Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Off shore illicit funds needed for global security

 

Dear Editor, (10-4-21):  NOT printed in the post.  Not even acknowledged.  

Finally!  The “billions” (and more likely trillions of dollars) stashed in offshore accounts made the Post’s front page!   I write trillions because that was printed in the Post’s “Five myths about Kleptocracy, By Natalie Duffy and Nate Sibley (both researchers at Hudson Institute’s Kleptocracy Initiative) 1-8-2017.   They referred to a 2012 report asserting that at least $32 trillion may be stashed in these anonymous havens by kleptocrats, oligarchs, international crime cartels, violent extremist groups, and rich capitalists avoiding taxes.   https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-kleptocracy/2017/01/04/42b30d72-c78f-11e6-8bee-54e800ef2a63_story.html . 

A later Post news article alleged that US authorities don’t know who owns approximately half of all the US homes valued at over $5 million in our nation’s wealthiest cities.  This anonymity is compliments of the greed of the US real estate industry lobby. 

And if that isn’t enough corruption corroding our nation’s financial system - that corruption also inflames our greatest national security threats (the forces of poverty that fuel hunger, pandemics, wars, environmental destruction, populism, refugee flows, species extinctions, indebtedness, and terrorism. Another news source April 5, 2017 (MARTIN KENNEY: PUT YOUR OWN TAX HAVENS IN ORDER, AMERICA, by Martin Kenney asserted that the U.S. holds 20 percent of the global market for financial services for non-residents with foreign assets of $16.75 trillion (2013), and foreign direct investment of $3 trillion (2014). http://www.fcpablog.com/blog/2017/4/5/martin-kenney-put-your-own-tax-havens-in-order-america.html#sthash.IiaU0HjG.dpufhttp://www.fcpablog.com/blog/2017/4/5/martin-kenney-put-your-own-tax-havens-in-order-america.html

In 2015 the United Nations offered the world a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals to achieve by the year 2030, and most nations have agreed to meet them.  These remain a comprehensive and holistic approach intended to address the root causes now driving most of our accelerating threats.  A lack of financial resources is not the problem.  Just the lack of political will and wise foresight to grasp that a “whole of government” approach cannot work against hyper corrupt globalization.   We need a whole of government's effort.  First to freeze these illicit funds. Then seize them and devote what is needed to actually achieve these wise goals.  Is there anything else that could bring our nation or our world together during this increasingly tense and chaotic time?    It is increasingly a self-evident truth that time is not on our side.  The momentum of change around us cannot be stopped with the glacial speed at which our democratic political systems change.  Why do we continue to ignore the warnings?

Freezing and seizing some of the $32 trillion stashed in offshore accounts could go a long way toward meeting the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.. 

 "The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference" Bess Myerson

Monday, October 11, 2021

Religion's Purpose: On Columbus/Indiginous People's Day

 

Like economics, politics, science, and technology-- religion is a tool.

 

A multi-use tool.   Our mind (also a tool) can use each of these tools for saving lives, improving health, reducing suffering, or bringing life as we know it to an end on this unique planet.

 

Religious beliefs, rituals, and practices have the power to leverage the human mind to control the body in undertaking the noblest of actions - or committing the most horrific atrocities. It is we who decide what our minds will believe.  Choose wisely. Not just on what religion, ethnicity, or culture you were born into.   Heritage is important. But it should not be more important than the sustainable survival and thriving of humankind. 

 

There are an estimated 4,300 religions in the world with new ones being invented each year.  The seven most popular religions represent about 75% of the world’s people.  Christianity alone has an estimated 40,000 variations.  

Each religion has its own variations of beliefs, rituals, and practices.  But the popular religions are each based on a single call to action.  We know this as ‘the Golden Rule” – ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’.

This maxim is found in most religions and cultures for a reason.  It has a sound biological and moral underpinning of empathy, compassion, honesty, kindness, generosity, and trust.  It is linked to justice. 

Thus, justice, the Golden Rule, and the Jesus story of the Good Samaritan all represent a self-evident truth.  A fundamental principle essential for sustainably securing the “Blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our posterity.”

In summary, the primary purpose of religion is to encourage us to be more virtuous.  We don’t need religion or even mediation to do that.  But it can help!  Unfortunately, in today’s world people too often believe that their beliefs are the truth.   A truth they are easily willing to sacrifice their lives for, or the lives of others who believe differently.  It is within this shallow and stubborn mindset that our own greatest and most immediate threat has been created.   It’s not climate change!  It is what our minds have created with science and technology in a world lacking justice.  Both nations, groups, and individuals now have an unprecedented capacity for mass murder.  Combined with economic beliefs that are driven by selfishness that has perpetuated global poverty and continues to trash our environmental infrastructure while ignoring our vital yet crumbling national physical infrastructures that Americans all depend on.

Even before the creation of the atom bomb Albert Einstein wrote “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Albert Einstein, 1941

Next 4th of July read the Declaration of Independence and deeply consider the two law sets (the Laws of Nature and Nature's God) that led to the phrase “all men are created equal”.  If you think “men” only mean ‘males’ remember who birthed and protected, you when your survival was most dependent on a female’s breast and loving care. And that males are all missing a fourth of the chromosome that mostly determines one’s sexual attributes.  Not always.  But mostly.  We all possess fundamental God-given rights, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – however, we define happiness.

And don’t forget that our founding fathers believed most in the value of virtue (mentioned 6000 times in more than 120,000 documents they exchanged between themselves and others).  More than freedom!  Back then the word virtue was understood as an “essential element of public life”.  It implied good men “putting the common good before one’s own interests.”  Historian Joyce Appleby asserted that virtue was the ‘lynchpin’ of public life – that is, the fastener that held together the structure.”   Religion may be the greatest human path to virtue.  But it is not the only one.

I’ll assert that nothing destroys the respect that many people have for religion…than those who do not practice the Golden Rule.  And most threats humankind faces are exacerbated by that.

 


Wednesday, September 15, 2021

20 yrs after 9-11: What hasn't yet been stressed?

 

Post 9/11: Truth or Continued Consequences:  What hasn't been stressed yet? 

What did 9-11, Covid19, the Covid variants, the end of our 20-year war in Afghanistan, recent extreme weather events globally, and a decline in democracy in many nations all have in common?  First, they were all predictable, predicted, and preventable. Second, more costly blood and treasure consequences are yet to come - unless we understand the root cause and urgently act on it.   

Everyone who was conscious on September 11, 2001, recalls the events of that day. But understanding both the origins and the results of 9/11 is far more important than any acts of remembrance that we might perform. If we truly care to honor those who died and suffered on that unforgettable day, we must use our powers of understanding to develop sustainable strategies for preventing the next terrorizing event that might occur. Understanding must matter more than body counts.

The Post’s lead editorial of 9/11 cites Abraham Lincoln's statement that, when combating danger "the best defense (against the dangers of his time) …lay in cultivating robust 'reverence for the Constitution and laws,' " as well as his hopes that doing so "would inspire and sustain the people's commitment to liberty and equality." 

In his writings, Lincoln also described the Declaration of Independence as “our apple of gold” and the Constitution as its “frame of silver.” To my mind, these analogies reflect our foundational goal of equality for all people, as invoked in the Declaration.   But our “rule of law, as detailed in the Constitution ignores both the concept of justice and humanities inalienable rights.  The Constitution’s reliance on the proposition of independence — a deeply flawed concept rooted deeply in our minds has not delivered justice or consistently protected human rights since its creation.  From the start it was engineered into every level of our nation’s government.

Many Americans today proclaim their allegiance to individual liberty at the freedom to infect others in their communities.  For a significant portion US citizens “independence” has come to denote the license to act irresponsibly without regard for the medical, environmental, or economic consequences their actions on others (rejecting masks, refusing vaccinations, or denying climate change).

This prevalent fusion of “freedom” with “self-gratification” has long consequences for rest of the world too. For many decades our foreign and military policies have disparaged other cultures as unworthy of the respect and privilege that we ourselves take for granted; we’ve dismissed foreign casualties as “collateral damage”, communist or terrorist sympathizers, or humans irrelevant to our nation’s interests.

My studies as a biologist and student of the natural world have made the fundamental flaws in our Constitution to be “self-evident”.  They consistently ignore the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” expressed in the first paragraph of our “Apple of Gold” the Declaration of Independence.   Interdependence is at the heart of nature’s laws. Chief Seattle (1780-1866), the head of the Duwamish and Suquamish nations, saw this clearly: “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect."   Yet most of us ignore our irreversible global interdependence environmentally, economically, militarily, and health wise.   Without being responsible with our freedoms abroad we cannot expect to sustainably preserve our freedom, security, or prosperity here. 

Until we grasp the wisdom and survival value of putting the global protection of human rights and the environment above the protection of national sovereignty and corporate power, our vulnerability to the kind of dangers inflicted on 9/11 will grow.  Sustaining what quality of life that remains and improving it for ourselves and our children we must abandon the illusion of independence.

 

Our interdependence within this nation and on this planet is accelerating and irreversible. Nearly every troubling trend we are experiencing today is a symptom of our delusion of separation. There is a medical term for this mental condition – anosognosia.  It is when someone is unaware of their own mental health condition.  In a world with the accelerating evolution of weapons, pathogens, failing democracies, and civil strife It’s time for a wake-up call.

Our human-created construct of independence is responsible for our persistent failure to understand and respond effectively to nearly every danger we face (pandemics, pollution, terrorism, cyber security, economic stability, drug trade, refugee flows, food insecurity, extreme weather events…), each with lethal and unfavorable consequences for all — both here and abroad.

We can no longer simply react when disaster strikes. We can no longer build back to what we had before. It’s imperative now that we build forward in ways that prevent dangers and conserve limited resources.  It is our only means of maximizing any sustainable prospects of freedom, security, and prosperity for ourselves and our posterity.  Most nations have agreed to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030.  It is the only comprehensive set of solutions we have, and humanity is not on track to meet them.  Time is not on our side…and e may not get another chance. 

The truth of our interdependence can set us free.  Ignoring it will only have more unfavorable consequences.  

“Before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you've depended on more than half of the world. This is the way our universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality. We aren't going to have peace on earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

"A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe'; a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of the liberation, and a foundation for inner security."   -Albert Einstein.  As quoted in Quantum Reality, Beyond the New Physics, p. 250.

"Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good."  -- Thomas Paine, Rights of Man [1791]

Yet reading his pamphlet “Common Sense” he concludes that the concept of complete independence is impossible. And, unless one does good in all things, one’s freedom and security can never be completely free of the negative consequences. 

Saturday, September 11, 2021

On 9-11 anniversary Words should matter. In ‘American’ politics only body counts do.

 

Words should matter.  In ‘American’ politics only body counts do.

The deaths hundreds of thousands on 9-11, throughout the 20-year war in Afghanistan, the invasion/occupation of Iraq, and the Covid19 pandemic will have all been in vein -- if we fail to understand what led to these deaths in decisive terms.  Not terms politicians use to motivate voters and appropriate budgets to fund their own goals or cherished institutions.  Failing this will inevitably lead to catastrophic repeats in mass deaths from terrorism, pandemics, and extreme weather conditions because we react to these growing threats instead of preventing them by addressing root causes. 

Engineers, builders, scientists, medical doctors, and military planners use very specific words that mean very specific things.  This enables them to most effectively maximize their performance to achieve success.  Load bearing capacity, protons, T cells, and non-combatants imply specific fundamental principles that demand extreme clarity in their use.   

Politicians use words that can mean damn near anything - for achieving their political goals or ambitions.   We can best honor those who have died by effectively understanding what led to their deaths.  And using what we learned to prevent more.  Failing this, their deaths will have been in vain. 

We can start by ignoring political speeches that use vague words or phrases to inspire us and move us to support concepts that we have rarely examined closely.   

Consider the word “prevention”.  Policy makers have persistently defended our 20-year war in Afghanistan, needless war in Iraq, and the tens of thousands of US casualties and trillions of dollars…because they have ‘prevented’ another attack on our homeland.  The accurate word here is “preempted”.  They have stopped almost every attack on our homeland. 

What they ignore is the tens of thousands of collateral deaths that our military rules of engagement tried to avoid -plus the unimaginable physical destruction of homes, businesses, institutions, and farmland that have left millions in abject poverty and deep emotional pain.   This persistent reality only generated more anti-American hate, more Al Qaeda recruits, new extremist movements like ISIS, and impassioned vengeful motivation that guarantees future attacks on our homeland.  Now consider our extremely vulnerable energy, economic, global trade, medical, and mineral dependent systems we require for our prosperous and resource demanding (often wasteful and polluting) quality of life.  And, what it would take to preempt each of those individuals before one of them succeeds in ending civilization as we know it.   Consider weaponized small pox…or the collapse of the US dollar.

Over the last three decades the evolution of dual-use technology, extremely expensive weaponry, and our increasing dependence, vulnerability, and economic debt ushered in superpowered individuals.  These are extremists with immense capacity to intentionally or unintentionally, undermine a superpower nation.   And dysfunctional divided democratic governments are likely to be more susceptible to this than autocratic brutal regimes.   In the end they fall too.   Every government will without eventually ensuring ‘liberty and justice for all’.  People only put up with brutality, injustice and/ or suffering for so long. 

Consider the word “terrorism” or “terrorist”.   Autocratic nations will use it to brutally crush any resistance.  We use it to finance more expensive and intrusive weapons systems and think rearranging our institutions will protect us.   But terror is essentially fear.  And it will never be defeated.   Iraqi and Afghani civilians on the receiving end of US drone strikes have been terrorized longer and with more intensity than we have since 9-11.   We still believe our military and secured borders can keep us safe.  Unless a lone wolf terrorist rents a truck and loads it with fuel oil and fertilizer.  Or just murders 90 pedestrians in 2 minutes (Nice, France) by “mowing” them down without firing a shot. 

Understand that US politicians recently failed to agree on any definition for domestic terrorism so US laws could be made to protect us.   Consider the fact that US White supremacists work with other like-minded extremists abroad.  And their goal is the same.   Collapse the US government – so they can rebuild it in their image.   They aren’t smart enough to understand it is collapsing under its own disfunction. And this was recognized by our own nation’s national security experts in a survey done before Trump was even elected.   

This ‘word’ change in analysis and reporting of real threats is essential if we truly care to minimize the multitude of accelerating dangers in our future and truly honor the deaths and the suffering of so many.

Weapons and walls will not protect us.  A nation of good Samaritans could.   But first we would need to beg for forgiveness of all past sins.   Some reparations could be helpful.   But bringing together leaders who are chosen by their own people from all nations to engineer a just world -- where the rule of law (the protection of God given rights and justice for all) reigns supreme over the law of force – would be needed. 

Failing that, the least we could do is assist the nations of the world in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  There is no shortage of money, resources, technology, or energy in the world.  All we lack is political will and time.  And we are running out of time.

 

Saturday, August 28, 2021

Afghanistan Truth or Consequences

 

After reading dozens of accurate reports and variedly opinions (many valid and some not) regarding the causes and consequences now on the ground in Afghanistan -- there are a few fundamental truths that I’ve yet heard mentioned.

First some existing truths.

1.       This is the longest war the US has ever been involved in.

2.       We lost approximately 2,300 US soldiers, 3,800 American contractors, and spent well over a trillion dollars.

3.       Afghanistan lost approximately 66,000 Afghan soldiers and police, and at least 47,000 Afghan civilians.

4.       Afghanistan’s wealth of rare earth metals is estimated at over $3 trillion in current value.

5.       Taliban’s income from illegal narcotics is estimated at few billion each year.

6.       The original US goal of killing OBL morphed into nation building mostly with military power.

7.       Given historical, geographical, political, religious, economic, national, and corruption conditions --a US defeat was inevitable.

The current situation in Afghanistan is the inevitable consequences of failed US foreign and military policy.   A Constitution that did not prevent an unauthorized war to go after a mass murderer who justified his attack as retaliation against a murderous US foreign policy.  We really waged a war against fear (terrorism) that could never really be won without committing genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity against people we suspect of not agreeing with us, but cannot prove in a court of law.  We served ‘justice’ with invasions, occupations, torture, and mass murder. 

In brief –our nation continued putting our own short term ‘interests’ above our nation’s founding principles stated in our Declaration of Independence.  Put bluntly – inalienable human rights continue to be expendable – without a court of law.  And any serious establishment sourced proposal - to systemically change this - is deemed unrealistic.   In truth such systemic transformation is the only way of preventing future catastrophic failures of such magnitude.

