15 percent to 25.87 billion pounds

London UK tax havens - USA freedom to defraud

During Germany's turn at the presidency of the Group of Eight two years ago, Merkel pushed hard for more transparency on global financial markets and, especially, hedge fund regulation. But her efforts ran into against stiff resistance from Washington and London.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for a "global New Deal"

HAHAHA you know what almost happened to Roosevelt?

http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2007/07/us-coup-detat-1933.html

The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush.s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression.

EU leaders back sweeping financial regulations

By PATRICK McGROARTY . 1 hour ago

BERLIN (AP) . European leaders mounted a united front against the global financial crisis Sunday, proposing sweeping new market regulations, but it remained unclear whether economic giants like the United States and China would go along.

Heads of government and finance ministers from Europe's largest economies joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin to lay the groundwork for a common European position on economic reforms before an April 2 summit of the Group of 20 nations in London.

"Europe will own up to its responsibility in the world," Merkel told reporters following the talks.

Leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic agreed to press for sanctions on tax havens, caps for managers' bonus payments.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that "Europe wants the system to be refounded," and stressed the importance of the April meeting.
"We all want London to be a success and we are all aware that it's (our) last chance," Sarkozy said. "We cannot afford a failure in London."

European leaders also backed Merkel's call for a "charter of sustainable economic activity" that would subject all financial market activities around the globe to regulation, including credit rating agencies.

911 LOGICALLY explained - holo-TVF

My comment under

http://takebacknyu.com/2009/02/22/statement-from-noam-chomsky-sent-to-tbnyu/#comment-2179

Jutu Artoh
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com
u2r2h@gmx.net

Hi from Finland,

The loud-mouth US american know it all, but don't see how the words out of their mouths are proof of utter ignorance.

This, of course, is intentional. Pavlovian behavioral training has implanted an involuntary gag-reflex at anything to do with socialist ideas.

The OWNERS of this world don't want you to THINK SOCIAL, or act out of solidarity, or SHARE.

They have occupied the words. By way of the doctrinal system (media, institutional censorship) they have framed the content inside the box.

The idiom "think outside the box" is proof. It wouldn't exist in a society of free thinkers. They wouldn't know what you mean.

Like Chomsky's example of ANTI-AMERICANISM...

Chomsky is a god-sent. the NYU-action is WONDERFUL!!

I feel like common sense still DOES exist in the USA, land of the cowards who bomb civilians from thousands of miles away without fear of retribution.

=== Well, then, lets go the whole way now ====

My prediction: Chomsky will accept that 9/11 was done by the JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF (henry hugh shelton)
Other people think so, too:
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2009/02/cabal-rules-planet-read-on.html

They 911-perpetrators used WAY COOL illusions.. TV-inserts, hologrammes (so they wouldn't get caught in their lifetimes).

Hear me out. THERE IS SIMPLE LOGIC AHEAD.

Of course you don't believe me. You rather believe 20year-old amateurs prefectly destroyed the WTC complex and Pentagon.

The entire US military was clueless even though they REHEARSED IT ON THE SAME DAY

http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2008/07/911-radar-data-us-fascism.html

And some hilly-billy folk-heroes *Let's roll* prevented the foruth plane from being flown into the Whitehouse.
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2008/09/fbi-merely-assumed-wreckage-to-be.html

Hologrammes, yes!
http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2008/01/luc-courchesne-911-ua-175-hologram.html

here is the logic:

a) eyewitnesses saw WEIRD plane, cameras filmes WEIRD planes!
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2008/07/amputee-wings-ua175-impact-videos.html
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2007/08/tv-911-airplane-fabrication.html

b) TV pictures were faked
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2008/08/nose-out.html
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2007/12/videos-dealing-with-truth-behind.html

c) No airplane part was ever positively identified! Planted!
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2008/11/ua175-wtc-hologramme-ghostplane.html
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2007/09/wtc-aircraft-debris.html

RESULT: a) + b) + c) = flying holograms!

Why do you think they needed crystal clear, dry skies?

more:
http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2007/10/u2r2h-holo-tvf-missile-flyby-projector.html
http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2007/08/ts-ts-carmen-taylor-ua175-photo-and.html
http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2007/10/911-hologram-theory.html

HEDGE FUND = our ruin

There are now at least 10,000 hedge funds, of which 8,000 are registered in the Cayman Islands. However, the 400 funds with $1bn or more under management do 80% of the business. They cannot be regulated. They have over $1.5 trillion in assets and the daily global derivatives turnover is almost $6 trillion (equal to half US gross domestic product). With the economic climate euphoric over the past five years, most funds have won, although some have lost. In the year ending this August, nearly 1,900 were created and 575 were liquidated. Standard & Poor would like to rank their credit-worthiness, but has yet to do so: bigger funds claim to use computer models to make trades, and three of the 10 biggest claim they make purely quantitative decisions. (http://mondediplo.com/2006/10/02finance)

GAZA2009--Chris-Hedges--XjBttx6Gd2c.mp4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjBttx6Gd2c

Chris Hedges condemns Israeli Gaza Massacre

Chris Hedges, author, spoke at a Revolution Books Town Hall Meeting at Ethical Culture Society January 13, 2009 condemning Israel and US complicity in Israel's murderous destruction of Gaza

January 16, 2009

Hedges: 'American stalwarts' Falk, Kucinich, Chomsky, & Finkelstein 'ignored or spurned like lepers'
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/02/hedges-falk-kucinich-chomsky-finkelstein-ignored-or-spurned-like-lepers.html

This took place a month ago. Great speech at a town hall on Gaza organized by the Society for Ethical Culture in New York, from Chris Hedges, a little incantatory, what you'd expect from a minister's kid:
to attack a population that has no air force, no air defense, no navy, no heavy weapons, no artillery units, no mechanized armor, no command and control, no army; and [call] it a war-- It is not a war, it is murder.

And beautiful statement about American "stalwarts" Norman Finkelstein, Dennis Kucinich, Richard Falk, and Chomsky getting shut out of the press.
ignored or spurned like lepers. They are denied a platform in the press, they are rendered nearly voiceless.

Hedges also uses the g-word
The lesson of the Holocaust is that when you have the capacity to halt genocide, and you do not, no matter who carries out that genocide and who it is against, you are culpable.

Abolish Wall Street - Obama Economy

OBAMA..

The economic stimulus
The finanacial crisis

who did he select to deal with it?

The people who created it!

His top advisers: Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers
who helped to lay the basis for the crisis.

Rubin was in the lead to undermine the NEW DEAL LEGISLATION

(wikipedia Bucket Shops!!)
(credit default swaps = Toxic debts)

the Glass-Steagall Act, that protected commercial banks from risky investments.
As soon as he got that recinded he left the government and became a director of CITY GROUP
which used the new legislation to buy up and hold on to all kinds of risky investments.
And it crashed! Now the government is pouring tens of billions of dollars trying to rescue it from his decisions and others like him.

Robert Edward Rubin (born August 29, 1938) served as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury during both the first and second Clinton administrations
Before his government service, he spent 26 years at Goldman Sachs. His most prominent post-government role was as Director and Senior Counselor of Citigroup.
On January 9, 2009 Citigroup announced his resignation, after having been criticized for his performance. He received more than $126 million in cash and stock during his eight years at Citigroup.

He was replaced by Lawrence Summers. Summers was in the lead in undermining congressional efforts to regulate exotic financial instruments, derivatives, credit swaps...
He succeeded. They wouldn't regulate. Another mayor element of the crash! And nobody knows who owes what to whom, you can't figure out what the toxic assets are.

These two are picked as the first two top economic advidors (FOR OBAMA).
Summer's protege, Tim Geithner is now the Secretary of Treasury
and if you go down the list it is pretty much the same.
In fact, the business press, Bloomberg News, had an interesting article on Obama's couple of dozen economic advisors and went through the records one by one, and concluded that these people shouldn't be invited to run the economy, half of them should be getting subpoenas for devious financial shicanery and fixing books.
There are other economists - who have a more progrssive slant - but they were excluded.

=== Stephen Lendman GlobalResearch.ca guest NOAM CHOMSKY ===
http://radio4all.net/index.php/program/31627

How "Brilliant" Men Crashed the Economy

What to Do About Wall Street

By RALPH NADER
February 2, 2009

Soon after the passage in 1999 of the
Clinton-Rubin-Summers-P. Graham DEREGULATION of the
financial industry, I boarded a US Air flight to Boston
and discovered none other than then-Secretary of the
Treasury Lawrence Summers a few seats away. He was
speaking loudly and constantly on his cell phone. When
the plane took off he invited me to sit by him and
talk.

After reviewing the contents of this Citibank-friendly
new law called the Financial Modernization Act, I asked
him: "Do you think the big banks have too much power"?

He paused for a few seconds and replied: "Not Yet."
Intrigued by his two word answer, I noted the rejection
of modest pro-consumer provisions, adding that now that
the banks had had their round, wasn't it time for the
consumers to have their own round soon?

He allowed that such an expectation was not
unreasonable and that he was willing to meet with some
seasoned consumer advocates and go over such an agenda.
We sent him an agenda, and met with Mr. Summers and his
staff. Unfortunately, neither his boss, Bill Clinton,
nor the Congress were in any mood to revisit this
heavily lobbied federal deregulation law and reconsider
the blocked consumer rights.

