National Ballot Initiative News

Greetings, democracy fans. There's no recent news on national ballot initiative progress, but last week's state initiatives show that initiatives are where most reforms start, how initiatives need to be improved, and the need for national initiatives. To convince your friends who doubt that initiatives are the way to go, the proof is in the pudding:

1. Initiatives are winding down the 75-year war on marijuana users. While Congress put an end to alcohol prohibition after 13 years of profits to the mafia and deaths by rotgut, it is now too beholden to the alcohol, prescription drug and other interests threatened by marijuana and hemp to act. Colorado's legalization Amendment 64 passed 54.9% to 45.1% as did Washington's Initiative 502 with a 55.3% to 44.7% vote. Medical marijuana also passed in Massachusetts with a stunning 63% to 37%, but Arkansas' medical marijuana and Oregon's legalization both failed. 

The Federal government will still prosecute marijuana users when they want, a demonstration of the need for national ballot initiatives like Senator Mike Gravel's project: http://Vote.org   http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/legal-battle-looms-over-marijuana-initiatives/2012/11/07/cce5033e-28f5-11e2-bab2-eda299503684_story.html

2. Here in Colorado, the City of Longmont banned oil and gas "fracking" in town by 60% to 40%, in spite of the oil and gas companies outspending proponents by more than ten to one, becoming the first citizens to vote on this: http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_21943036  Longmont is now facing off against the governor (a former petroleum geologist) the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission, and the fossil corps, who have filed suit. The people who organized this initiative are so juiced, they're talking about a similar Colorado initiative, and are enthused over the prospect of national ones.

3. For the first time, same-sex marriage was legalized in states across the country using ballot initiatives rather than legislation. Maine, Maryland, and Washington all voted to allow same-sex couples the right to marry in their states. Minnesota also became the first state to have voters reject a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.  This was all predicted by the prescient Nate Silver last year at  http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/the-future-of-same-sex-marriage-ballot-measures/

Having your personal life discussed in the media is no fun for gays, but this is how prejudice gets dispelled. I was raised in the '50s and '60s and never learned about gay people back then. My vague distaste for gays vanished in 1992 when Colorado was debating Amendment 1, which banned gay rights laws (and was overturned by all the courts including the Supreme Court.) During the debate I recalled hitch-hiking through San Francisco in 1970 at age 18 and getting rides from gay men who had their hands all over me. Once I realized where the distaste came from, and that most gays, like most straights, arent' like that, I gained many gay friends including my current Congressman Jared Polis, who happens to favor national ballot initiatives: http://spryeye.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-congressman-jared-polis-on-record.html

4. Californians, after enduring over $1 million a day of ads from major food companies, narrowly defeated Proposition 37, which would have mandated the labeling of GMO foods. The pro-GMO forces outspent the labeling advocates 5 to 1, defeating what polls show is nationwide an overwhelmingly popular idea.

This shows that voters need the kind of objective information that legislators get from public hearings, expert testimony and deliberation. This is just what Oregon's Citizen Initiative Review has provided for three election cycles: http://HealthyDemocracyOregon.org  Gravel's proposal also incorporates this, as Deliberative Committees. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, 18 state legislatures have tried and failed to label GMO foods: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Biotech-food-measure-Prop-37-on-ballot-3788811.php

San Juan County, Washington DID pass Initiative Measure No. 2012-4, making it illegal to "propagate, cultivate, raise or grow plants, animals and other organisms which have been genetically modified." http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/washington-county-bans-gmo-cultivation.html

5. Two states and over 120 cities (including mine, Boulder) passed initiatives or referenda to call on Congress to over-ride the Supreme Court's notorious Citizens United decision:  http://truth-out.org/news/item/12638-millions-of-voters-demand-constitutional-amendment-to-overturn-citizens-united

To further convince people, you can show them the record of the last 20 years of initiatives in Colorado: http://spryeye.blogspot.com/2012/01/case-for-ballot-initiatives-and.html   and some national initiative history: http://Vote.org/initiatives

You can see the World-Wide Direct Democracy Newsletter at: http://www.elefant-studio.cz/download/newsletter3.pdf

The 4th Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy just concluded in Montivideo, Uruguay: http://2012globalforum.com/

 I always say: "You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can buy most of Congress (and the legislatures) most of the time."