Tragically, the world’s most powerful governments continue to reject this self-evident truth - and increasingly function chaotically with predictable catastrophic consequences.  The current global governance system based on the illusion of independence between peoples was hatched over 400 years ago at the Treaty of Westphalia.  Back then the word sovereignty referred to a God given right possessed by each individual.  But the rulers of large groups of waring mutated this fundamental truth into a flawed concept we worship today as ‘national sovereignty’.   Originally this mutation intended to limit the scope and range of murdering innocent individuals beyond certain lines just because of their choice of religion or God appointed leader.   

Today the functional definition of this flawed system is in a world where national borders are irrelevant to the movement of money, pollution, communications, technology, and other WMD precursors.   Governments have created unenforceable rules we call “International Laws” that can only be enforce by war, sanctions (which can be more lethal than war – or spark one), diplomacy (threats), or covert operations (assassinations, cyber-attacks, or mercenaries.

Friday, August 20, 2021

World Mosquito Day! AUGUST 20 for over 100 years.

 

Today, August 20, 2021 is World Mosquito Day.  It has been every year for over 100 years.  Why this August day? Google it.  The bigger question is why is this day so significant- yet so ignored? 

I can only guess why we ignore it…but we are in denial about how important it is - as the Covid delta variant virus now surges killing more foolishly unvaccinated Americans and other blessed souls globally who never had the chance to get vaccinated.

FYI:  Mosquitos are the deadliest animal in the world.  One estimate is that over 50 billion humans have died throughout human history because of mosquito transmitted viruses or bacteria.  And approximately 2.7 million continue to die each year, mostly in Africa.  Mostly from Malaria.

TIL (Today I Learned):  Malaria can actually be eradicated globally.  So far humans have only globally eradicated one disease – Smallpox.  This virus killed more humans in the first 70 years of the last century than all the wars, revolutions, genocides, and homicides combined during the 100 years of the same century.   Its global eradication cost the US only $32 million over 10 years ($3.2million annually).  That campaign’s success now saves US taxpayers about $17 billion every 20 years (about a $1 billion annually).  Polio could be next.  Rotary International is close to that victory.

In the context that infectious diseases remain humanities greatest killer and cost burden – it need not anymore.  Humanity now has a choice.  Our technology is evolving faster than the natural evolution/mutation of our microbial enemies.  Our greatest weapon against pathogens has always been our immune system (requiring adequate nutrition, clean water, safe sanitation, and informed minds).  Now we have increasingly rapid and effective vaccines (to fight viruses) but faltering antibiotics (to fight bacteria) with the potential for new ones we find in nature.

Unfortunately, the habits of the human mind are now the greatest ally of both forms of pathogens.  Science ignorance, illiteracy, and distrust combined with dysfunctional government and escalating political tribalism is damaging nearly every aspect of controlling infectious diseases.  And human rage between groups now has the capacity to create unprecedented bioweaponry.

The good news:  In June, the World Health Organization declared China malaria-free.  Over 3 dozen other nations or territories have achieved this status.  China clearly demonstrated that defeating malaria requires a comprehensive approach.  African countries have taken notice but still suffer too many illnesses and deaths from malaria.   

The key principle here is this.  Infectious disease control lessons go way beyond malaria.  And everyone in communities, businesses, religions, militaries, and governments have a role to play.

Military power and walls will not stop histories march of invisible pathogens. Technology and global human cooperation can.   This also goes for the proliferation of WMD, Nonnative invasive species (plant and animal), forever wars, heat trapping gases, and harmful pollutants (to air, soil, water). 

It’s our choice.  Here’s what the world could be if our minds were used for solving problems instead of defending flawed concepts inherent in different political, religious, or economic circles.  I urge you to watch the 1 hr. and 40-minute 2016 documentary “The Choice is Ours”.  The Venus Project.  I don’t agree with everything stated.  But overall, its vision is profound.

