Organizations

At times, it has been among the most powerful and largest fraternal organizations in America, boasting up to four million members. It has survived for more than a century by wrapping its doctrine of hate and intolerance around the sacred cloth of Christianity and the fabric of American patriotism. THE KU KLUX KLAN: A SECRET HISTORY goes beyond the flaming crosses and beneath the robes to reveal the dark heart of this controversial organization. Authors David Chambers (Hooded Americanism) and Wyn Craig Wade (The Fiery Cross) trace the history of the Clan from its birth in 1866 to the present day. Discover how it has adapted to changing realities and responded to crises” like the Civil Rights Movement and affirmative action. In gripping interviews C. Edward Foster and Jeff Bary, the Klans Grand Dragon and Imperial Wizard, talk about their organization and its ideals, while opponents like civil rights activist Julian Bond paint a very different picture. Rare footage captures Klan rituals and rites, and archival footage chronicles the pivotal moments in the Klans long history. From the ashes of the Civil War to David Duke, this is a chronicle of 130 years of institutionalized hatred, violence and ignorance.

Duration : 0:9:51

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John R. Stockwell is a former CIA officer who became a critic of United States government policies after serving in the Agency for thirteen years serving seven tours of duty and is the highest ranking CIA agent ever to go public. After managing U.S. involvement in the Angolan Civil War as Chief of the Angola Task Force during its 1975 covert operations, he resigned and wrote In Search of Enemies, a book which remains the only detailed, insider’s account of a major CIA “covert action.”

David MacMichael is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst. A ten-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, he was a counter-insurgency expert in South-East Asia for four years. He also served as an analyst for the National Intelligence Council from 1981-1983. MacMichael graduated with an MA and Ph.D. in History from the University of Oregon.

MacMichael resigned from the CIA in July 1983 because he felt the Agency was misrepresenting intelligence for political reasons. His public resignation from the Agency gave credence and notability to his vocal indictment of the Reagan Administration’s policy toward Central America. He was considered the “key witness” in Nicaragua v. United States. The case was heard in 1986 before the International Court of Justice, which ruled that the United States had violated international law by supporting the Contras in their war against the Nicaraguan government and by mining Nicaragua’s harbors. MacMichael also testified in front of Congress on this matter.

A former investigator for the Christic Institute, he was an outspoken critic of the Institute’s reliance on conspiracy theory, arguing that the Institute “was eager, perhaps overeager, to demonstrate that this enterprise [a "secret team" of conservatives] was responsible for everything since Cain slaying Abel.” In July 2005, he testified at a special joint hearing of Congressional and Senate Democrats about the consequences of the Plame affair.

MacMichael is a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), founding member of Association of National Security Alumni and the Association for Responsible Dissent, and an outspoken critic of the Iraq War and the Bush Administration. He has participated in six documentary films from 1988-2003. Journalist John Pilger has described him as a “CIA renegade.”

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposal by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic offense doctrine of mutual assured destruction (MAD). The Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) was set up in 1984 within the United States Department of Defense to oversee the Strategic Defense Initiative.

The ambitious initiative was “widely criticized as being unrealistic, even unscientific” as well as for threatening to destabilize MAD and re-iginite “an offensive arms race.” It was soon derided as Star Wars, after the popular 1977 film by George Lucas. In 1987 the American Physics Society concluded that a global shield such as “Star Wars” was not only impossible with existing technology, but that ten more years of research was needed to learn whether it might ever be feasible.” Under the administration of President Bill Clinton in 1993, its name was changed to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and its emphasis was shifted from national missile defense to theater missile defense; and it scope from global to regional coverage. It was never truly developed or deployed, though certain aspects of SDI research and technologies paved the way for some anti-ballistic missile systems of today. BMDO was renamed to the Missile Defense Agency in 2002. This article covers defense efforts under the SDIO.

Space-related defense research and testing remains heavily-budgeted to this day, irrespective of the program names, operative/reporting organizations, politics, or reports to the contrary in the press. Although it is difficult to compile actual spending totals across the complete spectrum of space-based defense programs (including classified “off-budget” “black projects”), the U.S. has certainly invested well over $100 billion on “SDI” and follow-on programs, and holds a commanding lead over all current or potential future adversaries in the realm of space technology/warfare. The vast majority of this investment has been made in basic research at National Laboratories and Universities, and these programs continue to be a key source of funding for top research scientists in the fields of high-energy physics, supercomputing/computation, advanced materials, and many other critical science and engineering disciplines: funding which indirectly supports other research work by top scientists, and which would be largely unavailable outside of the defense budget environment.

