Originally published on http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/ February 4, 2011

The tragedy at the World Trade Center (WTC) on September 11th, 2001 continues to affect many thousands of first responders who sacrificed their own health while restoring lower Manhattan and attempting to recover survivors and victims’ remains. Recently, H.R. 847, otherwise known as the James Zadroga Bill, was signed by President Obama in an effort to provide services and compensation for those whose health was compromised through exposure to the toxic dust and gases at Ground Zero. However, these first responders also need help to understand how their illnesses originated so that improvements in treatment can be made. In response to this need, concerned citizens should consider the possible correlation between evidence for energetic materials at the WTC and the environmental exposures which appear to have caused so many illnesses in the first responders.

Secretary-General and US Ambassador Call Law Professor’s Measured Remarks “Preposterous”

“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.” - Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi

Editor’s Note: After two recent articles published by AE911Truth and a pointed response by Richard Falk and Elizabeth Woodworth, we review the flap over Falk’s comments and offer resources to help our readers keep the pressure on by expressing themselves directly to UN officials.

Appointed by the UN to the Human Rights Council, Richard Falk’s 9/11 views are under fire from the UN Secretary General

Richard Falk, retired Princeton University professor of international law and a United Nations-appointed human rights expert on the Human Rights Council, was blasted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon for suggesting in his January 11 blog entry that there was a cover-up regarding some aspects of the official account of 9/11. Falk mentioned “the reluctance to address the sort of awkward gaps and contradictions in the official explanations” that David Ray Griffin documents in his books. Falk also wrote, “What may be more distressing than the apparent cover-up is the eerie silence of the mainstream media … What must we learn from all this? Don’t connect dots without evidence.”

Spread the word about AE911Truth on campus. Start or join a student group!

This year, AE911Truth will take public outreach to the next level with the introduction of our College Outreach Team. In order to increase our presence on college campuses and reach thousands of new supporters, including students and faculty, we will set up student groups across the US and Canada. These college chapters of AE911Truth will coordinate with members of our Public Outreach Team, who will provide necessary support. One of the things we urge college groups to do is show our milestone DVD “9/11: Blueprint for Truth” on campus.

When our “Experts Speak Out” DVD is released for simultaneous showing around the world on the 10th anniversary, colleges are welcome to join in. We specifically need our supporters to staff a table at one or more registration events next August or September. Alumni, faculty or staff could do this, or at least check into it, find out the requirements, and get the additional help that you might need. Our goal at each college is having a student group registered so that student activities funds can become available. It may only take two to four students to get a group registered (depending on the college).

Bringing the Simple WTC Physics to the Public

AE911Truth take the simple WTC physics to the streets, Chico, CA

As 9/11 activists, one of the perplexing dilemmas we must overcome is the often frustrating process of community outreach. How do we get people to actually actually come and listen to us? What are the most effective and practical ways of raising awareness about the inconsistencies in the official 9/11 account?

One that I have found particularly successful is giving “street presentations.” I go to where the 9/11 newcomers are.

When the objective is to spread information and awareness to as many people as possible, giving presentations “on the street” is a strong working strategy, since people experience your outreach in a familiar place they feel comfortable with. Actually you’ll be on the sidewalk, not in the middle of the street, and you may even be able to set up a small table to show your literature and DVDs to passersby.

Los Angeles: Conscious Life Expo 2/11-2/14

Richard Gage, AIA, will give the keynote address for a star-studded panel that will expose and examine the evidence of 9/11 at the popular Conscious Life Expo in Los Angeles. This is an Expo “for open minded people”.

Former Senator Mike Gravel, who represented Alaska from 1969 to 1981, will also be a panel speaker and will discuss the effort towards a California Ballot Initiative to initiate a real investigation of 9/11. Senator Gravel secured a place in history when he arranged for the “Pentagon Papers” to be entered into the Congressional Record in 1971, thus helping to end the Vietnam War. The Senator’s words at the time, “It is my constitutional obligation to protect the security of the people by fostering the free flow of information absolutely essential to their democratic decision-making” are just as applicable today.

It’s been a year since AE911Truth held its San Francisco Press Conference announcing it had secured the signatures of 1,000 licensed/degreed architects and engineers who supported the group’s effort to obtain a new, independent investigation of 9/11.

Shawn Hamilton, Richard Gage, and Fritz Eriksen reflect on the WTC concerns of 1,000 Architects and Engineers at the Marines’ Memorial Club and Hotel, San Francisco, February 19, 2010

I didn’t know what a “truther” was when I went to San Francisco to cover this story, but I would find out very quickly. Soon after a print version of the radio story I had produced for KPFA appeared on Examiner.com, I was accused of being one. The accusers weren’t light-hearted about it either. Some of the meanest comments came from people who identified themselves with the James Randi Educational Forum—an organization of professed rational thinkers. Somehow my having reported this story—a report that simply relayed what had happened at an interesting press conference—made me a “truther,” a term that 9/11 truth activists originally applied to themselves, but which has been adopted by their opponents as an insult.