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Evan

Country wakes up to Climate Change! For real.

Wow, 350.org's  Do the Math Tour to stop climate catastrophe starts with a triple bang. Here's what Bill McKibben just emailed me -Evan

Off like a rocket.I'd be lying if I said I'd expected it to start quite this well.We launched the Do the Math tour in Seattle last night -- even though we had sold the out first venue and moved to a bigger one, we still had a hell of a time squeezing in the crowd. Check out the crowd of 2000 people with their fists in the air:

The show was a nonstop high -- people on their feet again and again, pledging to cross the country to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable. If you can still get a ticket near you you're going to want one: dothemath-boulder.eventbrite.comBut here are the day's two huge unexpected stories, the things that have us grinning ear to ear as we drive south in the biodiesel bus towards Portland and tonight's show:

1) Seattle mayor Mike McGinn took the stage to tell 2000 of his constituents that the city's treasurer has begun investigating divestment options for the city's money. I had lunch with him, and knew he was taking this seriously -- but this is the kind of forthright action that defines leadership, and he won huge cheers from the crowd when he made his announcement from the stage.

2) Unity College in Maine just announced that they're divesting from fossil fuels -- the first college in the country! On the night this campaign begins! Here's what president Stephen Mulkey said at our press conference this morning: "I know from speaking with other presidents that many more colleges in America are already grappling with this." They won't all move this boldly and proudly -- but we're in business, folks. This is happening: dothemath-boulder.eventbrite.comOn to Oregon!Bill

Cure Intestinal Parasies Naturally

How to cure amoebic dysentery, giardia and worms with Quassia

People traveling in 3^rd world countries are often afraid of intestinal parasites, but, having lived for 3 years in poorer areas of Mexico and 2 in Guatemala, I learned there are easy solutions. I picked up amoebic dysentery several times while on long bicycle trips, and knowing how to deal with them, I was able to continue with no problems. This method is for healthy people only!

Here's how I do it: If my gut hurts, I wait two days. If it's just a bacterial infection, you should start to feel better. Coconut milk is very soothing. Definitely avoid alcohol and sweets, which bacteria and other parasites love.

If after 2 days, you feel as bad or worse, you should start treatment with a “full-spectrum antibiotic” -or the herb Quassia, which is used in much the same way -especially if there is mucus in your feces and sulphur in the gas you pass. In most of Latin America, just go to a Pharmacia and ask for Flagyl (or the generic Metronidazole), the cheap drug available everywhere, or say “tengo amebas” (“I have amoebas”) and they'll almost certainly give you Flagyl. In the U.S. you need a prescription, so DON'T WAIT until you return or you'll have to pay for expensive tests to get treatment -while the amoebas are eating your lunch, dinner and breakfast and you are getting weaker. If you have a weak liver from drinking, etc.  -or from continuing untreated parasites- they can get inside, and you need a doctor, quick.

Quassia won't make you feel as bad as Flagyl, but neither is fun. Both are killing everything in your gut, so you need to replenish the beneficial bacteria with probiotics, like yoghurt, kefir, sauerkraut, miso, etc., after the treatment.

Often people with amoebas will wait longer until they're really sick and go to a doctor for a stool test. If they don't find the amoebas with a microscope the first time (not a fun job), and you wait, it will take weeks or more to recover your strength after you take the treatment. That's why I assume I have them if I don't feel better in 2 days. Neither treatment is pleasant, but you'll function fine, which is nearly impossible with amoebas.

Quassia is available at herb and health food shops. It will be either shredded or chopped. Take a large handful on your trip, which should cost a few bucks.

Procedure:

With either Flagyl or Quassia, take it 3 times a day about an hour before meals for 10 days. If you're traveling for an extended time in an area with poor sanitation, where re-infection is likely, consider taking the treatment for only 2 days -to control rather than eliminate the amoebas. They will grow back in 20-24 days -and you will know it. Take the treatment another 2 days and so forth, until you get back home -or to civilization. Then take the full 10 day treatment to eliminate all the amoebas.

