BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:www.indybay.org PRODID:-//indybay/ical// v1.0//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:Indybay-18287785 SEQUENCE:18290102 CREATED:20060714T081000Z DESCRIPTION:Former Merry Prankster Stewart Brand is hosting John Rendon. He is speaking on "Long-term Policy to Make the War on Terror Short".\nHas the real Stewart Brand has been replaced by an imposter? \nFirst he came out in favor of nuclear power. (What ever happened \nto "appropriate technology" a la the Whole Earth Catalog"?) \nNow he's become an admirer of one of the leading propaganda \nwarriors in the "war on terror". How he can soft-pedal Mr. Rendon's \nIraq War activities is beyond me. Hopefully there will be a sizeable \nanti-war contingent on hand at this event to hold Rendon's feet \nto the fire. \n\n____________________________________ \n\nfrom http://www.prwatch.org/node/4954/print \n(Stewart Brand's email/announcement is included below) \n\nCenter for Media and Democracy \n\nPublishers of PR Watch \nJohn Stauber's blog \n\nJohn Rendon's Long, Strange Trip in the Terror Wars \n\nSubmitted by John Stauber on Mon, 07/10/2006 - 22:15. \nTopics: Iraq | propaganda \n\nJohn Rendon \n\nIn his hippie youth as a Merry Prankster, Stewart Brand bounced around San \nFrancisco in Ken Kesey's day-glo bus, dousing people with LSD-laced Kool-Aid \nat the legendary Acid Tests. Those were strange days, but his latest trip is also \nbizarre. Brand and his Long Now Foundation are bringing to San Francisco John \nRendon ( http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Rendon ) the elusive \nhead of the Rendon Group, one of the CIA's favorite PR firms. \n( http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Rendon_Group ) \n\nJohn Rendon is the self-described "information warrior" who, under contract with \nthe CIA, named and nurtured the infamous Iraqi National Congress. \n( http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Iraqi_National_Congress ) INC leader \nAhmed Chalabi ( http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ahmed_Chalabi ) \nwas a Rendon protégé embraced by the Project for a New American Century \n( http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Project_for_a_New_American_Century ) \nand other advocates of war with Iraq. Rendon and Chalabi probably did as much \nas anyone to deceive the US into war. \n\nJohn Rendon usually stays in the shadows, but he'll be riding high with Stewart \nBrand this Friday, July 14, 7:00 PM at San Francisco's Herbst Theater. \n\nSheldon Rampton and I described some of the Rendon Group's activities in our \n2003 book, Weapons of Mass Deception, http://www.prwatch.org/books/wmd.html \nand we go into further detail in our new book, The Best War Ever, which will be \npublished in September. ( http://www.prwatch.org/books/tbwe ) The Iraqi National \nCongress was the source for much of the false and deceptive propaganda on Iraq's \nnon-existent weapons of mass destruction, which they planted in the press with \nhelp from Judith Miller of the New York Times and other obliging journalists. \nAhmed Chalabi has subsequently fallen out of official favor with the US, but he \nis currently serving in the Iraqi government and is very friendly with Iran, a real \nbummer for his patrons in the Bush Administration. \n\nStewart Brand is a serious guy these days, and his endorsement of John Rendon \nas a guru in the "global war on terror" is for real. Brand finds Rendon "exceptionally \ninformed, astute, and engaged. // It should be a hell of a talk." Brand says Rendon \nwants the US "to deepen its thinking and activities against terror" and Rendon's \ntalk is titled "Long-term Policy to Make the War on Terror Short." \n\nSome small bit of public enlightenment could occur at Rendon's appearance if he \nis thoroughly grilled by critics in the audience about his lucrative career as an \ninformation warrior before he slips back into the shadows. But Rendon is first and \nforemost a PR guy, and dodging questions and spinning an audience are his stock \nin trade. His San Francisco gig looks like a set-up for more hallucinations, \ndelusions and self-deceptions. Merry Prankster meets Mis-Information Warrior; \nwhat a long, strange trip it's been in the never-ending, secretive, dirty, spy- \ninfested, mis-named and mis-handled war on terror. \n\n7/10 Email from Stewart Brand \nSubmitted by John Stauber on Tue, 07/11/2006 - 21:49. \n\nMy article above quotes Stewart Brand. The quotes are from Brand's letter below \nannouncing Rendon's talk. John Stauber \n\n-------------- \nFrom: Stewart Brand \nDate: July 10, 2006 2:14:19 PM CDT \nTo: salt [at] list.longnow.org \nSubject: [SALT] The long game against terror, FRIDAY, July 14 (for forwarding) \n\nAs "senior communications consultant" to the current administration and every \nWhite House and Defense Department leadership since President Carter, John \nRendon, head of The Rendon Group, has been in the thick of combatting terrorism \nfor decades. In his view, the US needs to deepen its thinking and activities \nagainst terror from tactical to strategic -- from short-term reactive to long-term \nsystemic. \n\n"Long-term Policy to Make the War on Terror Short," John Rendon, Herbst \nTheater, San Francisco, 7pm, Friday, July 14. The lecture starts promptly at \n7:30pm. Admission is free ($10 donation always welcome, not required). \n\nThe Rendon Group specializes in studying public opinion and media activities \nworldwide, in real time, and in devising appropriate responses. Some media \ncharacterize John Rendon as a right-wing information warrior, but that is not my \nexperience of him, and it belies his background as a campaigner for Michael \nDukakis, Jimmy Carter, and John Kerry. What characterizes Rendon to me is that \nhe is exceptionally informed, astute, and engaged. It should be a hell of a talk. \n\nThe Herbst Theater is at Van Ness and McAllister in the War Memorial Veterans \nBuilding, adjoining the San Francisco Civic Center. \n\nThis is one of a monthly series of Seminars About Long-term Thinking organized \nby The Long Now Foundation, usually on second Fridays. If you would like to be \nnotified by email of forthcoming talks, please contact Simone Davalos -- \nsimone AT longnow.org, 415-561-6582 -- or go to: \nhttp://list.longnow.org/mailman/listinfo/SALT \n\nYou are welcome to forward this note to anyone you think might be interested. \n\n-- Stewart Brand \n\nStewart Brand -- sb AT gbn.org \nThe Long Now Foundation - http://www.longnow.org \nSeminars & downloads: http://www.longnow.org/projects/seminars \n________________________________ \n\nCenter for Media and Democracy \n520 University Avenue, Suite 227 \nMadison, Wisconsin 53703 \nPhone: 608-260-9713 \nEmail: editor AT prwatch.org \n\nhttp://www.prwatch.org/node/4954/print\n\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/07/14/18287785.php SUMMARY:SF: Stewart Brand hosts CIA Contractor John Rendon (free event) LOCATION:Herbst Theatre in War Memorial Building\nMcAllister and Van Ness in San Francisco URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/07/14/18287785.php DTSTART:20060715T020000Z DTEND:20060715T040000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR