What Really Happens at whatreallyhappened.com?
S. Boyle
raise the questions not being asked - to sniff out suspicious patterns
and duplicitous sources. Casting a critical eye at mainstream media is
but one necessary task, casting a critical eye at self-proclaimed
independent media is another - after all, conspiracies don't
conveniently end at corporate boundaries.
Whatreallyhappened.com is one independent website widely referenced by
conspiracy theorists the world over. Yet for a website dedicated to
exposing hidden truths, there is a suspicious lack of information
about those who support the enterprise. Only the editorial commentator
Michael Rivero is a public identified participant, as referenced by a
couple links to off-site interviews (home page, bottom left corner).
While it is true that Michael Rivero's has been published numerous
times on well-established sites like Rense, the Yellow Times, and the
World Net Daily, strangely his interviews were conducted by two
obscure websites, GoOff! and BankIndex. This peculiar choice of "media
outlets" as a promotional tool deserved a closer look.
The GoOff.com interview: - http://www.gooff.com/news/read.asp?ID=1543
GoOff! is backed by Dandelion Books, LLC
(http://www.dandelionbooks.net), who happens to be the publisher of
Michael Rivero's soon to be released hard-back, Cyber Soldiers And
Silicon Patriots: The New Face Of Political Dissent (ISBN189330230X -
$18.95). GoOff! purports to tell the "...truth uncensored" -
conveniently packaged as Dandelion books, advertised on-site, and
available for purchase or redistribution through their affiliate
program. Overseeing the entire operation is a corporate entity named
PMC4, LLC.
The BankIndex interview: - http://www.bankindex.com/wrh/
The three-part interview conducted by J. Conti (who also writes for
GoOff.com) is displayed between advertisements for loans,
foreclosure notices, debt consolidations, and credit cards offers
endorsed by BankIndex. The financial services site also "provides a
global platform upon which the Financial Businesses of the world can
showcase their product lines and services" and "for select Financial
Institutions we offer a highly competitive fee structure to be
included in our different promotional plans 'Showcase' arena."
(http://www.bankindex.com/company/aboutus.asp) It just so happens that
BankIndex is a division of PMC4, LLC.
So why would Michael Rivero, an avowed anti-globalist, anti-corporate
champion of the truth be working for (or very closely with) a
corporate operation like PMC4, LLC?
(http://www.pmc4.com/version2/index.asp Perhaps a better to ask is
what kind of business is the Aventura, Florida corporation?
"From web hosting to options to mutli-faceted revenue generation
strategies, PMC4, LLC offers a variety of services and solutions
intended to optimize your path to profitability.", and their objective
is to specialize "in assisting small to medium sized businesses as
well as Fortune 100 companies whose resence on the Internet is more
than ancillary to their core business."
http://www.pmc4.com/version2/objective.asp
The "About Us" section reveals five key figures behind the PMC4
corporate structure: James P. Garib, founder of an Intellectual
property development firm; Peter Sordjan, a technology-focused
financial entrepreneur; Ruben D. Lupulescu, a former computer engineer
for Hughes Electronics and DirectTV Latin America; Lawrence D.
Kruguer, a seasoned marketing VP for fat-cats like American Express,
SportsLine, and Alamo Rent-a-Car; and Rico M. Sogocio, attorney and
former member of the United States Department of Justice.
http://www.pmc4.com/version2/garib.asp
http://www.pmc4.com/version2/sordjan.asp
http://www.pmc4.com/version2/lupulescu.asp
http://www.pmc4.com/version2/kruguer.asp
http://www.pmc4.com/version2/sogocio.asp
As you might have guessed, the aforementioned Dandelion Books belongs
to the family of PMC4 holdings. The publishing firm is presided by
Carol Adler, an experienced ghostwriter specializing in Christian and
family writing (http://www.dandelionbooks.net/pr/interview.html).