With Flagyl you just pop a pill. With Quassia you make tea. If the herb is shredded, just put a small palmful -about ½ ounce- in about a pint of cold water, and wait 20 minutes. If it's coarsely chopped, you'll have to boil it a bit -a minute should do it. Either way, it will taste quite bitter. Drink it down. That will kill most of them, so when you eat your meal, you will get most of the food, not them. The few that are left will recover somewhat, but after 30 doses, they will all be gone.

Add more water to the same wad of Quassia and drink it before the next meal, and so forth, until the tea becomes weak after about 3 days; then toss that wad and start another. So it will take about 3 wads or 1 ½ ounces for a complete 10-day treatment.

Enough Quassia for 3 days treatment. This grind will make tea in cold water.

Worms & Giardia

Once when I was taking Quassia on a bike trip in Guatemala, I found a 9” long white worm in my stool -I believe it was the common Ascaria worm, which probably infects 25% of the world and 2% of Americans. I was scared enough to also take Flagyl when I got to town, but nothing further came out. So the Quassia killed that too.

Flagyl and Quassia will also kill Giardia. Doctors say to take only 1/3 the dose of Flagyl for Giardia as for Amoebas, and for only 5 days, so you could reduce the Quassia treatment accordingly. If you don't take enough, you will know 20-24 days later, and can try again. I guess it was overkill to treat my only case of Giardia the same as I did amoebas. 

Etc:

Quassia is on the FDA's Generally Regarded as Safe list, but probably should not be used during pregnancy. It is said to also be effective against malaria, pinworms and even lice. It contains the phytochemical quassin, the bitterest substance found in nature. To understand the seriousness of amoebas and their treatment I recommend you read at least this about Flagyl. If you've had amoebas for awhile they may lodge in your liver and treatment is harder.

I am not a doctor and do not know your condition! Please discuss this treatment with your doctor before you go!

The Grinch who tried to steal 4/20

from the Cannabis Therapy Institute:
 (Phil DiStefano is CU-Boulder's Chancellor, a repeat DUI offender who leads today's attempt to stop CU's famous 4/20 cannabis smoke-in/prohibition protest. They're posting hundreds of cops to stop anyone without a CU ID from coming on campus, and spreading smelly fish fertilizer where the celebration occurs. -Evan)

Here's video from 2009:

  

The Grinch who tried to steal 4/20

"Pooh-Pooh to the Stoners!" Phil was grinch-ish-ly humming. "They're finding out now that no 4/20 is coming!"

"They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do!"

"Their mouths will hang open a minute or two. Then the Stoners down in Boulder will all cry Boo-Hoo!"

"That's a noise," grinned Phil, "That I simply MUST hear!" So he paused. And DiStefano put his hand to his ear. And he did hear a sound rising over the snow. It started real low. Then it started to grow...

But the sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded merry! It couldn't be so! But boy was it merry!

He stared down at Boulder! Out popped Phil's eyes! Then he shook: what he saw was a shocking surprise!

Every Stoner in Boulder, the tall and the small, Was singing and smoking! With no permits at all!

He HADN'T stopped 4/20 from coming! IT CAME! Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And DiStefano, with his feet ice-cold in the fish fertilizer, stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?" "It came without permits! It came without speeches!" "It came without Frisbees, or costumes or bleachers!" And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore. Then DiStefano thought of something he hadn't before!

"Maybe 4/20," he thought,"doesn't come from a permit." "Maybe 4/20...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

And what happened then...? Well...in Boulder they say, DiStefano fired up a fatty and had a very nice day!


YOU CAN'T STOP 4/20 from Coming!

HAPPY 4/20!

The case for ballot initiatives, and improving them

I challenge anyone to find a State legislature  whose record compares to what Coloradans have done with ballot initiatives, a form of direct democracy:

In 2000 Colorado voters passed Amendment 20, legalizing medical marijuana, Amendment 22, closing the gun-show loophole and Amendment 23, raising K-12 spending. In 2002 we passed Initiative 27, one of the country's strongest campaign finance limits. In 2004 we passed Initiative 37, the country's first renewable energy mandate for utilities. In 2006 we passed Amendment 41,  the country's strongest Ethics in Government law, and Initiative 42, raising the minimum wage. In 2008 we passed Amendment 54,  which prohibits government contractors from making campaign donations. In 2012 we passed Amendment 64,  the country's first legal marijuana AND hemp, and we voted 3 to 1 for Amendment 65, asking  our Congressional Representatives  to  work  to reverse Citizens United. (Only 1 of 7 did anything,  showing how poorly they represent us.) And in 2016 we passed Amendment 70 for a $12/hr. minimum wage, Proposition 106, Medical Assistance in Dying for the terminally ill and Proposition 107, for Open Presidential Primaries. (You can find details of each at ballotpedia.org. Just search for "Colorado Amendment [or Initiative or Proposition] X")

During a similar time the Colorado legislature has done little but prevent local communities from solving their own problems with preemptive laws, such as against local minimum wages, rent control, gun control, and banning fracking.  

The downside of initiatives is far less harmful than legislation as well. Contrast a few ballot initiatives impeding gay rights and abortion with all 50 state legislatures criminalizing sodomy and abortion and jailing people for decades. Not to mention interning Japanese during World War II, persecuting communists,  socialists and friends during the McCarthy era and imprisoning millions of marijuana smokers over the last 80 years. 

Media, not just in Colorado, have focused on the few problematic ballot initiatives like Colorado's 1992 Taxpayer Bill of Rights Amendment 1, which voters gave a 5 year time out in 2005, by voting for Referendum C. Rather than act to finally fix TABOR, the Colorado Legislature keeps trying to make the initiative process harder, including with 2008's defeated Referendum O. The same forces finally succeeded with 2016's Amendment 71, by going the initiative route, to make it appear to be a grassroots effort. 71 makes the process much more expensive for regular people, without inconveniencing wealthy users of the ballot initiative process.

Oregon has instead improved its ballot initiative process with Citizen Initiative Review. By having randomly-selected "citizen juries" deliberate each initiative, problems like TABOR's "racheting down provision," hidden in its back pages unnoticed, would have been exposed before we voted on it. 

Citizens in both Oregon and California have tried, using ballot initiatives, to get their Secretaries of State to allow signing ballot initiative petitions on the SOS website. This would open the process to groups without huge funds, save the SOS the expense of comparing physical signatures (ID would be by driver's license, etc., as with online registration in over half the states), reduce misrepresentation and harassment for signatures, get more voters to read more of the initiative texts before signing, and save gas, time and money.

I list four other improvements to the process in my article Why Bernie Sanders should put Direct Democracy at the top of our Agenda

The initiative and referendum process is the origin of most US reforms, from women's suffrage to sunshine laws to medical marijuana to term limits. See initiatives for references and more examples.

"On most major issues we've dealt with in the past 50 years, the public was more likely to be right...based on the judgment of history...than the legislatures or Congress." -George Gallup, Sr.

 9/11 Truth-seeking made huge strides since September's 10th anniversary:

10/9/11 NY Times: Scientists’ Analysis Disputes F.B.I. Closing of Anthrax Case

The anthrax attack was just a secondary terror event.. But these doctors say the FBI dropped a main forensic lead which points at the most advanced US labs -and the FBI is actively trying to block a new investigation. It's also the first crack in the NY Times subtly snide propaganda against "truthers," and by implication, truth.

9/15/11 Fmr Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chair [Democratic] Sen. Bob Graham calls to re-investigate the Saudi role in 9/11 AND the government's active cover up such as flying Saudis, including Bin Ladens, out of the country while the rest of us were grounded right after 9/11. [See DemocracyNow]

9/11/11 SecrecyKills was set to release their expose podcast naming some very critical names, but the CIA threatened them at the last minute. They released it a couple of weeks later, in spite of the threat. Their statement about the shut-down and fmr. FBI Director's Tenet's response to them say plenty, even if you don't listen to the whole podcast. For a summary it's quicker to view this video at FBI whistleblower/translator Sibel Edmonds website Boiling Frogs: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/?s=secrecy+kills

9/09/11 Release of "Explosive Evidence: Experts Speak Out," the new full-length documentary featuring 43 of the over 1600 Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth members, including the lead electrical engineer of the WTC, one of its structural engineers, Boulder structural engineer Jonathan Smolens, etc. With Boulder psychologists Bob and Marti Hopper and Denver psychologist Fran Shure in the epilog. 