The rest is unfolding, tragic history. The law
abolished the Glass-Steagall Act which separated
commercial banking from investment banking. This opened
the floodgates for unwise mergers, acquisitions and
other unregulated risky financial instruments. Laced
with limitless greed, casino capitalism ran wild,
tanking economies here and abroad.

One champion of this market fundamentalism was Alan
Greenspan, then chairman of the Federal Reserve. Last
October before a House Committee, Greenspan admitted he
was mistaken and expressed astonishment at how
corporations could not even safeguard their own
self-interest from going over steep speculative cliffs.

Greenspan and Summers were deemed "brilliant" by the
press and most of Congress. Summers' predecessor at
Treasury, Robert Rubin, was also a charter member of
the Oracles--those larger-than-life men who just knew
that the unfettered market and giant financial
conglomerates would be the one-stop shopping mart
consumers were assumed to be craving.

Now the world knows that these men belong to the "oops
oligarchy" that bails itself out while it lets the
companies collapse into the handcuffed arms of Uncle
Sam and bridled taxpayers who have to pay for
unconditional megabailouts. Instead of the Wall Street
crooks being convicted and imprisoned, they have fled
the jurisdiction with their self-determined
compensation. Corporate crime pays, while pensions and
mutual fund savings evaporate.

Now comes the next stage of the Washington rescue
effort in a variety of stimulus packages which every
vendor group imaginable wants a piece of these days.
When trillions are offered, many come running.

As the public focus is on how much, when and where all
this money should be spent, there are very serious
consequences to be foreseen and forestalled. First,
consider how much more concentrated corporate power is
occurring. Forced or willing mergers, acquisitions and
panic takeovers of big banks by bigger banks along with
bankruptcies of companies further reduce what is left
of quality competition for consumer benefit.

Remember the anti-trust laws. Obama needs to be their
champion. The fallout from the Wall Street binge is
likely to lead to a country run by an even smaller
handful of monopolistic global goliaths.

In the stampede for stimulus legislation, there is a
foreboding feeling on Capitol Hill that there is no
proposal on the table to pay for it other than by the
children and grandchildren. Just the opposite is
raining down on them. Everybody including the private
equity gamblers, Las Vegas casinos and Hollywood
studios along with the banks and auto companies are
looking for tax breaks.

So with the economy deteriorating and taxes being cut,
where is the enormous money coming from? From borrowing
and from printing money. So look out for big time
inflation and decline in the dollar?s value vis-a-vis
other currencies.

In all the hundreds of pages of stimulus bills, there
is nothing that would facilitate the banding together
of consumers and investors into strong advocacy groups.
We have long proposed Financial Consumer Associations,
privately and voluntarily funded through inserts in the
monthly statements of financial firms.

If this bailout-stimulus-Wall Street funny money waste,
fraud and abuse sounds confusing, that is because it
is. A brand new paperback "Why Wall Street Can't Be
Fixed and How to Replace It: Agenda For a New Economy"
by long-time corporate critic, David C. Korten will
explain some of the wheeling and dealing.

You don't have to agree with all or many of Korten?s
nostrums. Just read Part II: the Case For Eliminating
Wall Street. He considers three central questions:

First, do Wall Street Institutions do anything so vital
for the national interest that they justify trillions
of dollars to save them from the consequences of their
own excess?

Second, is it possible that the whole Wall Street
edifice is built on an illusion of phantom wealth that
carries deadly economic, social, and environmental
consequences for the larger society?

Third, are there other ways to provide needed financial
services with greater results and at lesser cost?

GAZA secret Weapons - SILENT BOMBS

These silent bombs.... also used for Terror in Bali, Islamabad (Marriot) etc?

Monday, February 09, 2009

A Doctor's Examination of the Wounds of Gaza

The Wounds of Gaza
February 2nd 2009
source www.thelancetglobalhealthnetwork.com/archives/608

Two Surgeons from the UK, Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah and Dr Swee Ang, managed to get into Gaza during the Israeli invasion. Here they describe their experiences, share their views, and conclude that the people of Gaza are extremely vulnerable and defenseless in the event of another attack.

The wounds of Gaza are deep and multi-layered. Are we talking about the Khan Younis massacre of 5,000 in 1956 or the execution of 35,000 prisoners of war by Israel in 1967? Yet more wounds of the First Intifada, when civil disobedience by an occupied people against the occupiers resulted in massive wounded and hundreds dead? We also cannot discount the 5,420 wounded in southern Gaza alone since 2000. Hence what we are referring to below are only that of the invasion as of 27 December 2008,

Over the period of 27 December 2008 to the ceasefire of 18 Jan 2009, it was estimated that a million and a half tons of explosives were dropped on Gaza Strip. Gaza is 25 miles by 5 miles and home to 1.5 million people. This makes it the most crowded area in the whole world. Prior to this Gaza has been completely blockaded and starved for 50 days. In fact since the Palestinian election Gaza has been under total or partial blockade for several years.

On the first day of the invasion, 250 persons were killed. Every single police station in Gaza was bombed killing large numbers of police officers. Having wiped out the police force attention was turned to non government targets. Gaza was bombed from the air by F16 and Apache helicopters, shelled from the sea by Israeli gunboats and from the land by tank artillery. Many schools were reduced to rubble, including the American School of Gaza, 40 mosques, hospitals, UN buildings, and of course 21,000 homes, 4,000 of which were demolished completely. It is estimated that 100,000 people are now homeless.

Israeli weapons

The weapons used apart from conventional bombs and high explosives also include unconventional weapons of which at least 4 categories could be identified.

* Phosphorus Shells and bombs

The bombs dropped were described by eye witnesses as exploding at high altitude scattering a large canopy of phosphorus bomblets which cover a large area.

During the land invasion, eyewitnesses describe the tanks shelling into homes first with a conventional shell. Once the walls are destroyed, a second shell - a phosphorus shell is then shot into the homes. Used in this manner the phosphorus explodes and burns the families and the homes. Many charred bodies were found among burning phosphorus particles.

One area of concern is the phosphorus seems to be in a special stabilizing agent. This results in the phosphorus being more stable and not completely burning out. Residues still cover the fields, playground and compounds. They ignite when picked up by curious kids, or produce fumes when farmers return to water their fields. One returning farming family on watering their field met with clouds of fumes producing epistaxis. Thus the phosphorus residues probably treated with a stabilizer also act as anti-personnel weapons against children and make the return to normal life difficult without certain hazards.

Surgeons from hospitals are also reporting cases where after primary laparotomy for relatively small wounds with minimal contamination find on second look laparotomy increasing areas of tissue necrosis at about 3 days. Patients then become gravely ill and by about 10 days those patients needing a third relook encounter massive liver necrosis. This may or may not be accompanied by generalized bleeding , kidney failure and heart failure and death. Although acidosis, liver necrosis and sudden cardiac arrest due to hypocalcemia are known to be a complication of white phosphorus it is not possible to attribute these complications as being due to phosphorus alone.

There is real urgency to analyze and identify the real nature of this modified phosphorus as to its long term effect on the people of Gaza. There is also urgency in collecting and disposing of the phosphorus residues littering the entire Gaza Strip. As they give off toxic fumes when coming into contact with water, once the rain falls the whole area would be polluted with acid phosphorus fumes. Children should be warned not to handle and play with these phosphorus residues.

* Heavy Bombs

The use of DIME (dense inert material explosives) were evident, though it is unsure whether depleted uranium were used in the south. In the civilian areas, surviving patients were found to have limbs truncated by DIME, since the stumps apart from being characteristically cut off in guillotine fashion also fail to bleed. Bomb casing and shrapnel are extremely heavy.

* Fuel Air Explosives

Bunker busters and implosion bombs have been used . There are buildings especially the 8 storey Science and Technology Building of the Islamic University of Gaza which had been reduced to a pile of rubble no higher than 5-6 feet.

* Silent Bombs

People in Gaza described a silent bomb which is extremely destructive. The bomb arrives as a silent projectile at most with a whistling sound and creates a large area where all objects and living things are vaporized with minimal trace. We are unable to fit this into conventional weapons but the possibility of new particle weapons being tested should be suspected.

* Executions

Survivors describe Israeli tanks arriving in front of homes asking residents to come out. Children, old people and women would come forward and as they were lined up they were just fired on and killed. Families have lost tens of their members through such executions. The deliberate targeting of unarmed children and women is well documented by human right groups in the Gaza Strip over the past month.

* Targeting of ambulances

Thirteen ambulances had been fired upon killing drivers and first aid personnel in the process of rescue and evacuation of the wounded.

* Cluster bombs

The first patients wounded by cluster were brought into Abu Yusef Najjar Hospital. Since more than 50% of the tunnels have been destroyed, Gaza has lost part of her lifeline. These tunnels contrary to popular belief are not for weapons, though small light weapons could have been smuggled through them. However they are the main stay of food and fuel for Gaza. Palestinians are beginning to tunnel again. However it became clear that cluster bombs were dropped on to the Rafah border and the first was accidentally set of by tunneling. Five burns patients were brought in after setting off a booby trap kind of device.

Death toll
As of 25 January 2009, the death toll was estimated at 1,350 with the numbers increasing daily. This is due to the severely wounded continuing to die in hospitals. 60% of those killed were children.