Humanity has everything we need for “the world that works for everyone” as Buck Minster Fuller properly proclaimed over 50 years ago.  Today we have even more!   Unprecedented financial and material resources, sustainable technology, and the human capacity for rapid global communication/transportation/cooperation.   We even have a plan.  The 17 Sustainable Development Goals.   We need two things.  First the political will. 

Why do we continue to defend flawed ideas instead of those fundamental ideals we are all familiar with.   The Golden Rule – the foundation of each major religion, and “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” offered in the Declaration of Independence as the self-evident path yielding “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”. 

Imagine the world today if Thomas Jefferson had accepted the editing advice of his close friend and Declaration signer, Dr. Benjamin Rush.   Rush suggested replacing the word “Happiness” with “Health”. 

Minds often define Happiness differently under different conditions.  Few sane minds would argue against the conditions of everyone having a healthy mind, body, spirt, family, other loving relationships, environment, economy, or rule of law.  The choice is ours! 

The second constraint besides sufficient political will is time.  We still rely on a 400-year-old global governance system (national sovereignty) to solve urgent fundamental threats to our individual freedom and security.  Threats that are growing exponentially largely due to the persistent evolution of multi-use technology, war, pathogens as our minds and governments resist change.

Have you ever asked why US politicians and military leaders swear an oath to protect the Constitution instead of public health and safety like many engineers and medical people do?

Please read the preamble to the US Constitution and give a school grade to each of its desired outcomes.  Then consider President Abraham Lincoln’s words that our Declaration of Independence is our “Apple of Gold”.  And our Constitution is its Frame of Silver. 

It’s our choice.

 

Thursday, August 5, 2021

My Resume

 

 

Charles (Chuck) P. Woolery

315 Dean Drive, Rockville, MD 20851-1144     chuck@igc.org    Cell: 240-997-2209

 

Professional SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

Grassroots and Coalition Organizer:  Successfully organized local, state, national and international grassroots networks and coalitions to educate the public and influence foreign policy decision makers and international financial institution leaders.  Skilled at simplifying, personalizing and connecting complicated global issues to motivate individual action with federal and global agency leaders.

 

Innovative Advocate:  Created and managed effective campaigns on difficult advocacy challenges.  1) The ‘Hill Corps’ for communicating with all 535 House and Senate offices on timely legislative initiatives.  2) “Letters-to-the Editor” networks covering over 200 US daily newspapers. 3) National media response teams targeting primary national print news media.  4) Local-Global Connection forums documenting the local benefits of solving global problems -- and the local human, environmental and economic costs of ignoring them. 5) “Power of Ten” Congressional District organizing strategy.

 

Media and Public Relations Director:  Developed tailored advocacy materials to assist local volunteers in generating local and national media coverage on global problems and pragmatic solutions.  Coordinated local and national media initiatives hosting news conferences in support of UNICEF’s annual State of the World’s Children reports and global health & child survival programs.  Experienced in giving radio and TV interviews and measurably effective in public venues speaking to youth, religious, service, and professional groups.  Also accomplish at organizing topical panels and issue debates.

 

Established resource:  Possesses a pragmatic understanding of globalization’s impact on US economic, health, social, environmental, and national security interests; and how to locate and use this information to influence US policy makers by geographical or political point of view.   Published in professional journals, written, and presented Congressional testimony, drafted federal legislation, written newsletter legislative updates, action alerts, briefing papers, and boilerplate newspaper opinion pieces for grassroots’ initiatives.  Maintains issue and quote database and library of books and files on ‘local-global’ connections, organizations, associations, national security threats, and topical experts.  Currently writing a book on maximizing freedom and security in an interdependent world - and maintaining a “435 Campaign for Global Justice” to educate Congress regarding the links between global injustices and threats to our personal and national security with a focus on funding the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030 – in the context of preventing most threats.

 

WORK HISTORY: 

11-2017 to Present:  Head Wrestling Coach and Strength and Fitness trainer at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School.

9-2015 to Present:  Volunteer Leader of ‘435 Campaign for Global Justice’.

11-1990 to Present:  Independent contractor and consultant to CIPAC and other non profits.

11-2003 to Present:  Public speaker linking global justice and human rights protection to protecting US national security and our freedoms.

8-04 to 11-04:  MoveOn PAC Field Organizer, New Hampshire

10-02 to 11-03:  Advocacy Director, Global Plan Initiative.

