Shortly after taking office on January 20, 2009 President Obama appointed Harvard law professor (and personal friend) Cass Sunstein to the post of administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. In June 2009 Sunstein published an essay in The Journal of Political Philosophy entitled "Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures," in which he provided an "analysis" of conspiracy theories, viewing them, as his title indicated, as "caused" by psychological conditions and requiring "cures", i.e., elimination. The article led to an outcry by civil libertarians of all political stripes, who especially singled out for protest Sunstein's call for covert "cognitive infiltration" by government agents of organizations the government deems "conspiracist".

The Definitive Treatment of 9/11

a review of The New Pearl Harbor Revisited, by David Ray Griffin

by Tod Fletcher

http://www.amazon.com/New-Pearl-Harbor-Revisited-Cover-Up/dp/1566567297/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221009067&sr=1-1

In THE NEW PEARL HARBOR REVISITED, David Ray Griffin provides a brilliant and much-needed companion to his path-breaking and movement-building book on 9/11, The New Pearl Harbor (NPH; 2004). Now, on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of those horrific events, Griffin surveys in detail all the main lines of evidence against the official account of 9/11 to have emerged during the last four years. THE NEW PEARL HARBOR REVISITED (NPHR) has been designed as volume 2 of a two-volume set with NPH as volume 1; together they provide a thorough and up-to-date case against the official conspiracy theory (they can be bought separately, of course).

The Devil in the Details

a review of "The Hidden History of 9-11" (2nd ed., revised and updated), edited by Paul Zarembka

http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-History-9-11-Paul-Zarembka/dp/158322825X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218129756&sr=1-1

by Tod Fletcher

THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF 9-11, edited by Paul Zarembka, professor of economics at SUNY Buffalo, is a revised and updated second edition of an important early contribution to the growing scholarly analysis of 9/11. The first, hardback edition is so expensive that few have been able to read the book until now, so its entire content will be new to virtually everyone. It presents detailed analyses by academics of the official account of what happened on that day, highlighting innumerable serious problems that demonstrate that the official story is clearly false. The book contains three contributions from David Ray Griffin, and one each from Kevin Ryan and Nafeez Ahmed, all well-known to seekers of 9/11 truth. In addition it presents worthy contributions from Zarembka himself, Jay Kolar, Don Jacobs, David MacGregor, Bryan Sacks and Diana Ralph.

My review of Jesse Ventura's book almost reads more like a blog entry than a book review; I personally think this is one of my better pieces of prose because I manage to intertwine 9/11 Truth, the War on Drugs, and the Pledge of Allegiance. Amazing how everything all ties together!
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Anyone who reads my [Amazon] reviews in chronological order will see that Ventura's book from 2000, "Do I Stand Alone?", was my first review. Jesse was one of my first political role models when I read that book after coming across it in the Borders' store. Prior to that, all I knew was that he was a former wrestler turned governor. One of the first things that outraged me, and jolted me to be a political activist, was the criminalization of drugs and the war on marijuana smokers in particular, an outrage Ventura also shares. After going on my own political journey of various awakenings over this decade, Jesse has come back into my life during the 2008 election season with his best book yet.

I just submitted this review to Amazon. I'd like to submit it here; I'm not sure if there is a deliberate attempt to censor some damning reviews on Amazon, or just technical SNAFUs, but the last time I submitted a review there it never got published. It was a one-star review for "United 93," in which I accused the movie of being propaganda meant to reassure those who still believed the official story, and how NORAD has repeatedly changed its story, et cetera. Anyway, hopefully this review will show up there - and here!

Until reading DRG's latest book, I was not previously aware of the multiple stories put out by the Florida classroom teacher, Sandra Kay Daniels.

EDIT: My review is up on Amazon now. I guess I got past the neo-con censors this time. :D

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9/11 CONTRADICTIONS by David Ray Griffin is the fifth of his books to examine the official account of the events of September 11, 2001. This brilliant and highly readable book takes a new yet simple approach to the truth about 9/11. It focuses entirely on contradictory statements made by members of the Bush administration, government departments and agencies, and official bodies such as the 9/11 Commission. All the statements that Griffin examines are official claims in direct conflict with other official claims. How could this be? Why would the government keep changing "the official story"? The public, of course, is expected to take all the statements as incontrovertibly true, yet they directly conflict with one another.