Naturally, conspiracies are the staple product of this publisher and
Carol Adler is more than happy to review her company's products as
evidenced by this piece from Rense (glowing praise for Gordon Thomas's
book detailing Chinese plans to attack the U.S. via Canada).
http://www.rense.com/general19/DOJconfirmsAL.htm
Shifting the focus back to Michael Rivero, he is a self-described
"twenty-year veteran in all aspects of TV and feature film production
with an emphasis in film effects and computer animation", and
"co-founder and producer at Home Baked Music, a Hawaii-based
production company."
(http://programs.kcc.hawaii.edu/%7Enoncredit/schedule/computer/marhu120.htm)
His list of credits includes; "director of film projects for Robert
Abel & Associates, where he was responsible for animation and computer
graphics, and optical processing. Prior to Abel, he was employed by
Hanna Barbera Productions as a computer graphics engineer and helped
create various innovative strides in animation. Mr. Rivero was also on
the feature film staff of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and
through his career has assisted and been involved with feature films
and television shows such as "Valley of the Dolls" (M-O-W), "Star
Trek" (the motion picture), and NBC's "Amazing Stories" (series),
among many others. Mr. Rivero's awards credits include gold, silver,
and bronze medals from the New York International Film Festivals, two
Clios in graphics, the Cable Car award at the San Francisco Film
Festival, an Emmy nomination, and gold & silver Hugos"
http://www.wwmpc.com/The%20WWMPC%20Management.htm
As for his writing credentials, Rivero's credits prove to be less
stellar. For example, Michael Rivero's challenge of Vincent Foster's
suicide, as documented by Dan E. Moldea's published research, was
never satisfactorily resolved:
http://www.moldea.com/Riveropost.html
http://www.moldea.com/Rivero.html
In a Free Republic post at 16:55:55 PST on 12/31/2000, professional
conspiracy theorist and Clinton-hater Michael Rivero made a series of
false and misleading claims about my honest, wholly-responsible, and
well-researched 1998 book, A Washington Tragedy: How the Death of
Vincent Foster Ignited a Political Firestorm. Rivero's participation
in this thread was apparently provoked by an earlier defense, posted
by Kevin Fornshill, the U.S. Park Police (USPP) officer who discovered
Foster's body at Fort Marcy Park. In fact, Rivero's post was a
response to Fornshill, who had lauded my work on the Foster case. (To
read the first chapter of this book, please click "First
Chapters.")...
...final note: I attempted to post this reply to Rivero's shoddy work
at the Free Republic on January 3. However, when I attempted to log
on, I discovered that I had been permanently banned from the site,
apparently for having
the audacity to go there and aggressively defend myself from time to
time. (See: The Free Republic must be held accountable.)
After an exchange of e-mails, Jim Robinson, the overlord of the Free
Republic, confirmed the banning to me, insisting, "I do not want
trouble on the website." However, in an obvious effort to protect his
legal position, Robinson then deleted the entire thread on which
Rivero's irresponsible statements were made.
Nevertheless, my response stands.
More troubling was this brazen misquote caught by sharp-eyed blogger,
Damian Penny:
20.5.02
This is long overdue, but CAMERA, a pro-Israel media watchdog, has
confirmed that Ariel Sharon's "We, the Jewish people, control America"
quote (http://world.std.com/%7Ecamera/docs/alert/geyer.html) is a
hoax.
(I sent this article to Michael Rivero, who repeats the quote 5 or 6
times a day. Let's see if he responds.) 7:57PM
http://damianpenny.blogspot.com/2002_05_19_damianpenny_archive.html#76774485
.....
Rivero responds! Wow. Michael Rivero actually responded to an e-mail I
sent drawing his attention to the story debunking Ariel Sharon's
alleged "We, the Jewish people, control America" quote. He didn't
mention that story, though. Instead, he pounced upon my pointing out
that the false quote was spread by a group linked to Hamas - which
Rivero calls an Israeli front group. Here's the complete text of his
message:
The same HAMAS that was set up and funded by Shin Bet to be Arafat's
opposition, yeah, I know them.
Oh, touche!
