Everything You Know Is Wrong
The Disinformation Guide to Secrets and Lies
edited by Russ Kick
published by The Disinformation Company.
Oversized softcover * 350 pp * $24.95 * ISBN 0-9713942-0-2
official release date: June 1, 2002
A LOOK AT EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG
Since money makes the world go 'round, we start the proceedings with the
section 'Lucre.' Complaints about the International Monetary Fund and
globalization in general are legion, but details about exactly how they
destroy countries are harder to find. In "Burn the Olive Tree, Sell the
Lexus," Greg Palast, investigative reporter for the BBC and the London
Observer, and Oliver Shykles show precisely what globalization hath wrought,
using exclusive leaked documents from the World Bank and the World Trade
Organization. Political commentator Arianna Huffington then offers stinging
criticism of the pharmaceutical industry in "Drug Companies: Sell Hard, Sell
Fast...and Count the Bodies Later." When it comes to shady financial
institutions, they don't come any shadier than the Vatican Bank.
We're proud to present a groundbreaking article on the Holy See's financial
workings by Jonathan Levy, an attorney involved in efforts to force the bank
to return gold stolen by the Nazis to its rightful owners. With his purely
free-market stance, economics professor Dominick Armentano may seem like the
odd man out, but in "The Antitrust and Monopoly Myth" he shows that
antitrust law actually hurts consumers and is used almost exclusively by
businesses who want to kneecap their competitors. Investigative journalist
Lucy Komisar specializes in following the worldwide trail of laundered
money; "Dirty Money and Global Banking Secrecy" reveals some of what she's
found. Finally, in "Globalization for the Good of All," Noreena
Hertz--author of the British sensation The Silent Takeover--shows us that
globalization isn't inherently a bad thing, but it must be modified
drastically before it will benefit everyone.
"The High and Mighty" section is devoted to knocking the powerful off of
their undeserved pedestals. Douglas Valentine ("The Senator's Ashes")
examines former Senator Bob Kerrey's active role in the CIA's ultrasecret
Phoenix program, which involved torturing and killing civilians in Vietnam.
Sports professor Helen Lenskyj reveals the harsh, hidden costs of the
Olympics, not to mention the arrogance and corruption of those involved, in
"Olympic Industry Mythology." Since the end of World War II, a few elites
have been attempting to destroy the nations of Europe, including the UK, by
turning them into one big (undemocratic) country presided over by a
secretive, unaccountable bunch of bureaucrats. They're succeeding. Lindsay
Jenkins spills the beans in "The European Union Unmasked." To wrap up this
section, "Watchdog Nation" by Cletus Nelson exposes the problems with the
groups that earn their multi-millions by magnifying--and sometimes
concocting--the threat of political extremists in America.
A distressing amount of true crime writing is sensationalistic, badly
researched, misleading, and just plain wrong. The section "True True Crime"
starts with a devastating look at the case of Henry Lee Lucas, alleged to be
one of the worst serial killers of all time. With access to tens of
thousands of primary documents and all the players in the case, investigator
Brad Shellady shows what went wrong in "Henry: Fabrication of a Serial
Killer." British reporter Rory Carroll examines new developments in the case
of "The Monster of Florence," which inspired Thomas Harris to create his
intellectual psychopath, Hannibal Lecter. Turns out that the ritualistic
killings lead straight to Italy's high society.
In "Charlie Manson's Image," counterculture legend Paul Krassner adds new
twists to the famous case. "Witnesses to a Massacre" by Russ Kick assembles
ignored reports by numerous eyewitnesses who saw people other than Eric
Harris and Dylan Klebold perpetrating the massacre at Columbine High School.
Village Voice reporter James Ridgeway and French journalist Sandra Bisin
team up for "Free Lauriane," which breaks the news of a strangely overlooked
event: For the first time ever, the US has granted political asylum to a
French citizen. He claims his young daughter had been repeatedly molested by
a pedophile ring comprised of government officials in Nice. With the help of
US authorities, French intelligence kidnapped the girl from California and
forcibly returned her to Paris. The section ends with a bang: Retired police
chief Joseph D. McNamara reveals the existence of gangs of renegade cops in
every major US city, confirms the existence of the "blue wall of silence,"
and indicts the War on Drugs in "When Cops Become the Gangsters."
