THE SUN
(published by Solar Powers Publishing
in Santa Cruz, California)
March 17, 1988
EDITORIAL
Monterey Bay area media lost
one of its liveliest voices last week when Mae Brussell's World
Watchers radio program, heard locally on KAZU and KKUP, aired
its final broadcast. Brussell, who for the last 17 years has
been weaving the threads of her tireless research into a vast
tapestry of insight and speculation on what she terms "the
Nazification of America," called it quits after a series
of death threats persuaded her that she might be the next victim
of the murky conspiracy she'd been working to expose for the
better part of two decades.
Regarded by some as a paranoid crackpot,
Brussell nevertheless proved prescient in her analysis –
long before the Christic Institute lawsuit or the Iran/contra
scandal – of a secret right-wing cabal, composed of such
characters as John Singlaub, Richard Secord and others, suspected
of organizing assassinations and other dirty dealings behind
the backs of the U.S. public. The murders of the Kennedy brothers,
Martin Luther King, Jr., and numerous other liberal and radical
leaders were atributed by Brussell to a shadowy criminal conglomerate
involving Nazi rocket scientists, the CIA, the Vatican, the Trilateral
Commission, the Mafia, and the Knights of Malta. While at their
wildest Brussell's speculations could seem farfetched, the connections
she drew consistently between various individuals and events
were always disturbingly thought-provoking and often quite persuasive.
World Watchers was syndicated
and played on a variety of non-commercial radio stations around
the country, most recently on KPFK, the Pacifica affiliate in
Los Angeles. The program was gaining listeners and attention
when Brussell began receiving threats, presumably from the southland,
declaring that if she persisted "we're gonna come up and
blow your head off" and that she'd be disappeared and never
found. One of the callers, Brussell says, made his political
sympathies quite clear by saying, "I'm a fascist and I'm
proud of it."
Intimidation is certainly not unheard
of as a terror tactic, but in this country the muzzling of free
speech and open inquiry through such means is especially unsettling.
Brussell, whose audience was far from mainstream, must have been
on to something lately – perhaps the George Bush/cocaine
connection via contra supply networks and Panama's General Noriega
– that threatened the peace of mind of her antagonists.
Ex-CIA director Bush, now a leading candidate for president,
has long been one of Brussell's favorite "bleeding-heart
fascists," whose deadly associations she took great delight
in exposing.
But as she was always reminding her listeners,
the information she broadcast was gleaned from readily available
sources – numerous newspapers, magazines and books –
and anyone willing to take the time could make the connections
along with her. People interested in pursuing such research can
still subscribe to her weekly tapes and receive a running bibliography
by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to Mae Brussell,
P.O. Box 22511, Carmel, CA 93922.* We'll miss her compelling
on-air monologues but trust that her investigative energies have
infected other researchers and activists who will carry on the
task of exposing the sleazy underside of international affairs.
*No longer valid
Home