A history lesson: there's a very tiny kernel of truth in Rivero's
statement. It seems hard to believe, but at one point the Israelis
did funnel money to Hamas
(http://www.newstatesman.com/nssubsfilter.htm) as part of a
divide-and-conquer strategy. Initially they were more opposed to
Arafat than they were to the Israelis, though there seems to have been
a thaw in recent years. (Arafat does allow Hamas to run schools and
other services within his territory, after all.)
Needless to say, the strategy has come back to haunt the Israelis,
time and time again - not unlike America's funding of the anti-Soviet
mujahadeen in Afghanistan, some of whom later became the Taliban. It's
a gigantic leap, however, to comclude that Hamas - which calls for the
complete destruction of Israel and establishment of a strict Islamic
state - is secretly a pro-Israel group whose sole mission is to give
Ariel Sharon an excuse to kill Palestinians. But then again, if
there's one thing we know about Michael Rivero, he has no problem with
making gigantic logical leaps 6:39 AM
http://damianpenny.blogspot.com/2002_05_19_damianpenny_archive.html#76792455
Micael Rivero even went so far as to suggest that the infamously
inaccurate Ariel Sharon quote was cited by Robert Fisk:
06/26/02 (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=309115)
Robert Fisk: I wonder why Bush doesn't let Sharon run his press office
"I want to tell you something very clear, don't worry about American
pressure on Israel, we, the Jewish people control America, and the
Americans know it."-- Ariel Sharon to Shimon Peres, October 3rd, 2001,
as reported on Kol Yisrael radio.
It should come as no surprise that Michael Rivero's deliberately
promoted one of the most vindictive 9/11 myths
(http://www.stardocs.hit.bg/wtc.htm), attributed by investigators like
snopes.com (http://www.snopes2.com/rumors/israel.htm) to Al-Manar
Television, "A Lebanese TV station that aims to preserve the islamic
values and to enhance the civilized role of the Arab and Islamic
Community. Al-Manar is the first Arab establishment to stage an
effective psychological warfare against the Zionist enemy."
http://216.127.70.124/%7Eadmin264/html/about.html
by: Michael Rivero
riv...@whatreallyhappened.com
Before the dust had settled from the collapse of the World Trade
Towers, Israel's foreign ministry had expressed concern for the well
being of 4000 Israelis known to have worked in or near the World Trade
Towers. But almost immediately, stories of such concern vanished from
the media amid reports in the foreign press which claimed that
Israelis who worked in or near the World Trade Towers were
specifically given advanced warnings not to go to work on 9-11. One
Israeli owned company, Odigo, had received a two hour advance warning
of the attacks.
Israeli supporters were soon flooding the US media with denials of the
story. Even when the US media's spiking of the Israeli spy ring/phone
tap story proved a clear pro-Israel propaganda bias, the claim that
Israelis working in the area of the WTC were preferentially absent on
9-11 was still dismissed as an internet legend.
Now, however, as the final tally of 9-11 victims is being generated,
CNN's own website, which lists 9-11 victims by nationality, shows that
only one Israeli, Alona Avraham, died in the 9-11 attacks and that Mr.
Avraham was not in or near the WTC, but a passenger on one of the
hijacked aircraft.
Because of Odigo, it is beyond question warnings were sent to Israeli
owned or linked companies in the area of the WTC. Because of the
almost complete absence of Israelis among the victims, it is now
apparent how widespread that warning had to have been.
No retraction or correction has ever been for any of these statements.
Perhaps it's due in large perhaps to Michael Rivero's conspiratorial
pedigree. Long before whatreallyhappened, Michael Rivero gained
national exposure for his part in the TWA Flight 800 controversy"
(http://www.newsday.com/news/nytwa97-ncon314.story). Yet earlier still
he was collaborating with a subversive American para-military group,
the Special Forces Underground
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/commandos/20000918-0010_mz1n18racist.html
Led by Green Beret Steven Barry, the self-proclaimed "commander" of
the secretive group of disgruntled US military elite forces members,
Barry also served as editor of the quarterly newsletter, "The
Resister." Routine commentary vigorously sanctioned a white
supremacist agenda; "The United States military was created by white
men for white men to defend a white nation. It wasn't designed as a
multicultural, diverse, touchy-feely, huggy-snuggly social experiment
in race relations. ... Twenty years ago, you could trust a black to do
a job. Now it' s questionable."
