Snowshoe Documentaries: for social and economic justice

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FILMMAKERS NOTEBOOK

FILMMAKERS NOTEBOOK 148
CHRONIC ILLNESSES: Who’s killing us, and how?
We at Snowshoefilms first learned of microbiologist Garth Nicolson from epidemiologist Rosalie Bertell when we interviewed her in Buffalo, N.Y. in 2003. We finally caught up with Nicolson five years later, in Sudbury, Canada, at the 9th annual Common Cause Medical Research Foundation Conference (August 29-31, 2008), where he was a keynote speaker. After his extraordinary lecture, we put a few quick questions to him, one of the nation’s leading medical scientists. - see also www.immed.org
(see full article & transcript)

FILMMAKERS NOTEBOOK 144 A SNIPERS TALE Garret Reppenhagen joined the US Army in August, 2001. After serving his term he was stop lossed and sent to sniper school and served for a year in the Sunni Triangle around Baqubah and Diyala provinces. With others, he formed the anti-war military blog, Fight to Survive.ftssoldier.blogspot.com (more/fulltranscript)

FILMMAKERS NOTEBOOK 140
WE BLEW UP THE WORLD TRADE CENTER..NO PLANE HIT THE PENTAGON. HELLO! -- MAJOR DOUG ROKKE, U.S. ARMY
-transcript- 9/11 HELLO (Madison, Aug. 5, 07) When we blew up the World Trade Center – I want to repeat, that it was deliberately blown up. The aircraft definitely hit the sucker. There were definite explosions inside the thing. You talk to Willie Rodriguez, you talk to the police and the fire, my guys – no two ways about it. It’s on the radio communications. Everything else out there. It happened. The Pentagon, same thing. No aircraft hit the Pentagon. Totally impossible! You couldn’t make the turns with a 757. You couldn’t fly it in over the highway. You couldn’t fly it over the light poles. You couldn’t even get it that close to the ground because of turbulence. You ever stick your hand out a car window? You ever [stood] by when a semi-truck goes by you on a highway? Hello! You can’t do it. (more)

FILMMAKERS NOTEBOOK 130
"KILL EVERYBODY" - AMERICAN SOLDIER EXPOSES US POLICY IN IRAQ
“I joined in ’03,” ‘cause I was broke, I needed money, but I was a young American kid, I wanted to fight in a war. I joined up. [A] month out of training I arrived in Baghdad, Iraq, January ’04. Saddam’s been captured. And I get there and the guys I’m serving with have been there for six months already; they were there in ’03. And I go, “Well, you know what, I think it’s come out that, you know, these people had nothing to do with 9/11, there was no Iraqi on those planes. We can see around here there’s no Al Qaida, there’s no terrorist syndicates in Baghdad, or Iraq. Saddam had stamped ‘em out.” And I asked my buddies, “Well, you know, we’re here to find ‘weapons of mass destruction’.” And they laughed at me. And I said, “Well, you know, we’re here to ‘help the people.’” And they laughed at me. And I said, “What’s our mission? What’s our goal?”…They’re like, “All we’re trying to do is make it home alive…” Anderson describes the escalation of violence against unarmed civilians: “In April, they told us, “In a crowded area, if one person shoots at you, kill everybody.” Anderson explains the rationale from the officers, “They [members of the crowd of people] are letting them [the person or persons firing at the U.S. military] attack you. They’re no longer innocent if they’re there at the time of the crime…” (9/11 conference, Chandler AZ Feb 23-25, 2007) 911TV.org /snowshoefilms post-production (more)
9:46min forum discussion - youtube link - 16megquicktime, 15megwinmedia 5meg quicktime and 7.5meg winmedia links:

FILMMAKERS NOTEBOOK 122
BEST EVIDENCE ON CHEMTRAILS: DISCOVERY CHANNEL Barium and aluminum are just two of the dangerous toxins that make up the chemtrail mix, prominent chemtrail researchers Rosalind Peterson (http://www.californiaskywatch.com) and Will Thomas (http://www.willthomas.net) report on in the documentary aired in the U.S. on Feb. 22, 2007. Best Evidence, a Toronto-based film group, also presents a number of NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government-related scientists and geo-engineers who either deny the existence of chemtrails (vs. contrails), or say that they’re crucial in “stopping global warming.” The program devotes about half of its time to chasing a red herring, that chemtrail additives are being slipped into commercial jet fuel tanks. Thanks to Brian Holmes for alerting us to the film. VIDEO LINK: http://www.holmestead.ca/chemtrails/discovery.html (more)