The 43 engineers & architects merely expound High School level physics showing that NIST's (changing!) explanation of what made THREE buildings of the WTC fall down is a pack of violations of 1. The Law of Conservation of Momentum and 2. Principles of Symmetry.  Photos of WTC buildings 3, 4, 5 and 6, which were completely burned and gutted by thousands of tons of falling steel from the very close Twin Towers, show they didn't collapse, just as much larger fires lasting many hours or days  have never made a steel-framed skyscraper fall. ONLY WTC 1, 2 and 7 fell in identical symmetrical fashioned, though all were damaged VERY unsymmetrically and relatively slightly. Here are photos of 5 & 6.

Better science education is probably a big part of why 89.5% of Germans don't think the US is telling the whole truth about 9/11:

9/08/11-9/11/11 The International Hearings on the Events of Sept. 11, 2001 concluded with Sen. Mike Gravel explaining his tri-state ballot initiative campaign for an independent investigation with grand jury powers. Then, French actor/director Mathieu Kassovitz, who played the lead in "Amelie," gave $50,000 to Sen. Gravel for the campaign.   A DVD of this event will soon be available.

Mike Gravel has noted that the government will never really investigate itself. He's carefully crafted the Citizens 9/11 Commission so any 1 state can convene it if its initiative passes, but other states can join in, etc. He DEFINITELY needs more money: 

Please everyone, circulate this widely. Thanks!

Evan

"There is no god higher than truth." -Gandhi

Boulder's Big Black Lie

Boulder's former Deputy Mayor Lisa Morzel

Here's part of the video of the May 3, 2011 Boulder, Colorado City Council meeting when they gave up their longtime resistance to the proposed Jefferson Parkway and gave their go-ahead to start plowing up the dirt at Rocky Flats, the former town-sized nuclear bomb factory 8 miles South of Boulder, in trade for a deal for more open space land.

Then-Deputy Mayor Dr. Lisa Morzel, a volcanologist working for the USGS, misrepresents what the background level of plutonium is in our area.

Dr. Morzel says "Background levels are 35 picocuries [per gram of soil]"  It's easy to find online (or from any expert) that the real background level is .04 picocuries (for example, see here, under 3. Rocky Flats.) She says this to misleadingly show that the federal government's claimed cleanup level of 50 picocuries per gram is almost to background level, when it is actually 1250 times higher! (50 divided by .04) 

Both Dr. Harvey Nichols and Dr. Leroy Moore, likely the most knowledgeable people in the world about Rocky Flats, asked Dr. Morzel for a correction, but she refused to do anything until I made this webpage. She claims she finally made a correction late during a council meeting about a year after this lie, but angrily refused to tell us which meeting and at what time so that we can confirm that from video.

 The truth is crucial, because these plutonium particles are the optimum size (down to tenths of a micron, at least) to stay in the air and be distributed beyond the weapons plant  (even without the Flats' regular 80 MPH winds, dust devils and occasional tornadoes) and to be possibly inhaled and retained in people's lungs. Plowing through this dirt is a reckless gamble. Cancer would be a likely risk for many road workers, and possible downwind in the Denver metro area. 

It's impossible to detect Plutonium with a Geiger radiation meter under field conditions as compared to in the lab. See here. So nobody can know what radiation levels exist where they're digging down.

It's not too late to stop this atrocity! Just a few days ago the town of Superior, just downwind of Rocky Flats, filed suit for a real Environmental Impact Statement. I urge anyone in the world -as you are all potential victims- to contact the Boulder City Council and demand they redo their decision on the basis of actual science, not lies: council@bouldercolorado.gov  Or call them:

Mayor Matt Appelbaum- 303-499-8970
Deputy Mayor Lisa Morzel- 303-815-6723
Suzy Ageton- 303-442-5726
Macon Cowles- 303-638-6884
Suzanne Jones- 720-633-7388
George Karakehian- 303-218-8612
Tim Plass- 720-299-4518
Ken Wilson- 303-999-1931

The movie No Water to Waste is about the whole development plan, especially the water element.  The Plutonium part starts 20 minutes in.

