Welcome to Boiling Frogs Post
Tuesday, 27. October 2009
Forming the Irate Minority Club
Those of you who are getting here from our old place: Good to see and have you here. Those of you who are visiting my blog for the first time: Welcome and hope to have you here regularly. And those of you who somehow stumbled upon this site because of a typo or a confused link: This may just be the site you’ve been looking for, or not; take your time and check out a few old posts and comments, and you may decide to become one of our regulars, or not;-)
First, before I go any further, I want to thank Scott with Twerp Laboratories for my beautifully designed and executed new home, and for working with me so hard, patiently and diligently.
Next, I want you to meet our current team members here. In the next few days we’ll introduce you to several additional members.
…
For the last few months I have been either in meetings or on the phone with many veteran investigative journalists and producers. We’ve been talking about the current sorry state of our media. We’ve been discussing the lack of bold and independent investigative reports and exposés. We’ve been sharing our views on ways to do something about it. We’ve been talking business: How can we collaborate and form a venue where we can present some of the significant stories, cases, news, and editorials that have been covered up, blacked out, or simply designated as radioactive topics too hot to touch?
Many seasoned and well-respected journalists have found themselves in this place where they are utterly disgusted with the mainstream venues. At the same time many feel discouraged and put off by the utterly partisan, uninformed, and frankly unprofessional wanna-be journalist alternative sites, many of which end up recycling mainstream news, albeit with different headlines and added partisan angles. After all, what’s the point of assuming the ‘alternative’ title when all you do is recycle YouTube videos of Olbermann, Maddow, or Fox pundits? Why waste millions of pages on the net to discuss, tear apart, and by doing so bolster the Coulters or Malkins of the pundit world? Why spend a gazillion hours on Karl Rove’s unpunished evil deeds which will never be punished, and totally ignore, or even justify and apologize for the current highly questionable deeds of the new administration? No wonder why we have been stuck in this vicious cycle! No wonder why we’ve been running from one scandal to another, from one symptom to the next, chasing our own tails and yet getting nowhere!
Okay, back to starting this site and project. After months of these discussions I decided to stop the ‘talk & complain’ cycle, and come up with an idea, a tangible objective, and a goal to follow and move (hopefully forward!) towards; to actually do something about it. At least try to do something about it. And with this came the decision to get this website designed and made functional, have some of these well-respected journalists and others come on board in support of this project, make arrangements to offer my Podcast Interview Series more frequently, and work on other ingredients – which you will hear more about once we are up and operational.
In each step of this work and planning I’ve been told ‘Impossible,’ or, ‘almost impossible’ to the feasibility of accomplishing this without strings, without baggage, and without those little compromises here and there adding up to ‘selling your soul.’ Although discouraging, especially when it comes from my seasoned DC friends, I’ve been working to make this a reality, and I remain positive and hopeful. Why?
Because I know I am not alone. I’ve gotten to know others, both in person and through my old blog site, who share the same disillusionment with the current two-sides-of-the-same-coin political party system, the same disgust with a fluff oriented and establishment-driven media, propaganda and agenda-spreading partisan pseudo sites, and the same state of alarm with our nation’s continuous speedy descent towards a police state. This is why I chose the quote from Sam Adams for this website:
“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.”
We are what Sam Adams referred to as ‘the irate minority.’ And I have established this site to invite all of you to join me, where we, the irate minority, are the majority – in hopes of increasing our numbers enough to enable us to bring about real changes – not those crafted and marketed by our lobby-serving politicians and their tentacles within the media.
This project, these objectives, can only be accomplished with your support. Your voices, your ideas, and your suggestions in the comment section are all needed in order to make this site truly rich, informative, and effective; so please go ahead and register, and become a member of our ‘irate minority club.’ Your active participation in getting our information and messages out, and in bringing others here in search of a home for the irate minority, is the only way to build up our numbers, thus make our collective voices audible. And only through you contributions can I:
- Purchase and publish investigative news stories and exposés
Bring to you in-depth commercial free Podcast interviews
Present independent editorials and analyses
Showcase original editorial cartoons
Facilitate lively discussions
Maintain and Manage this Website
I cannot do this without you. Going with foundational and organizational funding always comes with many strings attached. And that would defeat our purpose here. Reaching out to large corporations comes with its own baggage, and that too would defeat my purpose. That leaves me and you.