Duration : 0:9:29

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Global Assessment of the LTTE

The Sri Lanka Governments assessment of the LTTE is widely shared within the intelligence, law enforcement and criminal justice communities across the world. Even as Sri Lanka appears to be gaining the upper hand in its battle against the LTTE on the ground, there are many who continue to fear that the international tentacles and reach of the group does not augur well.

- The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its 10 January 2007 special report has described the LTTE as “among the most dangerous and deadly extremists in the world”.

- Dr. Magnus Ranstorp, Chief Scientist at the Centre for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defence College has described the LTTE as “probably the most sophisticated terrorist organization in the world”.

- Dr. Gerard Chaliand, Former Director, European Center for the Study of Conflicts reminds us that “no peace seems possible with V. Prabhakaran as we have seen from the peace process of 2002-2005 which was but a tactical truce”.

- Most recently, The US Pacific Joint Command (PACOM) Admiral Timothy Keating while commending Sri Lankan military for its recent successes against the LTTE, has told New York correspondents on 6 November 2008, “We are hopeful that the LTTE would be a decreasingly important factor of much less reach than they are and have been in the past”.

- Proscription and its limitations

The response of the international community to the threat posed by LTTE terrorists was dismal. It would be fair to say that it was only following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, that appropriate note was taken of the risk posed by this group outside Sri Lanka. While India banned the LTTE in May 1992 following the assassination, it was not until the mid-1990s and a spate of international terrorist incidents, and particularly the LTTEs attack on the Central Bank in January 1996, that the world began to respond to the LTTE phenomenon.

•India proscribed the LTTE on 14 May 1992 following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

•Soon after the Indian proscription, Malaysia banned the activity of the LTTE in the country.

•The US listed the LTTE as a FTO on 8 Oct. 1997

•UK, where the headquarters of the LTTE was housed at the time, proscribed the LTTE on 28 Feb 2001

•UNSC listed the LTTE in UNSC Resolution 1612 (2005) for Child Conscription

•Canada proscribed the LTTE on 8 April 2006.

•The 27 member European Union proscribed the LTTE on 29 May 2006

•In Australia where LTTE assets are effectively frozen in accordance with the listing of the LTTE under UN arrangements, proscribing the LTTE under domestic law is “currently under consideration by the Attorney General” according to a statement made by the Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith on 13 October 2008.

Conclusion

The network of the LTTE and its front organizations transcends the national borders both within the European Union, as well as outside. We have seen sufficient evidence in the prosecutions such as those carried out in the US, Canada and Australia, that the operations of front organizations are an integral part of the LTTE. Taking concerted action against all entities who act for, or on behalf of, or at the behest of terrorist organizations, is an obligation all our countries have voluntarily undertaken under the numerous UN conventions on terrorism, which we have singed and ratified. Doing so has also cast on us, the obligation to implement these provisions equally, to all terrorist entities across the globe.

Sri Lanka calls upon the European Union and other European countries to honour its pledges in this regard with respect to the LTTE and its numerous front organizations operating in their respective countries. It is indeed, time to act.

Duration : 0:4:7

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[Recorded March 4, 2010]
According to author Kurt Beyer, Grace Hopper is arguably as important a figure to computing as Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs, and serves as a responsible, civic-oriented role model for current and future technical and business leaders.

A Hollywood movie about the life of computer pioneer Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992) would go like this: a young professor abandons the ivy-covered walls of academia to serve her country in the Navy after Pearl Harbor and finds herself on the front lines of the computer revolution. She works hard to succeed in the all-male computer industry, is almost brought down by personal problems but survives them, and ends her career as a celebrated elder stateswoman of computing, a heroine to thousands, hailed as the inventor of computer programming. Throughout Hoppers later years, the popular media told this simplified version of her life story. 


In his book, Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age, author Kurt Beyer goes beyond the screen play-ready myth to reveal a more authentic Hopper, a vibrant and complex woman whose career paralleled the meteoric trajectory of the postwar computer industry, and discusses the indelible contribution she made to the nascent computer industry.

Hopper made herself one of the boys in Howard Aikens wartime Computation Laboratory at Harvard and then moved on to the Eckert and Mauchly Computer Corporation. She was influential in male-dominated military and business organizations at a time when women were encouraged to devote themselves to housework and childbearing. Hoppers greatest technical achievement was to create the tools that would allow humans to communicate with computers in terms other than ones and zeroes. This advance influenced all future programming and software design and laid the foundation for the development of user-friendly personal computers.