For background here is the complete, uncensored Rocky Flats Grand Jury Report

Plutonium was a rare trace mineral on earth until it was first produced in quantity by mankind in 1945,  expressly for more efficient atomic bombs. It can burst into flame on contact with air and is a heavy metal poison as well as being highly dangerous when in direct contact with mammalian tissue. A single particle lodged in the lungs will radiate the cells next to it for the rest of one's life; after decades cancer is likely.

If the City Council wants to make the same decision, with the deadly health implications, they should do it on the basis of facts, not ignorance or faith in federal misinformation. Remember that far less egregious lying in the so-called "Climategate" emails was a main factor in the public turning against climate science, and the US blocking a treaty to stop climate catastrophe. Millions will die as a result.

This is just one reason why I've come to regard Boulder as a world center of greenwashing. More to come...

Evan's Pet/House-Sitting Service.

Howdy.

I´ve been house/cat/dog/bird/guinea pig/rabbit/turtle/chicken-sitting for 2 1/2 years. This has given me the freedom to explore some of North America's best wilderness-see my new movie at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W56rffQHYVs

I've lived in Boulder 33 years and have great references. I've been pet-sitting twice for environmental lawyer Melinda Kassen's family and dog-sitting at the super-comfortable Net Zero Energy home of Synergistic Building Technologies' Larry Kinney and Wyncia Clute. Awhile back I stayed with longtime Boulder friend and Olympic Marathon medalist Lorraine Moller and her builder husband Harlan Smith. I lived twice in the '80s with Boulder's reknowned yoga master Richard Freeman. Many remember me as Evan from Heaven the not-so-tight-rope artist. More at my new website EvanRavitz.com

I always leave a place better than I entered it. I love animals and am good with plants too. I don't usually charge unless you have more than one dog or there's some difficulty like your place being far from town and you don't leave me a car. (I sold mine 22 years ago and bike everywhere.)

I´d also consider other situations like:

I could be someone's personal trainer in trade for a room. I've
practiced yoga daily for 30 years, taught in Guatemala, and recently
completed Richard Freeman's month-long Teacher Intensive
http://yogaworkshop.com/richards_teaching/2010_ti.php I lead serious
backpacking trips http://evanravitz.com/paradise in Mexico's difficult
Copper Canyon. I've been going barefoot when possible since 1965 and
have climbed the Arapahoe Peaks and 1st Flatiron that way, among others.

I could also trade childcare. I've been teaching my friends' kids
yoga and tightrope-walking. I worked at Homestar Preschool
http://www.homestarcenter.org/ in Boulder 2004-5 and loved it. I'd be a good
"manny" especially for smart athletic kids. I know the hidden waterfalls & caves
around Boulder almost nobody else does. I tutored math while at Colorado
College.

I could do elder or disabled care. I got a near-quadraplegic washed, dressed and fed every morning for a few of months back in the ´80s, until by force of
will he learned to do without me.

Do you have a shed or garage I could clean out? I'm good at organizing, selling and giving stuff away via Craigslist, etc. I did janitorial work for the Boulder International Hostel http://boulderinternationalhostel.com/ for a couple of years.

I've been earning my living for 3 years as a freelance editor
http://spryeye.blogspot.com/2010/02/evans-editing-service-gets-kudos.html
and am seeking more work. I've done a huge variety of things including computer programming, not-so-tight-rope artistry, photography, solar research, growing organic vegetables, tree trimming, wilderness guiding, moving and construction. More at http://evanravitz.com

I'll consider all offers. Please resend this to other Boulder folks. My email is evan (at) vote.org and phone is 303-923-5918

Thanks and have a great day.