The first two articles in the "Body and Mind" section offer a real
inspection of beef. Gabe Kirchheimer uses medical studies, expert opinions,
statistics, and plain old scientific facts to demonstrate that mad cow
disease has indeed invaded the US ("Bovine Bioterrorism and the Perfect
Pathogen"). Mickey Z. (aka Michael Zezima) widens the subject to look at the
health, humanitarian, and environmental problems associated with meat and
other animal-based food in "Fear of a Vegan Planet." The second two articles
switch gears. The legendary Thomas Szasz--prime architect of the
anti-psychiatry movement-- demonstrates that the concept of "mental illness"
is a ruse ("Mental Illness: Psychiatry's Phlogiston"), while prominent
psychiatric-drug whistleblower Peter Breggin, M.D., explains what's wrong
with Ritalin ("Psychiatric Drugging of Children for Behavioral Control").
The "Social Distortion" section tackles the lies we've been told about
society or segments thereof. For example, every generation loves to moan
about the huge, unprecedented problems with 'today's young people.' Mike
Males shows us in "Myths About Youth" that the facts tell a different
story--kids nowadays are less violent and use less drugs and alcohol than
their parents' generation. We've been led to believe that domestic violence
automatically equals men beating women, but the fact is that men comprise a
significant portion of domestic abuse victims (one third to one half).
Phillip Cook shows us the proof in "The Whole Truth About Domestic
Violence." Ready for another surprise? Not all disabled people want to be
"cured," many don't admire Christopher Reeve, and they sure don't appreciate
being kept prisoner in rehab homes. Lucy Gwin, editor of the militant
disability-rights magazine Mouth, tells the shocking truth in "Postcards
From the Planet of the Freaks."
Adbusters founder Kalle Lasn ("Toxic TV") presents the scientific evidence
that our media- saturated consumer culture is extremely damaging to our
psyches, and Preston Peet ("Treatment or Jail?") has harsh words for the
current trend toward forced treatment for drug users (the man knows whereof
he speaks). In a pair of essays, Wendy McElroy presents old-school,
individualist-feminist takes on pornography and prostitution. Our own sexual
adventurer, Tristan Taormino--Village Voice columnist, editor of the Best
Lesbian Erotica series, anal-sex guru, etc., etc.--tells us in "Two's Too
Tough" that our relationship options extend far, far beyond the limited
choices we're normally given. Turning to the big questions, Nick Mamatas
uses "How to Rid the World of Good" to examine the relatively recent origins
of the supposedly universal good/evil dichotomy, and Annie Laurie Gaylor
eyes divine misogyny in "Why Women Need Freedom From Religion."
If you depend on the tube or the Times for all your news, you probably
missed a few important stories. The section "Not on the Nightly News" will
fill in some of the gaps. To begin with, there's the startling number of
accidents, near-misses, and other problems in nuclear power plants, a
subject near and dear to nuclear safety engineer David Lochbaum's heart (his
"Fission Stories" tells all).
Using Freedom of Information Act requests, attorney David Hardy ("Call It
Off!") has uncovered even more skullduggery surrounding the Waco incident,
including the smoking-gun document that proves the feds could've easily
arrested David Koresh in the days before the disastrous raid. The
destruction of a plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, has been officially pinned
on a Libyan, but William Blum completely savages the Official Version of
Events in his article on the subject, "The Bombing of PanAm Flight 103: Case
Not Closed." If you think everyone who wants to relax drug laws is a pothead
hippie, Russ Kick's collection of quotes in "Leaders Against the Drug War"
will show you that over 70 government officials--including presidents,
ambassadors, legislators, judges, and police chiefs in the US and around the
world--have voiced their dissent, as well. Jonathan Vankin was writing about
rigged elections a decade before the public had heard of a hanging chad, and
in "Votescam 2000" he shows us that the ludicrous events of the 2000
presidential election were nothing new.
Our man in India, Dr. K. Jamanadas, offers an unflinching look at the
horrors being endured by Untouchables (aka Dalits) in his country
("Untouchables in the Twenty-first Century"). Robert Sterling gives an acid
take on the demonization of the leaders of developing countries; they
definitely have huge faults, he says in "Viva Kadaffi!," but their biggest
sins have been to defy the wishes of the West and its corporations. In "Will
This Be the Chinese Century?" the husband-wife team of Howard Bloom and
Diane Starr Petryk-Bloom reveals the frighteningly underrated military and
economic power of China. Living in Peru, Peter Gorman has an ideal view of
the war the US is covertly waging in neighboring Colombia; in "Scenes From a
Secret War," he explains the situation.