Severe injuries
The severely injured numbered 5,450, with 40% being children. These are mainly large burns and polytrauma patients. Single limb fractures and walking wounded are not included in these figures.

Through our conversations with doctors and nurses the word holocaust and catastrophe were repeatedly used. The medical staff all bear the psychological trauma of the past month living though the situation and dealing with mass casualties which swamped their casualties and operating rooms. Many patients died in the Accident and Emergency Department while awaiting treatment. In a district hospital, the orthopaedic surgeon carried out 13 external fixations in less than a day.

It is estimated that of the severely injured, 1,600 will suffer permanently disabilities. These include amputations, spinal cord injuries, head injuries, large burns with crippling contractures.

Special factors
The death and injury toll is especially high in this recent assault due to several factors:

* No escape: As Gaza is sealed by Israeli troops, no one can escape the bombardment and the land invasion. There is simply no escape. Even within the Gaza Strip itself, movement from north to south is impossible as Israeli tanks had cut the northern half of Gaza from the south. Compare this with the situation in Lebanon 1982 and 2006, when it was possible for people to escape from an area of heavy bombardment to an area of relative calm - there was no such is option for Gaza.
* Gaza is very densely populated. It is eerie to see that the bombs used by Israel have been precision bombs. They have a hundred percent hit rate on buildings which are crowded with people. Examples are the central market, police stations. Schools, the UN compounds used as a safety shelter from bombardment, mosques (40 of them destroyed), and the homes of families who thought they were safe as there were no combatants in them and high rise flats where a single implosion bomb would destroy multiple families. This pattern of consistent targeting of civilians makes one suspect that the military targets are but collateral damage, while civilians are the primary targets.
* The quantity and quality of the ammunition being used as described above.
* Gaza.s lack of defense against the modern weapons of Israel. She has no tanks, no planes, no anti-aircraft missiles against the invading army. We experienced that first hand in a minor clash of Israeli tank shells versus Palestinian AK47 return fire. The forces were simply unmatched.
* Absence of well constructed bomb shelters for civilians. Unfortunately these will also be no match for bunker busters possessed by the Israeli Army.

Conclusion
Taking the above points into consideration, the next assault on Gaza would be just as disastrous. The people of Gaza are extremely vulnerable and defenseless in the event of another attack. If the International Community is serious about preventing such a large scale of deaths and injuries in the future, it will have to develop a some sort of defense force for Gaza. Otherwise, many more vulnerable civilans will continue to die.

Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah and Dr Swee Ang

COMMENT

Dr Swee Ang Says:
February 2nd, 2009 at 7:57 pm

Since we wrote this account, we have spoken to senior Palestinian surgeons who described to us strange .penetrating wounds without shrapnels.. The wound track in such patients also has clean sharp margins. Some of them treated the wounds as clean wounds but after several days - mostly 3 days onwards there is necrosis of tissue around the wound track. In the case of skin, it can take the form of abscesses. In the abdomen there are extension of organ necrosis around the track such as liver necrosis, gangrenous bowel and kidney damage. We suspect these wounds are caused by Tungsten DIME explosives.

In experimental animals tungsten is highly carcinogenic, malignant tumours appearing around 5-7 months. However the long term carcinogenic effect on human is not known yet.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza is calling for any one who has shrapnel wounds which are unusual or does not heal to present themselves to any Health clinic.

COMMENT

Dr Swee Ang Says:
February 2nd, 2009 at 8:15 pm

The lesson from these wounds without shrapnel is that Tungsten toxicity should always be suspected and primary wide excision of the wound track is mandatory to minimise tissue reaction to it. They must not be confused with what is traditionally thought to be clean cut wounds and merely washed out and closed.

Tissue biopsies are crucial if we are to understand more about these wounds. There is a pressing urgency given that there is a potential carcinogenic effect. DIME as an explosive is highly anti-personnel and can be used safely by an invading neighbouring army without the fear of the side effect of radioactive fallout which other radioactive warheads might carry. Its effect is localised to the target population only - in this case the people of Gaza, with no danger to its neighbour, cf nuclear weapons.

Boeing vs WTC

A Boeing Engineer Discovers the Official 9/11 Airplane Story Is a Big Fat Lie
John Herold - January 29, 2009
You'll have to pardon my giddiness at what happened yesterday.
In my work I drive to homes and businesses to solve computer problems. Every now and again I meet someone with knowledge or experience that directly relates to my understanding of 9/11. And when I detect that I'm in the presence of a real expert, I'll start a verbal dance where I quiz them about 9/11 without mentioning 9/11. For a brief window of time, I can get some honest answers without evoking the natural resistance people often have when they realize what they believe is incorrect. Once that happens, emotions often take over and the rational discussion usually stops. All this while fixing their computer.
This time my client was a kind, retired gentleman. After I got to work we started chatting about subjects other than his computer. He ruminated about airplanes and informed me that he's a retired Boeing engineer.
Sweet! I love quizzing people about planes, and here I am talking to someone who really should know!
He then went on: "The 787 is a mess. In for another delay. Composites are very tricky. The interface between metals and composites is difficult. Titanium+composite is OK. But when aluminum meets composite, they literally rot each other over time. This is why there's so much talk about these fasteners. Ultimately the 787 will be heavier, more expensive, less efficient, way delayed, and more technically tricky than promised. Unless these problems are solved, it'll probably be less safe than promised, too. They should just stick with what they know. All this hassle isn't worth it."
He then mentioned that the Hudson River water landing wouldn't have gone so well had it been in a Boeing 737 rather than an Airbus A-320.
He had my attention. "Why?" I asked.
He then explained that it's due to the fact that the cross-section of an Airbus fuselage is ROUND. Before the 777 he said, Boeing airliners are what I believe he called "double-lobed" -- meaning that if you view the fuselage end-on it would NOT be round. Instead, he equated it to a compressed "figure-8" shape. It's wider on the bottom, and then the bottom half is joined to a smaller-diameter upper piece and those two pieces have to be joined together and fastened carefully. That joint is naturally not as strong as if there were no joint at all. That's what an Airbus is. It's round without interruption. Like an egg, this continuous [uniform] curve [curvature] lends strength since no one point is any more vulnerable than another. It's all round. The superior strength of a seamless circle as he put it, is just common sense.
He suspected that a 737's fuselage would probably have come apart in the stress of said water landing.
So bottom line, fly Airbus, he told me. Their design makes better sense and he said there are more and more Boeing engineers who are willing to admit the same. Being retired gave him a certain advantage in the candor department, I suspect.
So naturally I began to think, if this retired Boeing engineer is ready to admit that Boeings are fragile in a water landing, then surely he'll have no problem rejecting plane-shaped holes in the WTC.
Of course this subject is kind of tricky to approach with my computer clients. In this case, the more questions I asked about the vulnerability of airliners, the more suspicious he became that I was planning to show up in the evening news.
"Trust me, I have no intent to hurt anyone or any planes," I assured him.
"You're not going to fly a plane into my house, are you?" he said half-jokingly.
Then we discussed my work on his computer...for a little while.
Ten minutes later I returned to the more important matter.
"So humor me: if I locked you in a hangar with a Boeing 767 and a 9 pound sledgehammer, do you think you could make it unflyable in 15 minutes?" This is one of my very favorite questions and it gets all sorts of responses.
Without pausing, he quickly replied, "I don't need 15 minutes, and I don't need a hammer. I'll just unplug a few wires and I'm all done."
"What about from the outside of the plane? Could you do it then?" I wanted to hear what a sledgehammer does to a plane. This guy was too smart for the my first version of the question.
Calmly he stated, "It would be so easy. I could do with my hands. But with a sledgehammer, sure, even easier."
I asked where the plane is the most fragile. He then told me that most of the strength in a Boeing is on the bottom of the plane. The top is where it's most fragile. Parts of the tail are pretty delicate, too.
"How thick is the skin?" I could barely contain my excitement at what he had to say.
â..It varies,â. he said. Some places it's more than 1/2 inch (I think he even said 3/4 inch in the strongest places like where the wing and fuselage meet). Multi-layered aluminum.
"What about the frame? What's it made from?"
With an expression as if he didn't even need to say so, "It's all aluminum, John."
Playing dumb, I asked, "So the frame isn't made from steel."
"No way. There's no steel anywhere except for stainless steel cargo doors on certain models, and a little in the back in case the plane scrapes its tail on the runway. But it's not much."
You should have seen his face. The thought of a plane made of steel (frame, skin, whatever) was laughable. I might as well have asked if his house was made from soap bubbles.
So at this point I'm thinking, this guy's open-minded enough...let's see if he'll "go there," as it were.
I spilled the beans and told him about what I very gently described as a "debate" regarding whether planes actually crashed into the Twin Towers on 9/11.
Incredulous, he raised his voice and started talking faster: "My wife told me to turn on the TV and I saw it happen! The plane looked like it flew behind the tower, but it actually hit it. And the explosion and fire, you know fire weakens steel. Eventually the building started to collapse and it couldn't stop."
He just went on and on about how he saw it happen. It was really pretty funny to watch.
"Yes, but is that what a Boeing 767 would do when encountering the WTC?" I asked. "Some people don't think so."
"John you have to remember that the plane was fully fueled and was going quite fast, probably 170 or maybe even 200. And then all that fuel would just weaken the whole building and there you have it."
HOLD UP, I'm thinking. I didn't hear him specify whether he meant mph or knots, but who cares? This guy is under the impression that this plane was coming in for a mid-air refueling with the WTC, not balls-to-the-wall full throttle as government and media described it.
I informed him that NIST claims United 175 was going over 500 mph.
"What? No way. That's wrong. Commercial jets don't fly even close to that fast at that low an altitude. That's incorrect."
"Why not?" I asked rhetorically.
Confidently he replied, "Because of the air resistance! Sure, they can achieve high speeds like that at 42,000 feet, but it's very thin up there."
I wonder what was going through his mind at this point. Here he's discovered that his knowledge of airliners directly contradicts what he believes happened on 9/11, on multiple fronts.
So I paused for a while...returned to fixing his computer and let it go.
Then I asked him to humor me again.
"What would happen if, while flying a 757 at very low altitude and high speed (whatever that means), what would happen if you hit a light pole with the wing?
"You mean the cast metal kind or wood?"
"Take your pick." I said.
He paused for a second. "Well...I think the wing could cut the light pole down whether it was made of wood or aluminum. It would definitely damage the wing but I don't think it would take the wing off."
To review I asked, "So a light pole wouldn't stay standing, and leave a hole in the airplane's wing shaped like a light pole?"
He started laughing. "No."
"OK, how about this?" I asked. "What if you took a big beefy, load-bearing steel column from a skyscraper, buried some of it in the ground and then hit THAT with the wing?â.
Without hesitation, he responded, "Oh, now there you'd have a problem. The wing will not sheer a steel beam. Instead the beam will destroy the wing and there you have it. The pilot is not going to have a good day. That plane, what's left of it, is in big trouble."
"So the wing will not sheer the steel and keep going?"
"Of course not, John."
"But that's what you were told! That 'plane' into the World Trade Center left behind a plane-shaped hole, all the way out to the wings!" Now I was the one having trouble staying calm.
"What? No!" He seemed to think I got my "facts" wrong.
"YES! That's how the official story goes!"
Talking faster without even thinking about it, I asked, "Another question -- how hard would it be to maneuver a Boeing into the WTC and hit it, wingtip-to-wingtip at 500 mph or so?"
"John you can't go that fast at that altitude, but if you could -- it would be tough! You can't easily make adjustments and correct your errors like you can when you're getting ready to land. That IS what those hijackers were doing. They had just taken off, you know."
I had to correct him: "No, actually the maps they showed us depict a much more circuitous route and again, NIST claims United 175 was going 500 mph when it hit the WTC." It was really getting good watching his face.
He quipped, "Somebody's lying about that. They're not telling the truth."
At this point all I had to do was watch him go.
"But...but John, the strongest part of a building are those load-bearing core columns that hold the stairways and elevators! The concrete floors and exterior in a building, other than the corners, is really not that strong. If the plane had hit the core columns, or one of the corners, THAT would be like the steel beam you're imagining."
I then informed him that the WTC towers were unusual that way, with much of its load-bearing steel on the outside perimeter, and that really as buildings go, it's probably a poor candidate for a plane-shaped hole with a Boeing.
And that was it. I finished fixing his computer, his wife wrote me a check and I was on my way. I wonder what's going through his mind. I wonder if he hears a faint voice...Houston, we have a problem!
If he decides to hire me back, I'll see how he's progressed.
You can email John at behave_pc@yahoo.com .