The Resister Issue 1 -
http://www.icomm.ca/survival/resister.don/resistr1.htm
The Purported Newsletter of the Special Forces Underground
----------------------------------------------------------
This is the first issue to appear of a newsletter by a group calling
itself the "Special Forces Underground". This group, embedded deep
within the military structure of the United States, opposes the idea
of a New World Order along with transfer of the soldiers to United
Nations commanders. This document is as I recieved it, outside of HTML
formatting changes.
Volume I, Number 1. Summer 1994.
Boxholder, P.O. Box 1403, Addison, Texas, 75001 (Price) GRATIS...
What We Stand For
The philosophy of The RESISTER is straightforward: strict
constitutionalism, isolationism, laissez-faire capitalism, individual
rights, limited government, and republicanism.
What We Oppose
The RESISTER opposes statism, liberalism, tribalism, socialism,
collectivism, internationalism, democracy, altruism, pull politics,
and the New World Order...
...Questions to the Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Animator: Michael Rivero:
riv...@accessone.com
.....
The Resister Issue 2 -
http://www.icomm.ca/survival/resister.don/resistr2.htm
The Purported Newsletter of the Special Forces Underground
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume I, Number 2. Autumn 1994.
Boxholder, P.O. Box 1403, Addison, Texas, 75001 (Price) GRATIS
...AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR READERS
For the past two months our observers have been reporting that some
readers are questioning the integrity of contributors to The RESISTER
because they choose to be known by pseudonyms rather then their real
names. This is a legitimate concern and it deserves to be answered at
length.
First, no contributor is obliged to use a pseudonym, as anybody who
has actually READ the first issue can tell you. Second, the decision
to require staff members and regular contributors to use pseudonyms
was an OPSEC issue, not an ethical one.
Third, there is a historical precedent we follow which, if not already
familr to you, in all likelihood never will be, and is therefore none
of your business. Fourth, publishing The RESISTER is a security risk
in its own right, let alone referring to in tradecraft and
organization. Really, what DO they teach you guys in the Q-course
these days?
The RESISTER is a response to the altruistic cannibalism which is
consuming the principle of inalienable individual rights upon which
this nation was founded and which have been served-up in sacrifice to
the mob god of democracy, the minority god of tribalism, the nature
god of environmentalism, the slave god of collectivism, and the
statist god of socialism.
Do you want to know who we are? We are the individuals who conceive
the ideas the cretinous mob calls "the team effort." We are the
individuals whose excellence is subverted by the racist policy of
"equal opportunity." We are the independent, innovative, and creative
who have been enslaved to serve the "greater good." Without us you
would still be prying roots out of ground with a pointed stick.
It would be a great comfort and convenience for the myriad
unconstitutional federal agencies to note us, categorize us, and file
us away for future "reference." We will not give them an early chance,
nor will we be goaded into identifying ourselves by sneering comments
about anonymous writers.
Every whim based, undefined, un-judicable law it passes; every
unconstitutional gang of armed badge wielding thugs it deploys; every
unconstitutional agency it creates; every incomprehensible special
interest regulation it mandates; every dime extorted through taxation
and redistributed to the incompetent and undeserving; every American
life lost in some altruistic war, humanitarian assistance, or
peacekeeping operation, demonstrates the illegitimacy of the federal
government.
The federal government os not "of the people," it is the instrument of
pull-peddlers. It is not "by the people," it is the toady of special
interests. It is not "for the people," it is the exercise of force for
the sake of force.
Pass laws against us; we will not obey. Regulate our activities; we
will not comply. Legislate our behavior; we will not consent.
We are freemen. We will not be subjugated. We have the guns to prove
it.