FILMMAKERS NOTEBOOK 120
COME OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE WITH YOUR HANDS UP! - MORGAN REYNOLDS
We first learned of Morgan Reynolds when we filmed his talk in Madison, Wisconsin, May 6, 2006.* Just under a month later, we were able to put some questions to him in Chicago at the 9/11 conference.
Independent filmmakers in Chicago had to scramble for interview space. Inside and outside planes could be heard screaming during take-off. Between flights – about every three minutes – we shouted our questions. Reynolds in this outdoor interview paused until the planes were a little distant before responding with quick answers. (more): fnb #120

FILMMAKERS NOTEBOOK 121
WE ALSO WERE KILLED ON 9/11. AVENGE US. -- FIRST RESPONDERS
First Responders tell what they heard and saw on 9/11, exposing the EPA-NYC cover-up. “Every major adventure of the U.S. rulers has proceeded on the basis of false flag operations such as 9/11.” – Ralph Schoenman. “I myself ran from Building 7 and I heard with my own ears what sounded like a rapid succession of explosions while running.” -- Craig Bartmer. The air is deadly, first responder Kevin McPadden was told “on the low” by a military chemical/biological weapons expert. “These men risked their lives on 9/11 saving people that they didn’t even know. – Luke Rudkowski “We came to your rescue on 9/11. Now thousands of us and our families need you to come to ours. We also were killed on 9/11. Avenge us.” - David Miller. (1st of a series from NYC, Sept. 9-11, 2006 /18:00)
VIDEO OPEN: 9/11 demonstration CUT TO /ground zero NYC...more: fnb #121

FILMMAKERS NOTEBOOK 116
THE MORMON’S GALILEO: PROFESSOR STEVEN E. JONES
A COVER-UP, I GUESS YOU’D HAVE TO CALL IT THAT. BYU physics prof Steven E. Jones, in this interview of June 3, 2006 in Chicago, exposed gaping holes in the official story of 9/11, revealing the probable explosives used to bring the three World Trade Centers down (thermite, super-thermite…). With natural reluctance Dr. Jones drew the inevitable conclusions that 9/11 was an inside job followed by “a cover-up. I guess you’d have to call it that.”
Subsequently, just days before the 5th anniversary of the crimes of 9/11, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY SUSPENDED PROF. JONES. The highly respected Mormon university in Provo, Utah on Sept. 7, 2006 issued this Statement: “UNIVERSITY OFFICALS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE INCREASINGLY SPECULATIVE AND ACCUSATORY NATURE OF THESE STATEMENTS BY DR. JONES.” The university – which has no tenure system -- took the rare measure against Jones, who’s taught there since 1985, removing him from his classroom: ‘Go home! We’ll send you your check.’ The reason, they explain is that there is “…A QUESTION ABOUT [THE] PROFESSOR’S PERFORMANCE IN CITIZENSHIP, SCHOLARSHIP OR TEACHING.” Just so. He excels in all three areas and therefore must go. ...more: fnb#116

FILMMAKERS NOTEBOOK 114
PRESENT THE MASSIVE PRIMA FACIE CASE ON 9/11 TO THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINIION
(But don’t piss up a rope) Ralph Schoenman: A 911 Grand Jury and other strategies.
Author, political-analyst and activist Ralph Schoenman gives the concluding remarks of the grand jury strategy workshop June 3, 2006 at the 9/11: Revealing the Truth/Reclaiming Our Future conference held at the Embassy Suits Hotel/O’Hare Rosemont, in Chicago. The 3-day event was hosted by 911Truth.org and MUJCA-NET. Other workshop speakers were Kathleen Ferrick Rosenblatt, Lynn Pentz and Phil Berg. ...more: fnb#114