Superpower (119m, U S A) dir. by Barbara-Anne Steegmuller

http://www.superpowerthemovie.com/

This documentary is dedicated to all people victimized by war and terrorism, and in particular, an American-born attorney, David Mark Berger.

As a member of the Israeli weight lifting team in the 1972 Munich Olympics, he was murdered with ten other team members on live television by the terrorist organization, Black September.

David Mark Berger (at age 28) 1972

Superpower (119m, U S A) dir. by Barbara-Anne Steegmuller

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1311717/

http://www.google.com/search?q=Superpower+Steegmuller

Superpower, dir. by Barbara-Anne Steegmuller:

The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know.' ~Harry S. Truman

The United States emerged from World War II with its industrial base still intact and the only nation with the atomic bomb. It was without question the most powerful country on earth. What was done with this unprecedented power, the effects it's had on our Republic and the rest of the world is the story of SUPERPOWER. Superpower goes behind the scenes of America's national security apparatus and military actions to illustrate the US quest for global dominance through economic and military strategy that is exposed through review of historical events, personal interviews, and analysis of US foreign policy. Superpower presents a view of US foreign policy, which lies in stark contrast to that depicted by corporate media, popular pundits, and US heads of state. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the US has emerged as the preeminent superpower of the world. What was done with this unprecedented power, the effects it's had on our Republic and the rest of the world is the story of SUPERPOWER.

Synopsis:

Superpower is a well-executed and comprehensive film that asks tough questions and goes behind the scenes of America’s national security apparatus and military actions. Far from a conspiracy film about the dangers of government secrets and regime change, this well-balanced film straddles the philosophical divide and allows viewers to understand the US quest for global dominance through economic and military strategy that is exposed through review of historical events, personal interviews, and analysis of US foreign policy.

The heart of Superpower lies in the analysis produced from a re-examination of history through a series of interviews with historians, documentarians, and academians such as Bill Blum, Chalmers Johnson, Michael Chossudovsky, and Noam Chomsky, and others with expertise in this subject such as the Executive Producer of The Unit, Command Sergeant (Ret.) Eric Haney; former Chief Economist for the US Department of Labor, Morgan Reynolds; three-time Noble Peace Prize nominee, Kathy Kelly; and Lt. Col. (Ret) Karen Kwiatkowski. Examining key moments in America's history elicits a more consistent and plausible set of motives for US foreign policy actions guided by global expansion and military dominance, rather than the hyperbolic calls for democracy and totalitarian regime change that we have become so accustomed to hearing.

Should citizens trust that their government will keep them safe, a government that keeps secrets, and lies, in the name of national security? Does the simple act of withholding information lead to a world of eroding civil liberties and corruption? Superpower presents a view of US foreign policy, which lies in stark contrast to that depicted by corporate media, popular pundits, and US heads of state. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the US has emerged as the preeminent superpower of the world. Superpower illustrates how the United States has chosen to leverage that position to pursue a grand strategy which will ensure itself unilateral world domination through absolute economic and military superiority. It shows a consistent pattern of government deception.

The United States emerged from World War II with its industrial base still intact and the only nation with the atomic bomb. It was without question the most powerful country on earth. What was done with this unprecedented power, the effects it's had on our Republic and the rest of the world is the story of Superpower.

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Writing Tradition

There is a family tradition for writing connected with this film. The executive producer/producer/director/writer, Barbara-Anne Steegmuller, has a background in research and journalism and is the first cousin-once-removed of the famous Flaubert scholar and writer, Francis Steegmuller (1906 - 1994). He lived in New York City with his second wife, writer Shirley Hazzard. Yale University and Columbia University hold his collected papers. His first wife was the painter Beatrice Stein, who had studied under the French cubist artist and printmaker, Jacques Villon.

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DOK Market Digital

Superpower has been chosen by the selection committee for the "DOK Market Digital" in Leipzig, Germany. "DOK Market Digital" offers trade and professional visitors as well as international buyers the opportunity to view all films in the current festival program, as well as approximately 150 additionally selected international productions by genre. All DOK Market films are presented with a photograph and relevant sales information in the DOK Market Catalog. During the festival week the DOK Market Catalogue is issued to all trade and professional visitors and, following the festival, the catalogue is sent to a further 150 international commissioning editors and distributors.

Festivals and Awards

SUPERPOWER has won Best Feature Documentary in the Moving Pictures Film Contest in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information about the contest and the magazine see http://www.movingpicturesfilmcontest.com and www.movingpicturesmagazine.com.

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SUPERPOWER has been accepted to screen in the Twin Cities Film Festival in North Carolina in the fall of 2008.

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SUPERPOWER has been accepted to screen in the British Film Festival Los Angeles between May 3rd and May 8th 2009. For more information about this festival go to: http://www.amritsa.com

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SUPERPOWER has been accepted to screen in The International Film Festival Egypt. The festival will take place in Cairo, Egypt and the HQ will be the El Sawy Culture Wheel. The Festival will run between April 5th and April 9th 2009. For more information about this festival go to: http://www.amritsa.com/e2.htm

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The August Sun Film & Television's

"World Peace Film Festival"

Promoting works that promote World Peace through Film and Television

Robert J. Locke, President of August Sun Productions and Director of the festival, presenting the Director Award to the director of Superpower, Barbara-Anne Steegmuller.

Held at The Crest Theatre, 1262 Westwood Boulevard, Aug. 24-Aug. 30, 2008

For more information about this festival go to: http://www.augustsunproductions.com/festival

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SUPERPOWER received an Honorable Mention in the program of the 2008 Route 66 International Film Festival, as one of the outstanding films that did not fit into the festival schedule, but deserved special recognition. This is the 7th annual festival for Route 66, and is held each year on the third weekend in September at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield, Illinois. For more information about this festival go to: http://www.route66filmfestival.net

POWERS THAT BE

The accidential documentary filmmaker

By Keith Barber

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. — President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address to the Nation, Jan. 17, 1961.