Please join me here at ‘Boiling Frogs Post,’ home of the irate minority, and please contribute what you can in order to make these goals a reality. Many thanks for all you do.
Sibel Edmonds
Founder & Publisher- Boiling Frogs Post
Jon Gold Says:
Wishing you continued success with your new site, your amazingly informational interviews, and your quest for justice.
zb Says:
Whoops.
contextofnocontext Says:
Congratulations on the new site.
Based on the quality of the Podcast series thus far, I have no doubt your larger project will be a success. Setting brush fires is no easy task, what with all the cognitive dissonance, but with the integrity, principles and intelligence you’ve continuously displayed I believe you’ll slowly coax more and more people out of the fog of lazy ideology and masturbatory spectacles.
My hope continues to be that the finest journalists and commentators still caught in the throes of the ‘Incompetence Theory’ and the Democrat-Republican Costume Ball (Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, Sy Hersh, AntiWar.com, etc) will eventually become cognizant of and declare war against the Deep State system that lurks just beneath the surface. So please, bring on the fire that will clear this path.
Thanks sincerely for all of your efforts.
Sibel Edmonds Says:
Jon: You are listed as our new home’s ‘first’ registered member. May our numbers increase!
Context: You used the key phrase here: Deep State System. My goal is to gather others sharing this same awareness, and turn us in to a force to wake up others who don’t. Hope to see you here regularly, and please help us put the word out by inviting others who share our stand.
ZicaTanka Says:
Very cool new site. Way to go!
I’m encouraging my friends and family to join and save (ourselves). Let’s see how far a little contribution from each of use can go. There’s no one else offering such a great deal.
Bhaktidev Says:
Sibel, you are awesome in every way. I have been reading and listening to you for years, and am so pleased to have learned about this new site from your recent interview, with John M. Cole, by Scott Horton at Antiwar.com.
There is an old saying “well begun is half done”; this site looks well begun to me, and is so well named. Perfect! I will be frequenting this space regularly, and donating when I can. Thank you for being your Shining Self in this mad crazy world.
Namasté…..
Ishmael Says:
Hey, kid. Registered, signed in and added to favorites. Will post the new web address to all and sundry whenever I can. I also posted my myspace page address on my profile so you can finally see my ugly mug. Keep tilting at the windmills. In the words of Michaelyn Og Flynn from “The Quiet Man”,
“It’s a nice soft night. I think I’ll join some of me old comrades…and talk a little Treason.”
Metem Says:
Site looks great Sibel. I’m excited about the prospects, especially the prospect of stirring up some trouble. Behind you all the way.
Sibel Edmonds Says:
Zica: Together we can. That’s what I truly believe. In the last 8 years, so very often I told myself ‘give up, and just move on; pretend like the 90% out there…’Then, the ‘irate minority’ in me kept me going instead of giving up. And then, people like you who remnided me that ‘I was not, and am not alone.’ Many thanks.
Ishmael: Welcome to the new site. Let’s talk ‘treason’:-) Your voice and always on the mark comments will be greatly appreciated by old timers & new comers alike.
Metem: ‘especially the prospect of stirring up some trouble’: My kind of ‘activism’: ruffle feathers, stir up some trouble (the bigger in this case is better;-).
‘King Fisher, Ishmael, and Metem’: Let me know if you’re interested in having ‘moderator access’ for some posts. Soon I’ll also offer ‘open thread’ discussion series where a select old friends like you are welcome to post discussion threads…
Sibel Edmonds Says:
When you get a chance check out Scott Horton’s (AntiWar Radio) interview with me & John Cole. I think I sound pretty ‘irate’ there; what do you think?
http://antiwar.com/radio/2009/10/26/sibel-edmonds-and-john-m-cole/
T Says:
Gret look and content on this site. Best of luck with it.