Evan

Peer-reviewed 9/11 scientific papers

• "Fourteen Points of Agreement with Official Government Reports on the World Trade Center Destruction,” by Steven E. Jones, Frank M. Legge, Kevin R. Ryan, Anthony F. Szamboti, and James R. Gourley, published in 2008 in the Open Civil Engineering Journal.
• “Environmental Anomalies at the World Trade Center: Evidence for Energetic Materials,” by Kevin R. Ryan, James R. Gourley, and Steven E. Jones, published in 2009 in The Environmentalist.
• “Active Thermitic Material Observed in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe,” by University of Copenhagen chemistry professor Niels Harrit and eight colleagues (including Jones, Ryan, Legge, and Gourley), published in 2009 in The Open Chemical Physics Journal.
• “Discussion of ‘Progressive Collapse of the World Trade Center: A Simple Analysis’ by K.A. Seffen,” by physicist Crockett Grabbe, published in 2010 in the Journal of Engineering Mechanics, which is published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
• “Discussion of ’Mechanics of Progressive Collapse: Learning from World Trade Center and Building Demolitions’ by Zdenek P. Bazant and Mathieu Verdure,” by chemical engineer James R. Gourley, published in 2010 in the ASCE’s Journal of Engineering Mechanics.
• "Discussion of ‘What Did and Did Not Cause Collapse of World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York’ by Zdenek P. Bazant, Jia-Liang Le, Frank R. Greening, and David B. Benson," by Anders Björkman, published in 2010 in the ASCE’s Journal of Engineering Mechanics.

9/11 Commissioners, Congressmen and former FBI head doubt 9/11 story!

9/11 Commissioners have their doubts:

• The 9/11 Commission’s co-chairs said that the 9/11 Commissioners knew that military officials misrepresented the facts to the Commission, and the Commission considered recommending criminal charges for such false statements (free subscription required)

• 9/11 Commission co-chair Lee Hamilton says “I don’t believe for a minute we got everything right”, that the Commission was set up to fail, that people should keep asking questions about 9/11, and that the 9/11 debate should continue

• 9/11 Commissioner Timothy Roemer said “We were extremely frustrated with the false statements we were getting”

• 9/11 Commissioner Max Cleland resigned from the Commission, stating: “It is a national scandal”; “This investigation is now compromised”; and “One of these days we will have to get the full story because the 9-11 issue is so important to America. But this White House wants to cover it up”

• 9/11 Commissioner Bob Kerrey said that “There are ample reasons to suspect that there may be some alternative to what we outlined in our version . . . We didn’t have access . . . .” He also said that the investigation depended too heavily on the accounts of Al Qaeda detainees who were physically coerced into talking

• And the Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission (John Farmer) – who led the 9/11 staff’s inquiry – recently said “At some level of the government, at some point in time…there was an agreement not to tell the truth about what happened”. He also said “I was shocked at how different the truth was from the way it was described …. The tapes told a radically different story from what had been told to us and the public for two years…. This is not spin. This is not true.” And he said: “It’s almost a culture of concealment, for lack of a better word. There were interviews made at the FAA’s New York center the night of 9/11 and those tapes were destroyed. The CIA tapes of the interrogations were destroyed. The story of 9/11 itself, to put it mildly, was distorted and was completely different from the way things happened”

Senators & Congressman have their doubts

• According to the Co-Chair of the Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 and former Head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Bob Graham, an FBI informant had hosted and rented a room to two hijackers in 2000 and that, when the Inquiry sought to interview the informant, the FBI refused outright, and then hid him in an unknown location, and that a high-level FBI official stated these blocking maneuvers were undertaken under orders from the White House (confirmed here)

• Current Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy said “The two questions that the congress will not ask . . . is why did 9/11 happen on George Bush’s watch when he had clear warnings that it was going to happen? Why did they allow it to happen?”

• Current Republican Congressman Ron Paul calls for a new 9/11 investigation and states that “we see the [9/11] investigations that have been done so far as more or less cover-up and no real explanation of what went on”

• Current Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich hints that we aren’t being told the truth about 9/11

• Current Republican Congressman Jason Chafetz says that we need to be vigilant and continue to investigate 9/11

• Former Democratic Senator Mike Gravel states that he supports a new 9/11 investigation and that we don’t know the truth about 9/11

• Former Republican Senator Lincoln Chaffee endorses a new 9/11 investigation

• Former U.S. Democratic Congressman Dan Hamburg doesn’t believe the official version of events

• Former U.S. Republican Congressman and senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, and who served six years as the Chairman of the Military Research and Development Subcommittee Curt Weldon has shown that the U.S. tracked hijackers before 9/11, is open to hearing information about explosives in the Twin Towers, and is open to the possibility that 9/11 was an inside job

Former FBI director Louis Freeh called the 9/11 investigation a coverup:

“No wonder the 9/11 families were outraged by these revelations and called for a ‘new’ commission to investigate.”