Barbara-Anne Steegmuller, a sociology professor at Greensboro College and Strayer University, had long been fascinated with the aforementioned speech delivered President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Her interest lied more in the creative realm of screenwriting however than the world of documentary filmmaking. Steegmuller had written a political action thriller that included cameos by Noam Chomsky and William Blum. Steegmuller admitted she thought it was a long shot to get Chomsky, widely known as the father of modern linguistics, and Blum, an author and critic of American foreign policy, to agree to be in her feature film. When both of her idols agreed to take part in her project, one thing led to another and a “lucky accident” called Superpower was born. On Friday, Superpower, a full-length documentary about the global impact of America’s militaryindustrial complex, will be screened at the Gardens, located at 586 Piney Grove Road in Kernersville, at 2:55 p.m. during the Twin Cities Film Festival.

Steegmuller said Superpower presents motives for the US foreign policy decisions since World War II, from military actions for regime change, to current legislation that is eroding American civil liberties. But it was Eisenhower who provided the original inspiration for the film. “He wanted to warn people about a runaway military and the militaryindustrial complex,” Steegmuller said. Video clips of Eisenhower’s farewell address begin and end the film as Steegmuller documents how US military spending has escalated over the years.

Born in Charlotte and a graduate of Guilford College, Steegmuller began shooting the film in December 2006. After two years of filming, Steegmuller said she had 52 hours of footage and not the faintest idea of what to do next. “I knew nothing about editing, but I’ve learned a lot because I sat with [editor Mike Diiorio] and watched every single frame of film,” she said. “Now, I’ll know what not to do next time.” Since its release, Superpower has garnered a number of accolades. During the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah last month, Superpower won best feature documentary in the Moving Pictures Film Contest. In addition, Steegmuller won a directing award for Superpower at the August Sun Film & TV Film Festival in Los Angeles, where the film was also nominated for Best Feature Documentary and The Grand Peace Award.

Superpower also received honorable mention in the Route 66 Film Festival. The film is an official selection of the International Film Festival in Cairo, Egypt and the British Film Festival in Los Angeles.

Steegmuller said she learned many valuable lessons about the nature of documentary filmmaking during her adventure.

“I had knowledge of screenwriting, but this is the exact opposite,” she said. “You write the script after you shoot.” Steegmuller said she also realized that fundraising is perhaps the most difficult task a documentary filmmaker faces, but ultimately, she discovered there is a demand for well-written, thoughtful films.

“I think independent filmmaking is really making headway,” Steegmuller said. “There’s a real place for independent filmmakers.”

Steegmuller said the film definitely has a local flavor. Professors from Wake Forest University, Guilford College, UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State were interviewed on camera for the film. Superpower also features Rep. Howard Coble, former NC Supreme Court Justice Henry E. Frye, Jennifer Rudinger, president of the NC American Civil Liberties Union and High Point physician Dr. Dave Wiggins.

“We had a good mix of people,” she said. For further information on Superpower, go to: www.superpowerthemovie.com/home.html.

Steegmuller said her overwhelmingly positive experience producing Superpower has inspired her to start planning her next documentary film. Steegmuller said she’s amazed by the power of the medium to move and inspire audiences. She hopes her film will have an impact on the way Americans view their military history, and guard against the rise of the military-industrial complex.

“It’s a call to action, that you can stay informed and make a difference,” she said.

In 1970 while I was a student at the University of Vienna in Austria for my junior year abroad, I met David when we were both taking a trip to the States. He was a very interesting person who could talk through the night on his politcal ideas. Between us we could solve all the problems of the world in a few hours! He made me promise that I would watch him on the live broadcast of the Munich Olympics in 1972. To my shock and horror I watched him and the others with him suffer and die under a terrorist siege.

Watching the 2008 Olympics I couldn't help but think of David. The Olympics should be a place where the politics are left at the gate and where nations can come together in good spirits and good will. Hopefully the lessons learned there will expand and bridge cultural gaps after the Olympics are over. Unfortunately, in 1972 the Olympics became a political forum. Whether it is for race, religion, politics, or territory, there is no justification for terrorism of any nature regardless of the reasons presented for those actions.

It is my hope that anyone who has suffered from war or terroism can live in a world that is peaceful, full of opportunities, and open to cultural diversity. The sacrifices of people like David Mark Berger should encourage others to remember and make our government leaders more accountable for their foreign poliicy decisions. Superpower is a film that is a call to action for those who realize that the atrocities of the past must not continue and who wish to make a difference.

Clip Link	Clip Description	Length
	Victor Archibong video clip on violations of International Law.	:07
	Victor Archibong video clip about Halliburton's role in the iraq war as a war for oil.	:22
	Victor Archibong video clip discussing America's foreign debt.	:12
	Bill Blum video clip with insight on Latin American overthrows.	:13
	Bill Blum video clip on Iran as a war of agression.	:13
	Bill Blum video clip on possible war with Iran and the reason behind it.	:25
	Max Carter video clip about what a superpower is.	:20
	Noam Chomsky video clip discusses US democracy.	:08
	Noam Chomsky video clip about the link between Iraq and al Qaeda	:13
	Noam Chomsky video clip takes a look at George W. Bush's messianic mission.	:17
	Noam Chomsky video clip on immigration and Operation Gatekeeper.	:57
	Noam Chomsky video clip examining the reality of our "liberating Iraq."	:18
	Noam Chomsky video clip defining American Exceptionalism.	:14
	Michel Chossudovsky video clip talking about the IMF and World Bank and their role in the world.	:22
	Congressman Howard Coble video clip featuring an argument that we were right in removing Sadam Hussein.
	Miriam Cooke video clip on justification for establishing military bases around the world.	:21
	Adriana Cortés-Jiménez Video Clip about the wall between the US & Mexico and its effectiveness.	:27
	Henry Frye Video Clip gives advice on fighting tyranny.
	Robert Griffiths Video Clip speaking about our policy of regime change in the United States.
	Robert Griffiths Video Clip on global perception of the United States and their selective application of the regime change policy.
	Robert Griffiths Video Clip opposing the United States operating outside of international as well as in violation of civil liberties.
	Robert Griffiths Video Clip on civil liberties.
	Jeff Jones talks about Operation Ajax, the infamous case where the CIA overthrew a friendly democratically elected government that dared to nationalize the oil.	:18
	Th

Superpower Comments

You make us proud! Thank you for sharing the bones of this incredible undertaking. My thoughts and prayers be with you as you fly to LA and participate in the seminars and festivals.

Thank you for undertaking a work of this importance. My best to all of your production people and your family.

Bob S, Suwanee, GA

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I will be thinking about you and wish you and this stroke of genius of a film the very best. What an incredible array of spokespeople. What better time then now for this film to be recognized and seen by all.

Thank you and your team for all your hard work,

Kathe L, Greensboro, NC

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You deserved the Director’s Award for bravery for producing this controversial film about the American Military Industrial Complex. Films like "Superpower" are needed today.

Congratulations on your other nominations and awards as well.

Robert L, Hollywood, CA

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We are impressed how professional the video was. There were a few things I learned that I didn't know. Christy, did an outstanding job of narrator. The video flowed smoothly. We felt you made your points well.

Bob and Jean T, Winter Park, FL

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The movie was a real eye opener. I never learned this in high school. Go figure.

April P, Summerfield, NC

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It's obvious a lot of work went into the making of "Superpower". Its time we had a film that tells the truth and challenges the system.

Ellen S, Los Angeles, CA

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"Superpower" is a frightening film because it reveals truths the public either doesn't know or doesn't want to hear. I just hope the powers-that-be don't do something to block this from being released.

Merle D, NYC

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This film put history into perspective in a different light than I ever learned in school. I was particularly disturbed by the testimony from Mahar Arar. The United States should not be involved with rendition or torture. Maybe "Superpower" will encourage viewers to take action and make a change.

Richard J, Redmond, WA

Superpower Host and Voice-Overs - Christy Johnson

Christy Johnson. Ms. Johnson is a versatile actress who has been in feature movies, short films, music videos, numerous musical theatre and straight theatre productions, and in student films.

Christy earned an MA in Liberal Studies and a BA in Theatre UNCG. She was in the Gold Madrigals which was the featured choir in two European tours; performed in Carnegie Hall in New York City; was an American Idol On-Line winner; Who's Who Listing; Chancellor’s List; Dean’s List; earned the Girl Scout Gold Award; lead singer for Dreamkiller, which toured the east Coast and released a CD of original songs; Miss Teen Greensboro First Runner-Up 2001; Miss Junior Greensboro 2003. Her other activities include: lettered on her high school track team – won the state championship; Track and Field Junior Olympics; State Games Gold Medalist; National Quad Speed Skating Gold Medalist and Set a new National Record for the 1000 Meter; National Karate Junior Olympics Gold Medalist.

Interviewees

Dr. Victor Archibong is from Nigeria, Africa. He teaches Comparative politics, African politics, and genocide at Greensboro College. In Superpower he discusses war, genocide, and US involvement in world affairs, as well as world opinion about the US government and American citizens.