{I wrote this review to appeal to a mainsteam audience and sneak past the gatekeepers. A fresh copy can be found on MyDD -- feel free to rate and add comments. I posted it on Daily Kos as well, a few days ago, with a special paragraph just to diffuse any attempts at censorship. Alas, due to some technical issues, I think it didn't get read much.}

I was able to get an advance copy of Peter Dale Scott's new book The Road to 9/11 from its publisher (University of California Press) so I thought I would share my review of it here. It will be available in your local bookstores this month, perhaps on the 11th itself.

This is a timely, excellent response to the 'debunkers' of the 9/11 Truth Movement.

The 'debunkers,' of course, are the ones who are on the 9/11 research scene to say: "Everything the 9/11 Truth Movement says about government complicity is wrong. The official story is indeed correct, so please get back to whatever you were doing in your life before you ever heard of these absurd theories."

This is Griffin's thickest technical volume on 9/11. There are four lengthy chapters, totaling 322 pages of text, after which there are 62 pages of endnotes. The fourth chapter, about 100 pages in length, deals exclusively with rebutting the Popular Mechanics book "Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts." The first three chapters deal with other publications that emerged in 2006, as the 9/11 Truth Movement was gaining ground. These publications include Michael Broenner's Vanity Fair article "9/11 Live: The Norad Tapes," Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton's "Without Precedent," and finally the NIST report and its attempt to debunk the controlled demolition hypothesis.

I've been toying for awhile about what kind of review to write. If I give an in-depth review of the content for each chapter of this book, the review will be so long people won't want to read it! Several other in-depth reviews have focused on the problems with the NORAD tapes. So I will focus primarily on the Popular Mechanics chapter, since PM is most often cited as the knockout punch which refutes all the movement's claims.

Continued after the jump.

I just watched this Film on IFC and I highly reccomend watching it if you have the time. It's a Historical Account
of the evolution of Hitler from a meager artist to the hatching of a Dictator. Watch this film and see if you notice any irony in this film.

Enjoy.

http://www.popmatters.com/film/reviews/m/max.shtml

MAX
Director: Menno Meyjes
Cast: John Cusack, Noah Taylor, Leelee Sobieski, Molly Parker
(Lions Gate, 2002) Rated: R
Release date: 27 December 2002 (limited)
by Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters Film and TV Editor
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The New Art

Some viewers have worried that Menno Meyjes' Max "humanizes" Adolf Hitler. But the film is less concerned with making him sympathetic, or even very specific, than it is in using him to illustrate a series of ideas. This interest in ideas makes Max rather emotionally flat, an exercise in which the pleasures are more ideological than dramatic. But this focus also allows the film's intriguing difference from more usual WWII narratives, its daring to probe what appear to be unassailable, un-probable historical events.

I attended the 7:00pm screening of "9/11: Press for Truth" at Landmark's E Street Cinema in DC. Although there were approximately 40 others in the audience, I was disappointed that more young people didn't turn out to support the movement. My initial reaction to "Press for Truth" was that of disappointment: there were too many core components left out of the film that implicate the government through MIHOP. Among the gaps: wargames, controlled demolition of the towers, the Mineta testimony, and insider trading. However, as my girlfriend and I discussed the scenes on our way home, I realized that "Press for Truth" is a perfect film for fence-sitters and those unfamiliar with 9/11 Truth.

The genius of "Press for Truth", what set it apart from other 9/11 Truth documentaries, is the raw emotion the film generates and demands from its audience. Unlike Loose Change, we see the human response to 9/11 in the form of the 'Jersey Girls'. We emphasize with the betrayal they received from the 9/11 Commission they helped create. Most importantly, they show that a group of ordinary, dedicated civilians can make a difference. Additionally, the incorporation of Paul Thompson's "9/11 Timeline" highlighted the money trail from the Pakistani ISI to the hijackers and proved to be particularly damning.