The attacks of September 11 are still being analyzed from multiple
perspectives, and in "911 and Beyond," we bring you some early attempts to
figure out that overwhelming day. "The Accidental Operative" is Camelia Fard
and James Ridgeway's groundbreaking look at the Taliban's unofficial US
ambassador, who just happens to be the niece of a former CIA Director. Alex
Burns, editor of the Disinformation Website, looks at militant Islam's
literal worship of the atomic bomb, as well as the complexity of the
terrorist mindset, in "A Canticle for Osama Bin Laden." In the wake of the
anthrax attacks and the looming threat of widespread biowarfare on the US,
Naomi Klein (of No Logo fame) shows us in "Battle Boring" why America was/is
so woefully unprepared. Finally, in "September 11, 2001: No Surprise," Russ
Kick offers a huge amount of evidence indicating that the upper levels of
the US government knew what was coming. Call it a conspiracy theory if you
wish, but when the Director of the CIA privately warns Congress of "an
imminent attack on the United States of this nature," it's hard to reach any
other conclusion.
We end by looking backward, to the "Hidden History" that has been stripped
from public consciousness. Howard Zinn's "The Ludlow Massacre" resurrects a
mostly forgotten 1914 slaughter of men, women, and children that has
resonance with Kent State, Waco, Rainbow Farm, and other relatively recent
governmental killings of citizens.
In "Mushroom Clouds in Paradise," Jack Niedenthal--the Trust Liaison for the
People of Bikini--details the shameful treatment of the people of the Bikini
Atoll, who were deprived of their homeland and their health so the US could
detonate nuclear bombs on their islands.
John Taylor Gatto, the New York State Teacher of the Year for 1991, has dug
up the long out-of-print writings of the men who created and implemented the
United States' public school system. Using their own words, he shows that
they purposefully designed the system to keep us dumb and docile in "Some
Lessons From the Underground History of American Education."
In Appendix A you'll find short takes on 35 more secrets and lies, including
the multimillionaire officials who run the US, corporate malfeasance, the
West Nile virus, AIDS, Gulf War Syndrome, vaccines, Hollywood's propaganda,
exotic weapons, civilian deaths in Afghanistan, and income tax. Appendix B
looks at 35 books you may want to peruse, since they deal with the auto
industry, Henry Kissinger, innocent people in jail, antidepressants, guns,
Islam, the Oklahoma City bombing, the swastika, non-voting, scientific
support for herbal therapies, and other juicy topics. Finally, Appendix C
tells you how to get these books from their publishers.
The proceedings close with capsule biographies of all contributors.
An index of this massive book will be posted to Disinformation's Website
shortly before its publication.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Richard Metzger
Introduction
--LUCRE--
Burn the Olive Tree, Sell the Lexus
Greg Palast and Oliver Shykles
Drug Companies: Sell Hard, Sell Fast...and Count the Bodies Later Arianna
Huffington
The Vatican Bank
Jonathan Levy
The Antitrust and Monopoly Myth
Dominick T. Armentano
Dirty Money and Global Banking Secrecy
Lucy Komisar
Globalization for the Good of All
Noreena Hertz
--THE HIGH AND MIGHTY--
The Senator's Ashes: Bob Kerrey, CIA War Crimes, and the Need for a War
Crimes Trial
Douglas Valentine
Olympic Industry Mythology: A Consumer's Guide Helen Jefferson Lenskyj
The European Union Unmasked: Dictatorship Revealed Lindsay Jenkins
Watchdog Nation
Cletus Nelson
--TRUE TRUE CRIME--
Henry: Fabrication of a Serial Killer
Brad Shellady
The Monster of Florence: Serial Killings Lead to Italy's High Society Rory
Carroll
Witnesses to a Massacre: Other Participants in Columbine Russ Kick
Charlie Manson's Image
Paul Krassner
Free Lauriane: Father Claims Daughter Molested, Held Political Prisoner in
France
James Ridgeway with Sandra Bisin
When Cops Become the Gangsters
Joseph D. McNamara
--MIND AND BODY--
Bovine Bioterrorism and the Perfect Pathogen: Mad Cow Disease Is Sweeping
the World--Including the US Gabe Kirchheimer
Fear of a Vegan Planet
Mickey Z.
Mental Illness: Psychiatry's Phlogiston Thomas Szasz
Psychiatric Drugging of Children for Behavioral Control Peter Breggin, M.D.
--SOCIAL DISTORTION--
Myths About Youth
Mike Males
The Whole Truth About Domestic Violence Philip W. Cook
Postcards From the Planet of the Freaks Lucy Gwin
Toxic TV Syndrome
Kalle Lasn
Treatment or Jail: Is This Really a Choice?