3-02 to 9-02:  Grassroots Director, World Federalist Association (WFA)

7-01 to 3-02:  Issues Advocacy Director, WFA

11-98 to 7-01:  Issues Director, WFA

4-98 to 11-98:  Grassroots Development Officer: Global Health Council (formerly NCIH)

5-97 to 4-98:  Director of Advocacy, National Council for International Health (NCIH)

3-96 to 5-97:  Director of Membership and Advocacy, NCIH

5-95 to 2-96:  Director, Communications for Health Campaign

11-90 to 5-95:  Director, Alliance for Child Survival

1-89 to 11-90: Consultant, Woolery Enterprises

3-88 to 1-89:  Media Director, RESULTS International

8-85 to 3-88:  Biology Program Representative II.  UC Berkeley, Lawrence Hall of Science, CA

5-85 to 9-85:  Bay Area Coordinator, Student Conservation Association.  San Francisco, CA

7-83 to 4-85:  Site Supervisor, East Bay Conservation Corps. Berkeley, CA

10-82 to 5-84:  Information Officer, Research Assistant, and Project Manager - The Hunger Project.

9-77 to 6-82:  Certified High School Biology Teacher/Coach/Class Advisor (CO, WA, NJ, and OR)

 

 

EDUCATION:  9-73 to 12-75:  Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO          B.S. Biology

                            9-71 to 6-73:  North Idaho College, Coeur d’Alene, ID                   A.A.

 

SPECIAL HONORS AND VOLUNTEER RESPONSIBILITIES:

 

Aug 5, 2021     Officially sponsored and  initiated into Rockville Rotary Club.

June 12, 2021   Certified Montgomery County Weed Warrior Supervisor

April 26, 2021 Rockville City’s Environmental Excellence Award for Outstanding Leadership in Environmental Practices for the Twinbrook Park Forest Restoration Project (Anne, Sarah and Chuck).

Dec 27. 2020 to present:    Member of Rockville Environmental Commission

Oct. 2020 to present:   Board of Watts Branch Watershed Alliance

Jan. 2020 to present:   Co-leader, City of Rockville Volunteer Weed Warrior corps, park restoration projects, and native plant rescues.

2017 to present:       Advisory Board, International Campaign to End Genocide

2013 recipient:         City of Rockville “Outstanding Individual Environmental Stewardship Award”      

2012 to present:       Certified Montgomery County Weed Warrior

2012 to present:       Board of Rockville Native Species Network

2012 to 2017:           World Federalist Institute Fellow.

2002 to Present:       Frequent panelist on “Passion for Truth” TV program.

1997 to 2012            Editorial Board - World Hunger Education Service

1989 to 2012            Executive Board Chair, Gethsemane Scholarship Institute, Fond Des Blancs, Haiti.

2007 to 2010            Advisory Board, Democratic World Federalists

2004 to 2006            Ex-Officio Chair, United Nations Association Council of Organizations.

2002 to 2004            Chair, United Nations Association Council of Organizations.

1998 to 2002            Two terms on UNA Council of Organizations Executive Committee

2002                           UNA National Capital Area, UN Day Organizing Committee

2002 to 2006            UNA National Capital Area, Education Committee

2002 to 2004            Chair, WFA Chesapeake Region (DC, DE, MD, VA, WV)

2001 to 2004            Media Chair, WFA Capital Area Chapter

2001 to 2004            Advisory Board, The Angelina Arico Foundation, Genocide Factor Series

2000 to 2001            Action Board, American Public Health Association (APHA)

1997 to 2005            Advocacy Chair, APHA, International Health Section

1996 to 2001            Served two terms on Governing Council, APHA, International Health Section

1993 to 1996            Served one term on Advisory Council, APHA, International Health Section

1999 to 2005            Vice-Chair, Maryland Global Affairs Coalition (MGAC)

1997 to 1999            Chair, MGAC

1993 to 1996            Co-Chair, Maryland Global Connections Foundation.

1996 to 1999            Served two terms as PTSA President of Rockville High School.

1992 to 1994            Served two terms as PTSA President of Meadow Hall Elementary School

1993                           Recipient of UNA-USA, National Capital Area, Human Rights Award.

1993 to 1996            Served second term as elected RESULTS Grassroots Board Representative.