T
Andy Worthington Says:
Hi Sibel,
Congratulations on the new site from one of the “irate, tireless minority” working to establish the new media as somewhere that original voices can be – and are – heard.
Best,
Andy
Saildude Says:
Glad to see the new sight.
Keep up the good work. We aren’t giving up either!
Saildude Says:
uh….site
Agent 99 Says:
I sure hope you not only mean it, but live up to it.
I am DESPERATE for this.
I can’t express how desperate. So my karma is going to be glued to the prospect of your complete success.
Sibel Edmonds Says:
Andy Worthington: Good to see you here, and many thanks. I am about to e-mail you. People if you are not familiar with Andy’s great book check out here: http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/the-guantanamo-files/ I’ve had him on my list of guests to be invited (Boiling Frogs Podcast Series), and will make that happen soon. If you can’t wait until my interview with him check out Peter B Collins site; he’s had Andy on his show.
Palo Verde Says:
Hi Sibel
Congratulations on the new site
It is a great idea
Yes I will do my best to spread the word about it
I am glad you never gave up, it is crucial you keep going
We will prevail at the end, truth cannot be denied
Sibel please know how much we all value you, appreciate everything you do, and admire (and are so grateful for) your truth and your courage.
You have been a light in the darkness since 2004 when you came before the public
You are a gift of God to our country
Love, Palo
Palo Verde Says:
Sibel is it necessary we prove we are a human being in every comment we write
Can’t the owner remove this “type the two words” for every comment we write
Just a suggestion
Love, Palo
Palo Verde Says:
Hi Sibel
I posted your glorious statement about the purpose of this site
on 2 forums
A small one where they all already know you and follow you
and a big one, where new posters join every day
You have devoted followers there too from way back, and some new recent ones
It is a great idea you have for this site, that journalists who are not allowed to report what is going on anywhere else
can report it here
We will learn so much, and pass on the reports to others
All the information will get out
Love, Palo
Deep Politics Forum Says:
Hi Sibel!
Congratulations on the new website. It looks great and I know great things will come from all the people here. I give you my unqualified support in your aims in getting information through the blockade and supporting real alternative journalism. There is power in any union. Together anything can be achieved. Even a new and better world. Thanks for hanging in there. I know it’s been hard.
Cheers,
Magda
noetic Says:
Hi Sibel,
Kudos for the vision and the action!
I’ll do what I can to help spread the word.
Mizgin Says:
Yeni websiten hayirli olsun!!
You go, Sibel!
Kingfisher Says:
@Sibel,
The site looks great!
Re: Aliyev assassination attempt you mentioned in recent interview
This is the March 1995 coup attempt you are referring to? The one with the Grey Wolves, Catli and the Azeri OMON; financed by Ozer Ciller and reportedly Roger Tamraz?
KF
Ron Says:
Sibel,
May I have permission to create a DVD with some of the video clips I have seen of you lately? The interview would, of course, be the main event.
It would fit nicely on my project site where I distribute one dollar DVDs to activists.
Ron
OneDollarDVDProject.com
Hannah K OLuthon Says:
I join the well-wishers in hoping this site will produce lots of brush fires.
My own “fixation” is on the crash on February 3 2005 of a Kam Air Boeing 737 on
Chaperi Gar not far from Kabul. Officially, that was a “controlled flight into
terrain accident” killing 104 people. Despite the WSJ and other sources
propagating the official story, there may be reasons to doubt its veracity. Unfortunately, it seems to be very difficult to obtain credible documentation on the matter, which by now is “just another tragedy” in a long list of bloody incidents
surrounding the U.S. interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Sibel Edmonds Says:
@Agent99: “I sure hope you not only mean it, but live up to it.”
This will largely depend on our supporters, readers, basically-the members of our irate minority club. Our partner investigative journalists and several others who want to join us are all waiting to have the resources, the required minimum funding, in place so that they go out there, start digging, investigating, and write the stories we’ve been waiting for…So please support and help us get there.