The Computer History Museum is proud to showcase the career and accomplishments of a genuine innovator, Grace Hopper. Among her many awards, Grace Hopper was the Computer History Museums first Fellow Award recipient for her development of programming languages, computer instruction, and her lifelong naval service. The complete list of her awards and degrees exceeds two full pages, including the National Medal of Technology and 37 honorary doctoral degrees.

She is most definitely a role model but not just for women. Author Kurt Beyer, who met Hopper while he was a student at the U.S. Naval Academy, says she influenced his own career choices first as a naval officer, then as an academic, and finally as an entrepreneur.

This lecture is moderated by Northern California Public Broadcastings Chief Content Officer Linda OBryon.

Duration : 0:47:40

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A true story, written by a Burmese refugee.
If you want to get involved check out Compasio.org

It is an amazing Non Profit Organization working to help Burmese refugees and children at risk in Thailand.

I have personally spent a lot of time with this organization, and I highly recommend getting involved.

Duration : 0:3:20

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Richard Benjamin Boddie (pronounced “body”) has been an adjunct college instructor for over forty years in various disciplines, including American government and politics, American history, business law, business organizations, financial institutions, business ethics, labor law, criminal justice, sociology, third party neutral dispute resolution, and paralegal studies, among others. He has been a lawyer, a bank executive, a professional speaker, fund raiser, jazz musician, financial planner, in sales and marketing, involved with ad hoc dispute resolution, been both a radio and television host, and is currently the founder and President of The Motivators, a professional speakers bureau and consulting firm since 1983. Richard was the Libertarian Party U.S.Senate candidate in California in 1992 and in 1994, and was also a candidate for the Libertarian Party’s U.S. presidential candidate nomination for 1992. He ran for Congress in “The OC” in 2000. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and English from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and holds a law degree from Syracuse University College of Law. Boddie was the first Director of Admissions at the new Chapman University School of Law in 1995. He has been a resident of Orange County since 1977. Richard is originally from upstate New York (which is closer to Canada than NYC for those who equate all of NY State with “The City”). He has been married since 1963, has three grown daughters and five grandsons. His motto is Carpe Diem [ Seize the day ] !!

Contact Information
Coastline E-mail: rboddie@coastline.edu

Duration : 0:8:39

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Richard Benjamin Boddie (pronounced “body”) has been an adjunct college instructor for over forty years in various disciplines, including American government and politics, American history, business law, business organizations, financial institutions, business ethics, labor law, criminal justice, sociology, third party neutral dispute resolution, and paralegal studies, among others. He has been a lawyer, a bank executive, a professional speaker, fund raiser, jazz musician, financial planner, in sales and marketing, involved with ad hoc dispute resolution, been both a radio and television host, and is currently the founder and President of The Motivators, a professional speakers bureau and consulting firm since 1983. Richard was the Libertarian Party U.S.Senate candidate in California in 1992 and in 1994, and was also a candidate for the Libertarian Party’s U.S. presidential candidate nomination for 1992. He ran for Congress in “The OC” in 2000. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and English from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and holds a law degree from Syracuse University College of Law. Boddie was the first Director of Admissions at the new Chapman University School of Law in 1995. He has been a resident of Orange County since 1977. Richard is originally from upstate New York (which is closer to Canada than NYC for those who equate all of NY State with “The City”). He has been married since 1963, has three grown daughters and five grandsons. His motto is Carpe Diem [ Seize the day ] !!

Contact Information
Coastline E-mail: rboddie@coastline.edu

Duration : 0:9:29

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St. Petersburg Times Expose on Scientology
http://www.tampabay.com/news/article1012234.ece
http://www.tampabay.com/news/article1012148.ece

In light of Scientology actions by condoning violence, extortion, harassment, negligent death and secrecy towards its membership. The people of the world has decided to it is in the best interest to boycott and not do business with an organization that conducts hundreds if not thousands of assaults towards its members. Scientology is responsible for their actions. In spite of that, the world deserves to know what kind of outfits Scientology is running. This information is necessary in order to be a force for good and to put a stop to the abuse under the name of a pseudo religion. No money should be going to organizations that support organizations which conducts and cover up criminal activities

All fats are verified via the following websites:
exscientologykids.com
xenu.net
www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/
www.whyweprotest.net
A List of All Scientology Front Groups
http://www.lermanet.com/frontgroups.html

Duration : 0:4:28

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On May 25, 2007 Andrew Card faced hundreds of boos and catcalls as he was given an honorary degree during the graduate school commencement at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Before the commencement, about 200 protesters staged a rally and press conference outside the Mullins Center on the UMass campus. Hundreds more students and faculty who opposed the honorary degree would later protest inside the hall.