1989                           Recipient of US Committee for United Nations Environmental Program, World Environment Day Award

1989 to 1990            Served first term as elected RESULTS Grassroots Board Representative.

1989 to 1993:           Maryland State Coordinator, RESULTS

1983 to 1988:           Regional Coordinator (CA, HI, NV), RESULTS.  Berkeley, CA

 

Journal & Magazine articles authored in:  Topics in Clinical Nutrition, Pediatric Nursing. World Hunger Year, Share International.

Opinion Pieces:              Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Sun, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Oakland Tribune, Marin Independent Journal, Montgomery Journal.

Letters to the Editor:    Business Week, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, Washington Post, Washington Times, World Monitor, and dozens of smaller daily newspapers.

Congressional Testimony:  Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee of Appropriations: May 15, 1997.  House Foreign Operations Subcommittee of Appropriations:  April 24, 1997; April 25, 1996;    March 30, 1995;  March 1, 1993.

Legislation Introduced:  103rd Congress:  HR 1935 International Woman and Child Health Act of 1993

                        102nd Congress:  HR 5507: International Woman and Child Health Act of 1992

 

 

 

References:

 

Harry C. Blaney III, President

Coalition for American Leadership Abroad (COLEAD)

(202) 944-5519  : colead@afsa.org

 

John B. Anderson, President (Ten term Republican US Congressman & 1980 US Presidential Candidate)

World Federalist Association

418 Seventh St., SE, Washington, DC 20003

(202) 491-1027   info@fairvote.org

 

Lynn McMullen

Former Executive Director, RESULTS

(360) 750-1036   lynnmcmullen@democraticfundamentalism.org

 

Tim Barner, National Director of Area Campaigns

Friends Committee on National Legislation,

245 Second Street, NE, Washington, DC, 20002-5795 USA
(202) 547-6000    tim@fcnl.org

www.fcnl.org

 

Richard A. Hellman, Founder, Christian's Israel Public Action Campaign

1300 Pennsylvania, Suite 703,  Washington, DC 20004

 (202) 425-4009      RAHellman@CIPAConline.org

http://cipaconline.org

 

 


 

Wrestling Accomplishments and Coaches.

 

1971    3rd place Washington State Collegiate style.  Kennewick HS.

1971    1st place Washington State AAU Freestyle State Championships

 

Bill Conrad:  Kennewick HS Wrestling Coach.  To the wrestling world in Washington State, Bill Conrad was a legendary coach and mentor, a crafter of championship teams and shaper of championship wrestlers.  A Washington State hall of famer twice over, Conrad’s teams won three state titles at Kennewick High and finished second twice more. Twenty-three different wrestlers won state titles during his 29 years as head coach of the Lions before he retired in 1991.

 

1972    2nd place, NJCAA National Tournament (Team place: 5th) for North Idaho College*

1972    Qualified for and participated in U.S. Olympic Trials  (eliminated quickly)

1973    4th place NJCAA National Tournament  (Team place: 2nd) for NIC**

1973    Participant in U.S. East vs West dual meet representing the West.

 

*This was the first time NIC placed in the NJCAA tournament.

** This was the second year NIC placed.

 

Les Hogan: Wrestling Coach.  NJCAA Hall of Fame.  Les Hogan assumed the reins of a start-up wrestling program at NIC in 1971 and immediately developed it into one of the most respected wrestling programs in the country. In his first year as head coach, Hogan guided the Cardinals to 5th in the nation at the NJCAA tournament. Two years later Hogan led NIC to its first NJCAA national championship, and he repeated the feat in 1975, earning back to back championships. The NJCAA honored Hogan as the National Wrestling Coach of the Year in 1975. He finished his career with a record of 95 wins and only 4 losses.

 

NIC Tradition of Wrestling champions:

14 NJCAA Team National Titles (NJCAA record)

34 Top Three Finishes as a team (NJCAA record)

54 Individual National Champions NJCAA record)

230 All-Americans (NJCAA record)

 

1975    Colorado State University Wrestling Team Co-Captain.

CSU Wrestling was replaced with Girls Volleyball after passage of Title 10.