FILMMAKERS NOTEBOOK 115
ELECTROMAGNETIC WEAPONS USED TO SLAUGHTER IRAQIS Guerre Stellari in Iraq documents the use of electromagnetic weapons on Iraqi civilians in the early days of the American invasion. A few weeks after the April 2003 battle for the Baghdad Airport, American filmmaker Patrick Dillon learns of a mysterious horrible weapon that has obliterated civilians, eviscerated them, shrunk them. Majid al Ghezali, first violinist in the city orchestra, takes Dillon to the scene of the crime (and cover-up!). Other incidents are shown: a Belgian doctor reveals the carnage of dozens of people on a public bus; Iraqi doctors had never seen anything like it: no entry wounds, eyes fried, skin burnt off where exposed; or decapitations. The film by Maurizio Torrealta and Sigfrido Ranucci in a video clip shows flippant justifications by Rumsfeld and Gen. Myers for using directed energy/ high-powered microwave weapons that exterminate Iraqis (et al.) as if they were vermin.(read the article here) watch 25 min. winmedia english video here via www.raiainews24.it 15meg quicktime here via here ...more: fnb #115

FILMMAKERS NOTEBOOK 113
FOUR ARROWS: JULIAN JAYNES hypnosis & the exploitation of the vestigial bicameral mind. Prof Don Trent Jacobs (aka Wahinkpe Topa) discusses hypnotism, an exploitable vestige of pre-consciousness, noting that our vulnerabilities are being professionally exploited to formulate an acceptable collective cognitive imperative. Four Arrows, PhD, Ed.D, suggests that hypnosis, a “pre-conscious vestige” is understood and manipulated by cognitive behaviorists [such as Leon Festinger] as “cognitive dissonance” and by political hypnotists/magicians such as Frank Luntz. http://www.teachingvirtues.net/otherbooks.html ...more: fnb#113
6minutes, 3meg quicktime file 3.5meg winmedia file - higher quality versions at Archive.org

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THE UNABOMBER: HE WASN’T PARANOID, HE WAS CONSPIRED AGAINST -- David Kaczynski reveals the MK-ULTRA-CIA mind control program that brother Theodore Kaczynski (dubbed the Unabomber by the FBI) was unwittingly a part of for three years at Harvard, and then at the University of Michigan and probably U.C. Stanford. In recalling some of the details of his brother’s involvement in the covert behavior modification program, David Kaczynski says of his older brother, “In a sense, he wasn’t paranoid; he was in a sense conspired against.” Video offers hints into the Project Paperclip-generated mind control program that Kaczynski along with thousands of others (universities, mental institutions, prisons, the military...) were victims of. For details see Walter Bowart’s 1978 privished (book sabotaged by publisher) book, Operation Mind Control: Our Secret Government’s War Against It’s Own People and Susan Ford’s 1999 book, Thanks for the Memories. Chautauqua, NY July 26, 2005 (more fnb#92)
10minutes, 8meg quicktime file 6meg winmedia file - higher quality versions at Archive.org

SLAVERY TODAY: KEVIN BALES filmmakers notebook #106 (Human Trafficking Conference, Erie PA, April 19, 2005) There are more than 27 million slaves in the world today, and more in the making, and rapidly. Kevin Bales, PhD, the world’s leading expert on contemporary slavery, author of the exp, Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, and president of Free The Slaves. In a series of public lectures and class talks, Bales distinguishes the “old” slavery versus the new where there is no investment necessary in the easily acquired property. A slave can be bought for as cheap as $50, discarded when no longer useful (or dead), and another bought. Close to a million people are trafficked across international borders every year, 70 percent are female and 50 percent are children, Bales reveals. Event sponsored Gannon University, Edinboro University, Mercyhurst College, and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Northwestern Pennsylvania. (more)
58 minutes, 25meg quicktime file 16meg winmedia file - higher quality versions at Archive.org

COG DIS ON THE LEFT: MICHAEL PARENTI AND BLOWBACK filmmakers notebook #103
In his book Dirty Truths (1996), Progressive historian Michael Parenti challenged the obfuscation by The Left on questions of conspiracy – in particular, the assassination of JFK. How is it that now he goes along quietly with the official story on 9-11, this granddaddy of all lies, this foundation of the Bush administration’s “war on terror”? And not only that, Parenti became an aggressive proponent of blowback. (more)

CAFLISCH & ME: filmmakers’ notebook #85 On Saturday morning’s “Senior Report,” Chautauqua County, NY’s only live call-in public access TV show, Jim Caflisch, Republican minority leader in the Chautauqua County legislature and Roy Harvey of Snowshoe Documentary Films discuss what really happened on 9-11. Special thanks to host Reed Powers, director Chuck Kelsey (Mayville village clerk and Channel 5 station manager, and co-founder with Reed of Sr. Report). Thanks also to Devon Taylor (Mayville village historian) on camera. And Karen, my partner, also on camera. (38 min.) (more)
38 min. 17 meg quicktime file 11meg winmedia file - thanks to archive.org