Bill Blum is an American author, and critic of United States Foreign Policy. In Superpower; he relates his first-hand knowledge about the inner workings of government and warns of its dangers. A former State Department employee, he left the organization in 1967 due to his opposition to the Vietnam War. From 1972 to 1973 Blum was stationed in Chile, where he reported on the Allende government's "socialist experiment". In the mid-1970's, he worked in London with ex-CIA agent Philip Agee and his associates. Agee wrote a critique of CIA operations in his book, "Inside the Company: CIA Diary". There was much controversy that arose from disclosing names of agents, but more importantly, there was revelation at underhanded government activities. Blum was also controversial as the founder and editor of the "Washington Free Press", one of the many newspapers in the loosely organized U.S. underground press in the 1960s and 1970s that opposed the Vietnam War. Blum devotes substantial attention to CIA interventions and assassination plots.

Dr. Deena Burris is a Visiting Instructor of Management at Guilford College. She teaches Business Economics, and Global Perspectives. In Superpower Burris discusses global hegemony of the US in world trade and economic stability in various global regions, and problems with NAFTA and CAFTA.

Dr. Max Carter is the Director of the Friends Center, Campus Ministry Coordinator, and Director of Quaker Studies at Guilford College. He was raised in a Quaker farming community in Indiana, declared his conscientious objection to war to his draft board and performed alternative service at the Friends Schools in Ramallah, Palestine. Since that exposure to the conflict in the Middle East, he has returned regularly to the region with groups to volunteer at the Friends Schools and learn from the Israeli and Palestinian peace communities. Carter has a B.A. in German from Ball State; a Master of Ministry from the Earlham School of Religion; and a Ph.D. in American Religious History from Temple University. He has traveled in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Gaza, the West Bank, Palestine, and Israel. In Superpower Carter explains that after speaking with heads of state and many locals in the region, he believes US intervention into Iraq was predictably disastrous. It exacerbated the problems there and increased the conflict. He states that US involvement in Iraq has destabilized the moderate government and caused great hardship for the people there. Carter believes that the current US administration has callously used the war in Iraq to further their own political gain.

Dr. Noam Chomsky is an Institute Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at MIT; political analyst of US foreign policies and military interventionism; and an author. Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar during the 1980 - 1992 time period. He became prominent as a war-tax protester in 1967 after being arrested with Norman Mailer as part of the protest leaders known as the "Boston 5". In Superpower Chomsky states on camera that the people of the US are the freest in the world but the most indoctrinated. Chomsky discusses the control and effect of media as well as some of the suppressed actions and interventions by the US on foreign governments.

Dr. Michel Chossudovsky is a professor at the University of Ottawa, Canada. He has taught as visiting professor at academic institutions in Western Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. He has also acted as economic adviser to governments of developing countries, and has worked as a consultant for international organizations including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the African Development Bank, the United Nations African Institute for for Economic Development and Planning (AIEDEP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). In 1999, Chossudovsky joined the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research as an adviser. Chossudovsky is past president of the Canadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. He is a member of research organizations that include the Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform (COMER), the Geopolitical Drug Watch (OGD)(Paris), and the International People's; Health Council (IPHC). He is an active member of the anti-war movement in Canada. Chossudovsky is editor for the Center for Research on Globalization. He has written several books that address climate change weapons, economic development, globalization, world economy, and international financial institutions. In Superpower Chossudovsky discussed the topics from his research and how power can and has been abused, causing economic instability globally.

Congressman Howard Coble represents the 6th District of North Carolina. He is the senior member on the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. The United States Chamber of Commerce presented Representative Howard Coble (R-NC-6) with its annual "Spirit of Enterprise" award for his strong voting record on critical business issues in the second session of the 109th Congress. In Superpower Congressman Coble defends the Patriot Act but holds that the American people need to safeguard their liberties against terrorism. He believes that the American people are the most generous of people and he is proud to be an American citizen.

Dr. Miriam Cooke teaches Literature on Middle East Women, Islamic feminists at Duke University. She received the dubious honor of being on the 100 Most Dangerous Professors List for advocating for Islamic women. In Superpower Cooke discusses women's rights in the Middle East, how western pop culture influences people in the that region, disinformation by the US media about US military interventionism in the Middle East, and how the people in the Middle East are keenly aware of agendas by the US government.

Adriana Cortés-Jiménez is the Directora General de Fundación Comunitaria Del Bajío, in Irapuato, México. In Superpower she talks about immigration, and the problems brought about by NAFTA. The Foundation, formally came into being in October 1997, when the Guanajuato State Government, led by Governor Fox, inspired a group of local business leaders to create a community foundation to raise funds to help Greater Irapuato. The region around Irapuato had benefited from the rapid development of commercial fruit and vegetable production and the growth of industrial and clothing assembly (maquiladora) plants. However, there was concern that more people living at or near the poverty line would detriment the whole community. The Foundation was fortunate to obtain the services of Adriana Cortés-Jiménez, a long-term resident of Irapuato and civil society leader, as the Executive Director. The Synergos Institute has been invited to support the new foundation as part of the efforts to nurture new approaches to community philanthropy throughout Mexico.

Justice Henry E. Frye holds an impressive list of firsts for the state. In 1968 he became the first African-American to serve in the North Carolina House of Representatives in the Twentieth Century. He later gained a seat in the North Carolina Senate. In 1983, Frye became the first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court of North Carolina. Then in September 1999, he was appointed by Governor Jim Hunt to serve as the first African-American Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. In Superpower Justice Frye implores citizens to know the Constitution and be active participants in our political and judicial systems.

Dr. Robert J. Griffiths is an Associate Professor in Political Science at UNCG. He teaches comparative and international politics, and civil-military relations. His specialty is in comparative politics of Africa, and in particular, South Africa. In Superpower Griffiths comments on US military interventionism and the struggle for independence in third world countries.

Dr. Tadeusz Grygier is an Emeritus Professor of Criminology at the University of Ottawa. He was an attorney who became a political prisoner and a survivor of the Soviet Archipelago Gulag. He now teaches Criminology, Total Domination, Totalitarian Panopticon and Bio-Power Politics (regulations of life such as forced population control, genocide, euthanasia), and Global Movement Dynamics. In Superpower Grygier discusses the ethics of rendition in comparison to Stalin's tactics.

Command Sergeant Major (Ret) Eric L. Haney served for more than 20 years, in the Army's most demanding combat units as a Combat Infantryman, Ranger and ultimately a founding member of the Army's super-secret counter-terrorist arm, Delta Force. In Superpower Haney discusses many issues regarding military interventionism, ethics, and the effects US foreign policies have had on the rest of the world. Haney is the author of Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counter-terrorist Unit. The CBS series "The Unit" is that story brought to life.

Dr. Katy Harriger Chair of the Dept. of Political Science at Wake Forest University. She is also Director of the university's Teaching and Learning Center. Her current research focuses on American constitutional law and the Independent Counsel Statute. She has written widely about American governance and government ethics. Dr. Harriger is presently teaching a seminar that includes presidential wartime powers and the separation of powers. In Superpower Harriger warns about the expansion of presidential powers in the guise if national security or alleged emergencies to justify a broadened exercise of power.

Jack Hoffmann; was one of the "Transport Kinders" from the WWII Holocaust, and is a world history expert who gives lectures on historical and current events. In Superpower Hoffmann talks about first world countries not preventing genocide in the 40's or now, citing the Albanian genocide, the Darfur genocide, oil motives by the US and Great Britain, and the problems with global hegemony and military dominance.

Dr. Ole Holsti is with the Triangle Institute for Security Studies and Duke University. In Superpower Holsti talks about public opinion and US foreign policy, Transnational Threats, Military Strategies, Armed Conflict, and Security Implications. Dr. Holsti was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and he was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1981-82. Holsti contends that the September 11 terrorist attacks resulted in almost universal outpourings of sympathy and support for the U.S. But in the five years since then, the public in most countries, including America's closest allies, have become highly critical of the U.S., some of its institutions and, most especially, of its foreign policies. He said the negative opinions can largely be traced to the war in Iraq. "Most publics abroad believe that U.S. pays little or no attention to the vital interests of other countries, and that the war in Iraq is a diversion from, rather than a contribution to, defeating terrorist organizations,". International surveys reveal a few bright spots, including favorable opinions of the American people, economic opportunities in this country, and American science and technology. Holsti's forthcoming book focuses on the way people abroad view the U.S., and why they hold these views. Dr. Ole Holsti's famous father was, Eino Rudolf Waldemar Holsti, who was first Foreign Minister of Finland after the War, a member of the Finnish Parliament; Diplomatic Representative in London; President of the Finnish Delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference; Minister of Foreign Affairs; represented Finland in the Baltic Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs; Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Estonia and Latvia; Permanent Delegate tot he League of Nations and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Switzerland; Finnish delegate at all Assemblies of the League of Nations; served on many commissions and committees of the League for disarmament and security problems; represented Finland at the world Disarmament Conference in Geneva; served as vice-president of the third commission of the Assembly of the League in 1922 and as its President in 1937. He was the representative of his government at the conference of the Pan-European Union; Minister of Foreign Affairs; represented his country in all the conferences of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the North European States; represented the President of Finland at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in London; President of the Finnish Delegation to the Tercentenary Festivals in Delaware and Pennsylvania. He came to the United States and became acting professor of political science at Stanford. Dr. Holsti's daughter, Malawi, joined the Peace Corps. Her photo with several children she met is featured in the film.