@KingFisher: You bet. Ozer Ciller had partnership with Roget Tamraz in several companies, some of them ‘Casinos in Central Asia.’ Those were the ‘known’ deals. Of course you know the ties and involvements with BCCI.
@ Ron: I don’t own those videos. You may want to contact those who’ve posted them. Thank you for asking.
@ Deep Politics: Good to see and have you on board with us here. Many thanks; we need all the support we can get.
Mizgin, Hannah and all other well-wishers: Thank you,all. This is our place, our goal, our vision; let’s make it happen.
T Says:
Hi Sibel,
If we have information on potential stories, do we contact you directly? Or to one of your writers?
Ishmael Says:
Sibel wrote:
“‘King Fisher, Ishmael, and Metem’: Let me know if you’re interested in having ‘moderator access’ for some posts. Soon I’ll also offer ‘open thread’ discussion series where a select old friends like you are welcome to post discussion threads…”
I would be more than happy and honored to assist in any way I can. With my backgrouunds in Telecomm, Precision-Guided and Nuclear Weaponry I might be able to offer some fresh insights from an insider’s point of view.
Drop me an e-mail and we can discuss what my role, parameters and focus should be. My wife and I DID run one of the largest and most active writing/critique groups on the now-defunct MSN Groups. Universal Writer’s Group began in June of 2004 with 4 writers. When MSN shut down MSN Groups in February of 2008, we had grown to over 650 writers from some 38 countries spanning the globe and were named to Writer’s Digest annual survey of the Top 101 Websites For Writers in 2005 and 2006. We were also consistently one of the 3 most active out of over 300 writing workshop groups on MSN Groups.
Sibel Edmonds Says:
Ishmael: You bet. I am going to e-mail you this evening.
Miguel Says:
Hey Sibel,
Looking forward to this new venture!
The most frustrating, difficult part for me will be maintaining nonpartisanship in this polarized atmosphere. I have a hard time explaining to my conservative friends that while I’ve lost faith in Obama and the Democratic Party, I do not put stock in their silly ‘birther’ claims and I am often forced to denounce their racist paranoid rants and find myself being forced to defend a President I myself have lost faith in. I’ve tried to explain that the problem with Barack Obama is not that he’s a radical Socialist, but that he’s ‘more of the same’, a conventional politician tied into the power structure (and possibly corrupted by it). I still think he is a slight improvement from Bush, but certainly not the transformational figure we were all promised.
I have found a different problem with Hillary supporters. A couple of my friends think the problem with Obama is that “he’s not as much of a change agent as Hillary would have been”. Give me a break!
jfl Says:
Nice site. I’m chary of anyone named Adams and talks of minorities… the Neocons loved the Adams. Closet monarchists among the “revolutionaries”.
PLovering Says:
Good Luck Sibel,
ShaJ Says:
Sibel; Good luck and best Wishes with the new Blog.
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.
ShaJ Says:
Sibel; Best wishes in your new blog!
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.
Uncle Dick Says:
Sibel,
you have reached Australia, all the best wishes.
(how does one read the security words?)
Sibel Edmonds Says:
@Miguel: I do share your frustration. This why I’ve been emphasizing ‘I’ and hope others too will be repelled by blinded ‘R’ or ‘D.’ As far as our politicians/Congress go: there is only ‘DR’ almost no difference.
@JFL: I know it is painful, but much less painful than getting hit with these spammers and start reading ‘Lose weight now,’ or even better, ‘Increase the size of your XXXX’ I hate the darn letters myself. I’ll try to check and find a better plug in with more readable letters. Bear with it for a little while, and thank you for that.
@Uncle Dick: Welcome! Are your guys still in Afhanistan? Since we can’t get ours out of there, we should try to get yours out, maybe that will increase the pressure here…G’day (now my turn to read the letters below. Do I have to-as an administator? No, but I want to share the missery!).
Sibel Edmonds Says:
Okay, I will rush order the replacement plug in for the letter identification. This thing is absurd!!