SUPPORT CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY LYNNE STEWART (A 4-part series)
Filmmakers’ notebook # 79 (DVD TRT: 62 min.)
In her five-minute statement, Stewart alludes only briefly to her indictment by Ashcroft just six months earlier. With the indictment, Attorney Gen. Ashcroft successfully removed Lynne as a lawyer to oppose his (the neo-cons, feddie and fundie conspiracy against Islam and civil and human rights.
There were other reasons for Lynne’s indictment (and now, conviction) – to instill fear and control of those lawyers, like Lynne Stewart, who will stand up for civil rights and the Constitution. Another reason is suggested in the third video in this series, our interview with Ralph Schoenman.
But Lynne Stewart’s primary message at the October 26, 2002 rally was: Bush’s lying and genocidal war is not inevitable. We must stop it! Go back to where ever you came from. There are the people who have the ears for what we are saying. Make trouble. Be cranky. Say things. Rouse The People. Get the thought processes working!
Her message, worthy of Brecht, was perfect for our ears and many of us across the nation tried with whatever creativity and understanding we could muster to rouse the people, were cranky, made trouble, said things – but mostly only got the thought processes working in ourselves. We didn’t, many of us, understand what we were up against. (more)

HE NEVER STOPS THINKING ABOUT NEW WAYS TO HARM OUR COUNTRY: Aug. 5, 2004: George W. Bush slipped from his mantra script for a moment of raw truth. On the occasion of getting $417 billion for “defense” (mass slaughter and pillage under the guise of destroying manufactured enemies), Bush reportedly spoke to military brass and Pentagon chiefs. Can these men be unaware that the corporate program of which they are an integral part is doing great harm to what they call their country? During the course of his written speech, the narcissist puppet gangster ad-libbed: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." According to AP, there wasn’t a glimmer of recognition from the actors in the audience. 30 seconds, quicktime .5 megs - thanks to PittsburghIMC

#74 LYNNE STEWART, 1993, & THE DRY-RUN FOR 9-11: RALPH SCHOENMAN
Veteran analyst /activist Schoenman in 1993 revealed the FBI and Mossad control of the Feb. 26, 1993 WTC bombing which was blamed on Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, the designated patsy (and subsequently atty. Lynne Stewart's client). "Because Lynne Stewart is, after all, in possession of the evidence, in mounting a case for Sheikh Rahman, was presenting the authorities with a real prospect of the role of the US authorities in these events becoming obvious, transparent and irrefutable, she has herself been…charged with aiding and abetting terrorists for functioning as a defense atty. seeking due process for the accused." Transcription of a Snowshoefilms interview of May 27, 2004 Toronto (phase 2)Intl Citizens' Inquiry into 9-11. (more)

9-11, BRAINWASHINGTON, PLATO’S CAVE, HEISENBERG’S UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE, AND A RED HERRING: AN INTERVIEW WITH MATTHIAS BROECKERS
Berlin-based journalist and writer Matthias Broeckers is the author of two best-selling books in Germany: Conspiracy, Conspiracy Theories, and the Secrets of 9-11, and the more recent book Facts, Forgeries and the Suppressed Evidence of 9-11. A speaker at the International Citizens Inquiry Into 9-11 (Phase 2: Toronto, May 25-30, 2004), Broecker's topic was "Welcome to Brainwashington." (www.broeckers.com) Interview transcribed and edited by Snowshoefilms. (more)

Filmmakers notebook #71
PERSPECTIVES ON THE WALL (a series)
This is part one of a series entitled “Perspectives on the Wall” held at International House, University of Chicago, February 12, 2004 Other panelists were Derek Jinks, Ali Abunimai, and Rosane Assaf. Event sponsors: Students for Justice in Palestine, Global Voices, Middle East Studies Student Assn, Muslim Student Assn., and Not in My Name. Special thanks to Labor Beat/Chicago (laborbeat.org) for videotaping the event. The first panelist was Professor Norman G. Finkelstein, DePaul University, Chicago. (more)

Filmmakers notebook #69
Q & A PLANET EARTH: LATEST WEAPON OF WAR
Questions and answer session with Sister Rosalie Bertell (Nov. 15, 2003)
Following her two-part talk, Sister Rosalie Bertell answered questions from conference participants. Hosted by the Sisters of St. Joseph and Associates (Buffalo), the event was held at D’Youville College, Nov. 15, 2003, Buffalo New York. An world-renown environmental epidemiologist for over three decades. Dr Bertell (PhD biometrics, plus many honorary doctorates), is the founder of the International Institute of Concern for Public Health (Toronto: www.iicph.org). (more)