Dr. Chalmers A. Johnson is an author and Professor Emeritus of the University of California, San Diego. Johnson was featured in the Eugene Jarecki-directed film "Why We Fight", which won the 2005 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. He has written numerous books including, most recently, three examinations of the consequences of "American Empire", "Blowback", "The Sorrows of Empire", and "Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic". In Superpower Johnson states the enforcement of American hegemony over the world constitutes a new form of global empire. Whereas traditional empires maintained control over subject peoples via colonies, since World War II the US has developed a vast system of hundreds of military bases around the world where it has strategic interests. A long-time "Cold Warrior", Johnson experienced a political awakening after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, noting that instead of demobilizing its massive armed forces, the U.S. accelerated its reliance on military solutions to problems both economic and political. The result of this militarism (as distinct from actual domestic defense) is more terrorism against the US and its allies, the loss of core democratic values at home, and an eventual disaster for the American economy.

Dr. Jeff W. Jones is a professor at UNCG where he teaches Contemporary World History since 1945: Political, social, and economic forces affecting Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. In Superpower Jones discusses issues including the Cold War, imperialism, nationalism, terrorism, World War II, and US hegemony. Dr. Jones believes that the US government allowed Pearl Harbor to occur and dropped the bombs on Japan not to end the war but to flex our muscle to the world, and in particular, the USSR, that we are the number one superpower. Jones explains the unnecessary manufactured war in Kosovo as a justification for NATO.

Kathy Kelly is an American peace activist, pacifist, three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee and one of the founders of Voices for Creative Non-Violence. In 1988 she was sentenced to one year in prison for planting corn on nuclear missile silo sites. Kelly served nine months of the sentence in Lexington KY maximum security prison. She has taught in Chicago area community colleges and high schools since 1974. From 1980 through 1986 Kelly taught at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, Illinois. She is active with the Catholic Worker Movement, and as a pacifist and war tax refuser, has refused payment of all Federal income tax for 25 years. Kelly helped organize and participated in nonviolent direct action teams in Haiti in the summer of 1994, Bosnia in August, 1993 and December, 1992, and Iraq with the Gulf Peace Team in 1991. In April of 2002, she was among the first internationals to visit the Jenin camp in the Occupied West Bank. In the spring of 2004, she served three months at Pekin federal prison for crossing the line as part of an ongoing effort to close an army military combat training school at Fort Benning, GA. In Superpower Kelly discusses the effects of US sanctions in Iraq, the quest for oil, and activism.

Dr. Sergei Khrushchev is a professor at the Watson Institute of International Studies at Brown University. His father, Nikita Khrushchev, was First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and played a role in the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. In Superpower Khrushchev discusses world opinion of US foreign policy, and provides an incite into the struggle for power within the USSR, torture, ethics, and US militarism.

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Karen U. Kwiatkowski is a teacher and has become a noted critic of the U.S. government's involvement in Iraq since her retirement. In Superpower Kwiatkowski worked in the Near East South Asia directorate at the Department of Defense and observed firsthand the formation of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans. She offers insider knowledge in denouncing a corrupt political influence on the course of military intelligence leading up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. She has said that she was the anonymous source used by Warren Strobel and Seymour Hersh in their respective exposés of pre-war intelligence. Kwiatkowski was interviewed in the 2005 documentary, "Why We Fight".

Kathe Latham is a long time activist in peace and social justice issues from the anti-Vietnam war movement and anti-apartheid movement, to women’s and labor struggles in the S.F. Bay Area of California. She joined thousands of women breaking into male job trusts in the late 70’s and 80’s and played an active role in creating cross craft solidarity between railroad workers on the Southern Pacific line. Most recently she has been active in various local peace movements in Greensboro, N.C. and has been instrumental in creating local community projects such as a community-wide War and Peace film series, dialogue series and conversation cafes. She is currently a doctoral candidate at UNCG in Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations. Her research focuses on addressing the obstacles as well as opportunities in revitalizing the commons, creating stronger communities of solidarity, trust, mutual respect and sustainability. She was organizer for Operation Democracy Council with MoveOn.Org. In Superpower Latham discusses the development of corporations as the leading superpowers in todays' world.

Dr. Sarah K. Lischer is with the Triangle Institute for Security Studies and is a professor at Wake Forest University where she teaches courses on International Military Intervention, including wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; Ethics on Laws of War; The Conflicts in Darfur and Sudan; Humanitarian Aid; Human Rights and the Military; Child Soldiers; Genocide; and Refugees and International Security. In Superpower Lischer discusses the Theory of the Just War, Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, and military ethics. She has written the book, "Sanctuaries: Refugees Camps, Civil War, And The Dilemma Of Humanitarian Aid."

Captain (Ret.) Rich May is with Center for Defense Information. He served in the Army in a variety of leadership positions and locations. He participated in ":Operation Enduring Freedom" in Afghanistan and "Operation Iraqi Freedom" as a platoon leader in the 82nd Airborne Division. He worked on independent archival research at the National Archives, concentrating on the changing relationship between the United States and Iraq with a focus on external events as the driving force behind the evolving perceptions of one another. Superpower May presents insightful information on utilizing contractors. May is a recipient of two Bronze Stars and several other military awards.

Dr. April Najjaj is a professor at Greensboro College where she teaches about Middle East, Islam, Women, and the Israeli Wall. Superpower Najjaj discusses historical perspective, the mainstream media bias, and how the US is perceived by people in the Middle East. Najjaj converted to Islam when she married her husband, from whom she is now divorced. She remained true to her faith and takes students each summer to the Holy Lands to see the area from a Muslim perspective.

Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is a former judge and now an analyst for Fox News Channel. Napolitano started on the channel in 1998, and currently serves as the network's senior judicial analyst, commenting on most legal news and trials. He is a graduate of Princeton University, where he was a founding member of the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, and Notre Dame Law School. Napolitano was a Superior Court judge in New Jersey from 1987 to 1995, becoming New Jersey's youngest life-tenured judge. He also served as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University School of Law for eleven years. In Superpower Napolitano speaks about the Patriot Act, eroding civil liberties, the first and fourth amendments, and national security. In 2006, Napolitano wrote "The Constitution in Exile: How the Federal Government Has Seized Power by Rewriting the Supreme Law of the Land". His new book, " Nation of Sheep", was released in October 2007. In 2004, he wrote the book "Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the Government Breaks its Own Laws", a criticism of the American system of justice.

Dr. Morgan Reynolds was a Professor Emeritus in Economics at Texas A&M, now retired. He is the former Chief Economist for the US Department of Labor, and the former Director of the Criminal Justice Center National Center for Policy Analysis in Washington, DC. Reynolds was the first prominent government official to publicly claim that 9/11 was an inside job. He is member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth. In Superpower Reynolds discusses economic manipulation of world trade by transnational corporations and US quest for hegemony that hurts third world nations, the false flag phenomenon, and controlled demolition at ground zero. He also has written several controversial books contending that minimum wage laws exacerbate unemployment and that labor unions have had a negative effect on the US economy.

Jennifer Rudinger, J.D. received her law degree from The Ohio State University College of Law. She served as the Executive Director of the Alaska Civil Liberties Union, and after 9/11, she worked with elected officials in finding the appropriate balance between keeping America safe and preserving individual liberties and privacy. In Superpower Rudinger illuminates the events that transpired before the vote for the Patriot Act, and her fear that the US Constitution and civil rights are in jeopardy. Rudinger moved to Raleigh in May 2004 to serve as the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and vows never to leave again.

Mark Rudd was an influential American revolutionary organizer and an anti-war activist. By 1968 Rudd became a leader of the Columbia University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and led a campus demonstration that was imitated and spread throughout the nation. He was a founding member of The Weathermen, who set out to overthrow the government due to their belief of the criminality of the government's actions in Vietnam and in persecuting the Black Panthers. For seven years he and his wife went underground working menial jobs to avoid being arrested. When he finally turned himself in many charges were dropped and he served community service and probation on minor charges of trespass and disturbing the peace. In Superpower Rudd stated that while he believes the group's motivation, to end the Vietnam War was justified, violence gives the government an excuse to undermine the group and what it is trying to accomplish. He feels that while the SDS and Weather Underground were correct in their understanding of the history of United States imperialism, they were wrong in believing it was truly a revolutionary time and the violent actions performed in pursuit of the goal of its overthrow were wrong. Rudd became a professor of mathematics at a community college in New Mexico. He is now retired. He was interviewed in the 2002 documentary, "The Weather Underground".

Dr. Harvey Sapolsky is a Professor of Public Policy and Organization, and recently retired from teaching political science and directing the MIT Security Studies Program. In the defense field he has served as a consultant and panel member for: the Commission on Government Procurement; the Office of the Secretary of Defense; the Office of Naval Research; the Naval War College; the U. S. Army; Draper Laboratory; the RAND Corporation; John Hopkins; Applied Physics Laboratory; the National Research Council; and the Department of Energy. His current research focuses on three main areas: U. S. defense politics including especially inter-service and civil/military relations; the impact of casualties on the use of force; weapon acquisition policies, military innovation, and the structure and performance of defense industries. In Superpower Sapolsky discusses US sanctions in Iraq, why we were there, and the extent of US military power.