Steve Hogan Says:
Sibel,
I listened to your interview on Anti-War.com today. Great stuff. It’s confirmation that our media is completely compromised. Your story is simply too compelling not to be covered. Best of luck to you with your efforts to bypass the MSM.
Uncle Dick Says:
We have about 1500 in Afghanistan, about 8 killed and about 82 wounded. Seems that we are encamped in base with the Dutch. Here, they put some of the wounded (one with legs off) in a hospital under an assumed name, probaby to avoid any proper discussion/media. Know some who have/are served/serving there but best not comment.
Been folowing your plight since Ashcroft gagged you and I noted your appearance on OZ tv with the English ex MI6/5 lady (Machin?) in 2007.
I say this, so as to let you know that many matters of importance can be accomplished by a minority………especially when they become the majority!
The security words are easier (this time) when they are actual words, guessing is that much easier. (:-) But ‘airplane’ should be ‘aeroplane’!)
RealityZone Says:
Good luck with your new site, i will tell my friends about the change.
twerp Says:
The comments should be working much better now. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by!
remo Says:
Yep. Afghanistan. The Aussies up the Khyber and the kiwis too. bringing democracy to the u s….sorry – Pashtun. like they really need it.
coalition of the unwitting.
Actually the Kiwis are there, according to our very own prime minister
john Keys, to hunt out ‘those guys who put the explosive devices in the buildings on 9/11″ I kid you not.
He is brighter than he looks obviously.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpLC17Bhw-s
Sibel Edmonds Says:
@ Steve Hogan: Many thanks, Steve. Last Monday we recorded our interview with Kristina Borjesson (Author, Former CBS Producer, Journalist) on this exact topic. It whould be up/published in 4 weeks or so. You’ll enjoy that.
@ Remo: I’d say let’s get the Kiwis out of there first. I am a big fan of NZ, and want to consider it my second home (soon). Let’s invite our Kiwi friends over here and get them moving!
Today I’ll publish our Boiling Frogs interview with Former Senior CIA Analyst, Melvin Goodman. It is quite hot; WashingtonPost got an earful (not that it matters to them; nowadays they run ’saloons’ !).
Dan Gardner Says:
Hi Sibel. I am behind you 100% I work in a college in the U.K and will push your site out to our media students. The coming generation of media students need to be made aware that the MSM is not what it used to be and that REAL journalism is NOT dead! We need more like you! Keep it up!
Best wishes,
Dan
Dan Gardner Says:
I can only donates £5.00 per month Im afraid. Hope that is O.K. Teachers dont get paid enough LOL!
Simon Says:
I sent a contribution in the mail. Registered, and tested posted on an old blog. It works. All the Best.
Sibel Edmonds Says:
@Dan: truly and greatly appreciated.
@Simon: Thank you very much. Hope we’ll have enough to put our reporters to work!
Romira Says:
Beyond wishing you all the very best and good fortune to you and your newly minted post, I would hope that this space does not become intolerably politically correct in its administration of opinions proferred and that it allows the diversity of such opinions, as long as they are posted with civility, to be shown and not to have some administrator decide, on their own volition, what is and is not acceptable and find oneself suddenly banned for posting opinions that go contrary to yours or some other members of the future administration.
I have found this to be true at The Huffington Post, Truth Dig and even Antiwar.com to their shame where I was informed that I was banned for calling an Israeli writer a “war criminal” and an obfuscator of the truth. Their email to me indicated that not only was I wrong in my feelings, but also that my opions will be banned from now on. As a Palestinian whose family has suffered egregiously at the hands of the Israeli’s, I found that distortion to be repulsive, especially coming from AntiWar.com where they literally flag the word “jew” and the post is then moderated and the word elliminated.
Hopefully opinions will be respected and not silenced simply because they might not fit the current trends in acceptability. Time will tell, obviously.
Best of everything to you and the site and I will try and contribute what I can, when I can..
jfl Says:
You know, I notice right off the bat that some people are “more equal” than others on this site… realityzone, agent99. I guess that quote from the Adams family is meaningful after all. Bye bye.