THE EDITOR
...Questions to the Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Animator: Michael Rivero:
riv...@accessone.com
Clearly Michael Rivero has called into question his own integrity as a
purveyor of truth with suspicious connections and prejudicial
innuendo. It stands to reason that Michael Rivero's intentions for
whatreallyhappened is not to promote truth but a contrarian political
agenda - just as militant, manipulative, and deceitful as its
opposition. While no one is suggesting that he US Government is
without significant problems worth investigation, what must never be
taken for granted is the benevolence of self-proclaimed watchdogs.
"That's not to say that What Really Happened is the conduit to truth.
But what the web site does is let people know that there are ways to
find out what is going on if what one is being told by the media does
not make sense.
I think that the nation is in the trouble it is in because people were
conditioned to watch a talking head on the TV and believe what that
talking head was saying. People need to stop relying on other people
to tell them what reality is and rely on their own analytical ability
to figure out what is going on"
- Michael Rivero
So true, Michael, so very, very true.
S. Boyle, December 9, 2002
http://dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=42061&group=webcast
plls
using WhatReallyHappened.com as a reliable source of information.
--
I'd rather die on my feet than live my life on my knees.
John Mazor
news:767eca46.02122...@posting.google.com...
> The role of the conspiracy theorist is not to provide answers but to
> raise the questions not being asked
First, taking your statement at face value - which one shouldn't, see
below - puts them in the same league as the average 4-year-old, whose
contribution to knowledge consists of repeatedly saying "Why?" without
offering answers or necessarily even comprehending the ones he
receives.
Asking questions is a good and necessary endeavor; but most conspiracy
theorists do not stop at asking questions, they offer their own
answers. The thing that gets them in trouble is that their answers
usually are far-fetched and even incredible (in the original meaning
of the word). Conspiracy theorists are people who are very good at
digging out facts that have some seeming correlation, but then insist
on imposing the most improbable conclusions that might be drawn from
them. While this may play well with those who don't know specifics
about the subject at hand, their laughable errors in logic, science
and history get them howled off the stage of public debate when the
try to sell their ideas to people who happen to actually know
something about the subject. That's what happened to Rivero in the
aviation newsgroups WRT TWA800.
Just wanted you to know where I'm coming from when you read my
comments below on Rivero.
You didn't list his NASA stint, although he mentions it in passing in
one of the interviews you cited.
Back in 1998 or so, while Mikey was trying to prove a point regarding
TWA800 with a backyard Mr. Wizard "science experiment" using a
styrofoam glider, he responded to well-deserved derision with the
claim "I was a NASA scientist". I dug out his resume online and noted
that he was merely a computer graphics artist for NASA. We never saw
that claim again, but that didn't stop him from blathering his
scientific ignorance.
About that same time, I searched for e-mail addresses that used the
name Michael Rivero. I found more than 100 in the Seattle area where
he was living at the time. Okay, so maybe that's a common
occurrence - but wait. A search in California and Texas, where one
would presume that it would be a much more common name, only found two
or three in each state. Mikey was up to something even then.
As to his connections with corporate interests, books and interviews,
one might chalk that up to mere shameless mutual commercialism; but
for the record, in 1998 or 1999, he was making not-so-subtle open
trolls for financial backing.
Bottom line: your post confirms what we have long known -
professional jealousy dictates that nobody can whack a conspirowacko
with the energetic, thorough vitriol that can be inflicted by a fellow
traveler. Or perhaps you're a government shill. Or perhaps Mikey is
a government shill. Or maybe your both government shills. Don't
know, don't care; but please, don't let us stop you.
-- John Mazor
"The search for wisdom is asymptotic."
"Except for Internet newsgroups, where it is divergent..."
-- R J Carpenter
Code Blue
maybe because all of these statements were indeed TRUE. Odigo just recently
announced that there was indeed a pre-warning, and that they were
cooperating with the FBI. So maybe we can't trust you anymore. WRH might
get a few things wrong, like Hamas being secretly pro-Israel, but they are
right about pretty much everything else.