Filmmakers notebook #67
War Is A Racket by Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler (The Antiwar Classic by America’s most decorated soldier), 1935, 2003, the Butler Family (www.FeralHouse.com) [interview notes: David Leitch]. The 60 minute interview ))audio(( streaming via Pittsburgh Indy Media

Who was Gen. Smedley Butler?
Butler himself answers (p. 10): “I spent 33 years in the Marines, most of my time being a high-class muscle man for big business, for Wall Street and bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for Capitalism…I helped make Mexico…safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.” (more)

STOPPING A POLICE STATE: Francis A. Boyle
Excerpts of an interview with Professor Boyle, University of Illinois , Champaign-Urbana. The interview was conducted April 28, 2003 in the professor’s office. The interview is part three of a series.
Transcript:
The Federalist Society “Justice Rehnquist joined the Supreme Court before the founding of the Federalist Society, but the four colleagues that he works with in the 5-4 majority that we’ve seen now for several years – Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, O’Connor have been members of the Federalist Society, appear at their functions, and work with them -- and he works quite closely with those four Justices…This same 5-4 majority gave the Presidency to Bush in violation of the Constitution and a federal statute mandating that disputed elections get decided by Congress – the House of Representatives. (more)

GOD’S IMPERFECT KILLERS
Filmmakers’ notebook #46
Debate: US Army War College vs. Pax Christi, USA April 1, 2003, Buffalo
Topic: WAR ON IRAQ: JUST OR NOT JUST?

We’d just filmed Dave Robinson in DC, March 26. A few days later, we catch up with him in Buffalo, debating a US Army War College professor at the Jesuit-run Canisius College. Though we may never get around to editing it, it’s potentially too good to pass up. How will the War College express itself – in public debate and a religious setting -- on the 11th day of the blatant imperial war on Iraq? After all, the Pope condemned the aggression, and all war. And even according to the Just War theory, it failed its case miserably, as noted by Chicago United Methodist Bishop Sprague and Bishop Gumbleton (RC, Detroit), March 26, Washington D.C. (more)

COURAGE, ENDURANCE, WISDOM, HOPE, HUMOR AND COMMUNITY: Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer at the gates of Ft. Benning Filmmaker’s notebook #27 While we were in Georgia, or on our way back, the Senate capitulated to the Bush administration’s demand for a national security state, passing the Homeland Security Act. Sen. Robert Byrd’s remarks outline the travesty. As Sen. Byrd (D-WV) said in the Senate, none of the senators were even given time to read the 484-page document. Except for nine senators, they voted for it anyway. (transcript) It continues to shock us that the intrinsic value of life is inconsequential in the cancerous drive for profit. We who are aware of the magnitude of the seizure of power must replicate our understanding in a very few months. (more)

The War on Freedom: How and Why America Was Attacked, Sept. 11, 2001 by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed review by snowshoefilms In preparation for an interview, we read Ahmed’s book via Internet where it was doubly easy to click on his sources. The book further confirmed our view that the Bush Administration is either colossally incompetent (and should be impeached), or should be indicted for criminal negligence for its role in 9/11. (more)

Fourth of July Parade, Rural America, 2002 (Filmmakers’ Notebook #15) The theme of the parade was “America: Our Land, Our Flag, Our Freedom!” Not to ask questions, but just film it for b-roll, would be tantamount to silence and complicity with unthinking patriotism. It was an opportunity to explore in a short video what rural people think about land, flag and freedom. (more)

Liberation theology at Canisius (Filmmakers’ notebook #3 Sea Change/ paradigm shift) - realmedia stream rmdownload winmedia vid We got a call from our friend Marie in Buffalo: "Do you want to shoot video of a Jesuit priest who replaced one of the six murdered priests in El Salvador?" We jumped at the chance, driving the 130 miles round trip, and have posted, with pleasure, our video of his talk. The priest spoke to about 70 people (students and faculty, mostly) at Canisius, one of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S. Listening to Dean Brackley, SJ, parish priest and professor in El Salvador (Universidad Centroamericana/ UCA), we couldn’t help thinking of Canadian philosopher John McMurtry (more)