Sibel Edmonds Says:
@ Romira: Thank you. I don’t think I’ve ever been considered either politically correct or diplomatic, thus, ain’t no one likes me in this sin city (Washington DC;-). As long as your stated opinion is backed by reasonable argument, and as long as it is respectful, then no. I too am frustrated with radical censorship on Israel & Israel related issues; Zionists. On the other hand, to generalize that and apply it to any and every follower of a religion, in these case Jewish people, is not right…Unfortunately many cannot, or don’t want to separate Israel from being Jewish, and the Israel lobby has been milking the anti-semite flag for way too long. I think it has begun backfiring…
True Oil Says:
Sibel,
Thank you. Good luck too.
JamesLaffrey Says:
A couple of months ago, I found you through a link posted by a commenter on HuffPost. I’m happy to see your progress. I share your complaints and desires — as far as I know of them.
I’m certainly part of the irate minority, but certainly not “tireless.” Sometimes, I get tired and downhearted. But your efforts, for one, inspire me to spring back to action. As a group, then, we can be “tireless,” affording members to nap now and then.
I’d like to add a note about the massive and deep ignorance in the USA:
Bill Maher said it’s a “stupid country,” and he’s right, of course. (Yes, “stupid” and “ignorant” are different.) He got up to speed on health insurance reform, but he has yet to show any deep understanding of the financial crisis, which is where the real truth lurks about our political-economic system. I recently passed 50 years of age. Not until this year did I finally emerge from relative ignorance and reach a level of understanding that allows me to answer my frequent questions of “why!?” For example, why Obama does what he does, so contrary to what he’d led us to believe he’d do. Early this year, it all became clear to me.
SINCE it took me this long to figure it out, most people are never going to figure it out. (They have their reasons: too busy, or unable, or unwilling.) So, I agree that only a learned, fairminded, and compassionate “minority” can light those “brush fires” and eventually bring about the change we really need. Let’s hope we succeed within our lifetimes!
Yours is a great effort. I hope my modest efforts will be of some help.
Sibel Edmonds Says:
@ James Laffrey: Good to have you with us. Many thanks, and hope to have you & your comments here regularly.
tonywicher Says:
I am a lifelong Democrat, and I strongly supported Barack Obama for president. I still do support him AGAINST the national security state.
It is a big mistake to equate the Obama administration with the Bush administration.
After 9-11 I supported the Bush administration’s original invasion of Afghanistan for a few months. By spring of 2002, however, the Bush administration began beating the drums for war in Iraq. It was very obvious that the WMD charge was phony and the evidence fabricated. But it did not occur to me until I saw a lecture by physicist Stephen Jones in 2006 where he demonstrated that the government explanation given by NIST account of the destruction of the Twin Towers and World Trade Center 7 is physically impossible. These were all steel frame buildings, and the only way they could have collapsed at near free-fall speed as they did was for all the steel columns holding up the buildings to be simultaneously blown out with high explosives. In May of this year, Jones and Niels Harrit of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen demonstrated the ubiquitous presence in the dust of the WTC of such a high explosive, nanothermite. After reading it I became a supporting member of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth. Please check us out at ae911truth.org.
Everything we as architects, engineers, physicists and chemists understand about the destruction World Trade Center fits in perfectly with all that you have been saying here about the corruption within our intelligence services. As I see it, the people who engineered 9-11 are still at large while our army is running around Afghanistan chasing ghosts. They can strike again whenever it suits them and our country is completely defenseless. I believe bin Laden has been dead since December 2001. Yet the NSA has been regularly “authenticating” bin Laden recordings right up to last month. Who is putting out these recordings and who is “authenticating” them?
The 9-11 truth movement is very broad and there is much wild and unsubstantiated speculation within it. But Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth is the hard scientific core of the movement. Without our hard scientific evidence, the movement could be written off as “conspiracy theory”. But we do have hard evidence. We know this must be the case. We avoid speculation about the perpetrators and their motives. This will be determined by the open, public investigation for which we are calling.
Everybody in AE admires your work and we would love to join forces with you in pressing for a full investigation of Bush administration crimes, starting with the events of 9-11 itself.