Card, former Bush Administration Chief of Staff and chief salesman for the invasion of Iraq as head of the White House Iraq Group, faced signs calling him a war criminal. People are now calling on UMass to rescind the honorary degree.

The protests followed weeks of growing opposition. 400 protested on May 15 (see the rally and march on YouTube at TraprockPeaceTV) and on May 22 protesters marched from the campus to the Amherst common.

After the commencement, activists gathered at the Jones Library for a celebration and speakout. Video of both the pre-commencement rally and post-commencement speakout are coming to TraprockPeaceTV.

Video recorded and edited by Charles Jenks; © 2007 Traprock Peace Center. Websites may embed the video for non-profit use, with attribution. Please let us know if you use the video; email charles@traprockpeace.org

The protest was organized by a large coalition of campus and community organizations, too numerous to list. Traprock was one of many community groups that supported the tremendous efforts by the UMass community of students, faculty and staff, and UMass organizations.

Duration : 0:4:29

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May 20th, 2008, U.S. House of Representatives. John Duncan [R-TN] quotes Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, in saying: “We are spending too much on security and should not let an over-exaggerated threat of terrorism drive us crazy, into bankruptcy.”

Congressman Duncan also made a reference to James Madison, who once lamented that endless war would be the end of freedom:

“Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other (enemy)… No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
James Madison, 4th U.S. President, April 20, 1795

That is what Madison said in 1795, because he had the Bush-alike habit of saying something and then doing something else in power. James Madison waged “Madison’s War” against Great Britain in 1812. John Lowell Jr. a.k.a. The Boston Rebel, responded writing a book titled “Perpetual War, Mr. Madison’s Policy.”
http://books.google.com/books/pdf/Perpetual_War__the_Policy_of_Mr__Madison.pdf?id=-71EAAAAIAAJ

Great family.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_family

Great, great, great, great granddaughter, Carey Lowell.
http://images.broadwayworld.com/upload/22391/tn-500_18.jpg
http://www.careylowell.net/pictures/Carey%20Lowell%201.jpg

Back to Madison. As most of you know, he spent the best part of his life fighting the creation of a Central Bank as an unconstitutional monstrosity, only to do the opposite some years down the road, supporting the second National Bank in 1815, a bigger military, and a high tariff to protect the new factories opened during the war.

Wishy-washy and a big spender who led the way to the Military Industrial Complex, it’s no wonder that Madison’s “bipolar disorder” turned into schizophrenia in his late years, inking out original passages of his correspondence with Thomas Jefferson, and even imitating Jefferson’s handwriting. A neocon before neocons.

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(Transcript)

Madam Speaker, Ian Lustick, a professor of the University of Pennsylvania and research fellow at the Independent Institute in California, wrote an article in The Hill newspaper a few days ago which made a great deal of sense. He wrote this:

“Nearly 7 years after September 11, 2001, what accounts for the vast discrepancy between the terrorist threat facing America and the scale of our response? Why, absent any evidence of a serious domestic terror threat, is the war on terror so enormous, so all-encompassing, and still expanding? The fundamental answer is that al Qaeda’s most important accomplishment was not to hijack our planes but to hijack our political system. For a multitude of politicians, interest groups, professional associations, corporations, media organizations, universities, local and State governments, and Federal agency officials, the war on terror is now a major profit center, a funding bonanza, and a set of slogans and sound bites to be inserted into budget, project, grant, and contract proposals.

“For the country as a whole, however, it has become a maelstrom of waste and worry that distracts us from more serious problems.”

Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, testified before the Senate a few months ago in a way no other Cabinet member probably ever has. He essentially said we are spending too much on security and should not let an over-exaggerated threat of terrorism “drive us crazy,” into bankruptcy, trying to defend against every conceivable threat. He went on to say: “We do have limits and we do have choices to make. We don’t want to break the very systems we’re trying to protect. We don’t want to destroy our way of life trying to save it. We don’t want to undercut our economy trying to protect our economy, and we don’t want to destroy our civil liberties and our freedoms in order to make ourselves safer.”

Secretary Chertoff was exactly right. I believe that most Members of Congress will vote for almost anything if the word “security” is attached to it so that they will not be blamed if something bad happens later. We should do some things to protect against terrorism, but we should not go overboard if we still believe in things like freedom and liberty.

(…)

[ http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=8570927 ]

Duration : 0:5:24

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