Preston Peet
Pornography
Wendy McElroy
Prostitution
Wendy McElroy
Two's Too Tough
Tristan Taormino
How to Rid the World of Good
Nick Mamatas
Why Women Need Freedom From Religion
Annie Laurie Gaylor
--NOT ON THE NIGHTLY NEWS--
Fission Stories: Nuclear Power's Secrets David Lochbaum
"Call It Off!": New Revelations About Waco David T. Hardy
The Bombing of PanAm Flight 103: Case Not Closed William Blum
Leaders Against the Drug War
Russ Kick
Votescam 2000
Jonathan Vankin
Untouchables in the Twenty-first Century: The Plight of Dalits in India
Dr. K. Jamanadas
Viva Kadaffi!
Robert Sterling
Will This Be the Chinese Century?
Howard Bloom and Diane Starr Petryk-Bloom
Scenes From a Secret War: The Importance of Peru's Complicity in Plan
Colombia and How It Has Been Assured
Peter Gorman
--911 AND BEYOND--
The Accidental Operative: Former CIA Director's Afghan Niece Leads Corps of
Taliban Reps
Camelia Fard and James Ridgeway
A Canticle for Osama Bin Laden
Alex Burns
Battle Boring: Why Real Security Can't Be Cordoned Off Naomi Klein
September 11, 2001: No Surprise
Russ Kick
--HIDDEN HISTORY--
The Ludlow Massacre
Howard Zinn
Mushroom Clouds in Paradise: A Brief Historical Overview of the People of
Bikini Atoll
Jack Niedenthal
Some Lessons From the Underground History of American Education John Taylor
Gatto
[APPENDICES]
Appendix A: More Secrets and Lies
Russ Kick
Short takes on 35 subjects. Includes: "One Nation, Under the Corporation,
Ruled by Multimillionaires," "Sara Lee, Serial Killer," "Monsanto: Read and
Destroy," "Coca-Killah," "ExxonMobil: Put a Torturer in Your Tank," "Minimum
Rage," "Crime Waves Around the World," "West Nile Virus Keeps on Flowin',"
"Good News About AIDS Ignored," "Wormwood + Iron = Dead Cancer Cells," "Gulf
War Health Problems: Evidence," "Take the Vaccine Challenge!," "World's
First Major Study of Pot, Round One," "Hollywood: The Propaganda Machine,"
"Pedo-priests to Be Tried in Secret Church Tribunals," "Bush Is a Dictator,
Says Republican Congressman," "Kissinger Lied About East Timor," "Israel's
Spy Ring in the US," "Mining the Moon," "Rainbow Killing," "Exotic Weapons
on the Official Record," "Army and CIA Admit They Create Anthrax," "Scary
Quotes After the Sept. 11 Attacks," plus little- known info on heart
attacks, the plague, Tyson Foods, new votescams, US bombings, civilian
deaths in Afghanistan, and the income tax.
Appendix B: More Reading
Russ Kick
A look at 35 non-mainstream books, including hard-edged examinations of
Kissinger, Clinton, the IRS, the Federal Reserve, water wars, crimes by
clergy, innocent people in prison, medical evidence for natural medicine,
sex over 60, antidepressants, guns, Islam, Rwanda, the Oklahoma City
Bombing, the National Security Agency, the swastika, Japanese spying,
non-voting, and environmentalism, plus exposes of the auto, fast food, and
tobacco industries. Includes coverage of a book on serial killers by a
serial killer, a US judge's attack on the Drug War, a former police chief's
look at police corruption and abuse, and a work of fiction that triggered
the arrest of its author (in America).
Appendix C: Publisher Information
[END MATTER]
Contributors
Article Histories
******From the Introduction:
Nonfiction collections typically are either academic or alternative, leftist
or rightist, atheistic or religious, or otherwise unified in some similar
way. Everything You Know Is Wrong rejects this intellectual balkanization,
and, in doing so, brings together contributors who ordinarily wouldn't be
appearing together in the same book. Some of the contributors were aware of
only a handful of others who would be appearing, while most of them didn't
know who else would be sharing pages with them. All this means is that you
shouldn't make the assumption--which is quite easy to unknowingly make with
most nonfiction anthologies--that every contributor agrees with or thinks
favorably of every other contributor. Hey, maybe they all just love each
other to death. I don't know one way or the other, but the point is that I
alone am responsible for the group that appears here. So, if you just can't
believe that Person A would ever appear in a book with Person B, don't blame
either of them. All responsibility lies with Person K (for Kick). Put
another way: No contributor necessarily endorses the message of any other
contributor.
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