Cindy Sheehan is an American anti-war activist whose son, Casey Sheehan, was killed during his service in the Iraq War. In Superpower Sheehan questions government intrusion into the lives of citizens with unwarranted searches, invasions of privacy, and problems arising from the invasion of Iraq. She was one of the nine founding members of Gold Star Families for Peace, an organization created in January 2005 that seeks to end the U.S. presence in Iraq.

Dave Wiggins, MD was a former Distinguished Graduate of West Point, who tried to resign his commission as Captain in protest of the invasion of Panama and Grenada, but his resignation request was refused. He was then sent to the Middle East prior to the Gulf War. As a doctor he was not in any immediate danger, but further participation in the military was against his conscience, and he refused to serve. He took off his uniform down to his underwear and blocked military traffic in King Khalisd Military City on the front lines, for which he was court-martialed and dishonorably discharged. He was the initiator of the "Veterans Call to Conscience Project". In Superpower Wiggins raises issues of eroding civil liberties and questions governmental leadership.

MORE AWESOME FILMS:

Tammuz, dir. by Nir Toib: On the morning of June 7th, 1981, eight Israeli pilots set out on a suicide mission targeting at the Iraqi nuclear reactor: 'Tammuz'. A dramatic, spellbinding, political â.. social and historical film which almost mirrors what is happening today with Iran. Tammuz reveals the political and human machinations that preceded the decision to attack the reactor; the moral dilemmas and the considerations for and against.

Color Of Truth, dir. by Frederick & Lucy Smith: Based on a true story during World War II, a Jewish widow begs her former lover, now a soldier in Hitler's army, to save her family from a Nazi concentration camp. His fear of the SS forces her to reveal a momentous secret which sets them each on a journey which changes their lives irrevocably. She volunteers to work as a nurse in the Birkenau hospital blocks, trying to search for her family without being discovered, only to be faced with a frightening moment of truth during a desperate escape attempt.

Superpower, dir. by Barbara-Anne Steegmuller:The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know.' ~Harry S. Truman The United States emerged from World War II with its industrial base still intact and the only nation with the atomic bomb. It was without question the most powerful country on earth. What was done with this unprecedented power, the effects it's had on our Republic and the rest of the world is the story of SUPERPOWER. Superpower goes behind the scenes of America's national security apparatus and military actions to illustrate the US quest for global dominance through economic and military strategy that is exposed through review of historical events, personal interviews, and analysis of US foreign policy. Superpower presents a view of US foreign policy, which lies in stark contrast to that depicted by corporate media, popular pundits, and US heads of state. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the US has emerged as the preeminent superpower of the world. What was done with this unprecedented power, the effects it's had on our Republic and the rest of the world is the story of SUPERPOWER.

Sebastian's Vodoo, dir. by Joaquin Baldwin: This 4 minute short is so awesome, that I'm not even going to try and describe it. The filmmaker synposis: A voodoo doll must find the courage to save his friends from being pinned to death. This is about 1/100 of how awesome this short is.

The Cave: An Adaptation of Plato's Allegory in Clay, dir. by Michael Ramsey: An excerpt from Plato's Republic, the 'Allegory of the Cave' is a classic commentary on the human condition. We have adapted and brought it to life by shooting over 4,000 still photographs of John Grigsby's wonderful claymation. A 3 minute short that 2 judges spent 30 minutes discussing after the film finished.

Orion Slave Girls Must Die, dir. by Eric Kallevig: Fanboy or Fratboy? There can be only one. This is the voyage of Jules and Matt, best friends whose lives are devoted to Star Trekâ.¦and devoid of girls. When Matt falls for Stacey, an alluring sorority girl, he ashamedly hides his love of Trek to join a fraternity. Outraged, Jules must take drastic measures to bring Matt back to the Trekkie fold.

Bushwacker, dir. by Kal Goudey: A wacky clay animated comedy adventure in which a cowboy president searches the caves in Afghanistan for the worlds most wanted fugitive. A surprise awaits him when he picks the wrong cave ending in near disaster. Live coverage, by an annoying reporter of the event, is being watched by an unlikely viewer who in turn is terrorized in his apartment by a pizza and beer stealing mouse. The two main characters face their own frustrations and setbacks as new obstacles arise. Full of symbolism, political humor and comic events, make this animated short a must see.

Donut Heaven dir. by Annetta Marion,: Phoebe, a chain-smoking daughter who is thoroughly fed up with her obese mother's penchant for Jesus and overeating, comes up with an ingenious way to help her mother and herself. Her idea is a simple bet; for every ten pounds that mom drops, Phoebe will give up one day of the week smoking. Even though the rules of the bet are cut and dry, the changes Phoebe and her mother Dolores go through are quite unexpected and reveal the deep, universal bond that parents and children have - whether they like it or not. Using prosthetics to create a significant weight loss with Dolores, 'Donut Heaven' is a familiar and funny story that people will connect to, especially mothers and daughters.

Absolute Zero, dir. by Alan Woodruff : A train makes its way through the countryside toward the city. Part of its load is a refrigerated wagon used for transporting meat to the markets. Inside the otherwise empty wagon, a man keeps a grim log on the wall. a first-hand account of death by freezing. Only later it is discovered that the refrigeration unit wasn't operating. The temperature in the wagon never fell below 68F yet the man dutifully manifests, and records, the symptoms of hypothermia as he dies a needless, painful death. The story is told using a combination of archival and imagined material to speculate on the man's final hours.

The Big Question: by Vince DiPersio, 62 minutes A troubled man bursts into your child's schoolhouse. Without warning, he chases out all the boys and lines the girls up. Then he begins to shoot them one by one. For decades your people's backs have been broken by the oppressive yoke of Apartheid. Suddenly, the tables are turned and you and your friends are in power. Your own mother is brutally raped and slain by a random burglar. What would you do? Could you forgive? Should you forgive?

August Sun Film & TV Festival announces their award winners for 2008.

Festival goers and filmmakers enjoyed screenings at The Crest Theatre in Westwood, voted #1 interior by the LA Times, and wonderful seminars down the street at Bel Air Camera.

Seminar speakers included Legendary Publicist/Talent Manager Joe Sutton, 3 time Oscar Nominated Director Vince DiPersio, Emmy Award Winning Writer Russ Woody, Eric Haney Executive Producer of NBC.s .The Unit., Director John Stecenko .Legend of Bloody Mary., Talent Manager Caron Feldman, and Screenplay Gurus Nancy Sexton and Alon Bar.

The award ceremony was held last at Sinigual Restaurant in Beverly
Hills hosted by Festival Director Robert J. Locke, and awards presented
to the filmmakers by the beautiful actress Brooke Lewis. The People.s
Party Band provided the music, and after the ceremony the band played
on until the wee hours of the night. Public Relations by Dawne Marrie for

The UnCompany.

For the Grand Peace Award, it was a very difficult decision. Which film
best promotes World Peace?

Does a short film about self sacrifice, or a feature documentary about
Forgiveness, or a documentary about Israeli Top Gun Pilots that destroy a
nuclear weapon from a Hostile Nation, or a documentary about the US
military industrial complex, or a feature about a Jewish woman and a
Nazi Soldier who had a son that gets sent to a concentration camp and his
mother poses as a nurse to help set him free.

The Grand Peace Award
Sebastian.s Vodoo Directed by Joaquin Baldwin

The August Sun Productions Production deal
I Quit by Hope Pagano

The Grand Jury Award and Best Documentary Short Form
The Big Question Directed by Vince DiPersio

Director.s Awards for Debut filmmaker
Color of Truth Directors Lucy and Fred Smith

Director.s award for Bravery for producing the controversial film
about the American Military Industrial Complex
SuperPower Directed by Barbara-Anne Steegmuller.

Best Feature Documentary
Tammuz Directed by Nir Toib.

Best Animation Film
Sebastian.s Vodoo Directed by Joaquin Baldwin,

Best Short Film Comedy
Orion Slave Girls Must Die Directed by Eric Kallevig

Best Short Film Drama
The Cave Directed by Tim Schultz.

Best Screenplay Knuckleballer by Michael Murphy

Best TV Pilot Comedy I Quit by Hope Pagano.

Best TV Pilot Comedy Tickle Me Silly dir. by Miguel Martinez-Joffre

Best TV Pilot Dramedy Donut Heaven dir. by Annetta Marion

Best TV Pilot Script Drama Law Review by Stephanie Guyon

Best TV Pilot Script Comedy In-Laws & Outlaws by Louis Farley

Best TV Pilot Script Drama Runner-up

Charlotte's Webs by Britt Kazmac

Best Short Film Drama Runner-up Absolute Zero by Alan Woodruff

Best Short Film Comedy Runner-up Bushwacker dir. by Kal Goudey

Honorable Mention Screenplay Child of the Sea by Andrew Coffin

Honorable Mention Screenplay Sanguis Christi (Blood of Christ) by John Schneider

Honorable Mention Screenplay The Ace of Aces by Geoffrey Breuder

Honorable Mention Screenplay Journal of a Dinka Boy by Jomo Merritt

Best Actor John Amedro Color Of Truth

Best Actress Hilary Holmes Orion Slave Girls Must Die