Mack Strong is the Seattle Seahawks former fullback player and assistant running back coach; for more than 14 years Mack Strong has built an entire career full of Seahawk memories with just one fortunate NFL team. He recently retired after an unexpected career ending neck injury. Former Seahawk Coach Holmgren is quoted as saying, “Mack is one of the greatest men I’ve been around…great teammate, great leader”.

As a professional athlete, Mack was known to inspire people both in the stadium and in the community. Mack has received numerous awards from Seahawks staff and other NFL players, including the Unsung Hero award (2001, 2002) and the Ed Block courage award (2001). He is also the only multiple recipient of the Steve Largent Award, which he has won five times (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006). On the field, Mack is second in Seahawk history for games played at 201 and is behind only Joe Nash (218). Mack was voted twice to the Pro Bowl and once to the All Pro Team in 2005; as well, he had the incredible opportunity to be a major contributor to the Seahawks journey to Super Bowl XL. On August 30, 2008, Mack joined the Fox Sports Northwest network’s talent team. In addition to providing insight and commentary on FSN’s Seahawks coverage, he also was given his own show, titled “Mack Strong: Seahawks Insider. Plus he can be heard on KJR regularly, and continues to stay active in various media responsibilities.

Some of his greatest achievements, however, are off the field. Mack has served on the Washington board of HOPE worldwide – a non-profit organization, which develops programs around the world for the most underserved and in need. Mack is married to his wife Zoë and they have two boys, Isaiah and Evan. Together they founded Strong Alliance a company that focuses on corporate team building and the development of youth education and leadership programs.

Their outstanding commitment to enhancing the lives of children in our community has earned Mack and Zoë several awards including the 2009 Mark Matthews Service to Children Award, 2011 Washingtonian of the Year award from the Association of Washington Generals and the Seattle Indian Health Board’s Adeline Garcia Community Service Award.

On October 9, 2010, at the age of 86, Gloria Crystal "Teddy" Key passed away at her Florida home, her family by her side.  Nineteen days later, her beautiful Australian-accented voice began to communicate with her eldest daughter, Frances, about the scope and wonder of her new perspective from the afterlife state. This remarkable collection of insights, written in less than a year and divided into three books, has astounded friends, family and a growing circle of readers with its unique analogies, wit, depth of wisdom, and unusual outlook on the human experience.

I graduated from Norwich University in Vermont in 1980 and spent 12 years in military service in the Army, leaving at the rank of Major. During this time, I served as a company commander during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, earning the Bronze Star, Kuwait Liberation Medal and Combat Air Medal. In 2010 I earned my MBA from the University of New Haven.

I have always wanted to write a book. Over the years I have started and stopped on several projects, but it wasn’t until New Years Eve, 1999-2000 when my father told me of a true story – his- that I became motivated enough to start (and finish) my first book, Code Name Sonny.

The second novel in the series, Mountains of Fire is available now, and a project has been started for a third book in the series,The 13th Cohort to be released in 2013.

My guest Dr. Susan Shumsky dedicates her life to helping people take command of their lives in highly effective, powerful, positive ways. She is a highly respected spiritual teacher, and best-selling author of 20 books in English and 40 in foreign editions. She has won 46 prestigious book awards. A pioneer in the human potential field, she has taught meditation, prayer, affirmation, and intuition to thousands worldwide for many decades. Her books include Miracle Prayer, Divine Revelation, Exploring Meditation, Exploring Auras, Ascension, Instant Healing, The Power of Auras, Awaken Your Third Eye, Awaken Your Divine Intuition, Color Your Chakras, The Big Book of Chakras and Chakra Healing, Third Eye Meditations, Earth Energy Meditations, Prosperity Meditations, The Inner Light: How India Influenced the Beatles, and her memoir Maharishi & Me. Dr. Shumsky is founder of Divine Revelation®—a unique field-proven technology for contacting the divine presence, hearing and testing the inner voice, and receiving clear divine guidance.  Since 2011, Dr. Shumsky has produced over 20 very successful holistic conferences on cruise ships. Her next seminar at sea is the Galactic Origins Cruise, December 14 to 21, 2024, sailing from Orlando to the Riviera Maya. 

Brian Haggerty has the rare ability to teach, inform, and influence people while simultaneously making them laugh and boosting their self-confidence. His smooth, but powerful voice captures the attention of audiences immediately, while his dynamic and thought-provoking talks create lasting impressions, and have made Brian a successful public speakers.

“Over the years, building trust and relationships was the key to our success in business and politics. And in order to have successful relationships, I had to embody every ounce of good character, responsibility and being of my word.” -Brian Haggerty

Since 2005, Brian has served his local New Jersey community in the role of Commissioner of Public Works, and as Head of the Department of Public Affairs. Through consistent goodwill, honesty, and humor, Brian has proved himself a unique and positive force in his community, capable of engaging minds, and inspiring hearts.

During his many years in politics, Brian's countless public speeches have led the charge toward positive change, and irrefutably improved the lives of people in his community. Brian believes however, that any natural talents for public speaking were passed down through his family. From an early age, he loved to hear stories of his grandfather, a New Jersey attorney whose courtroom manner was so dazzling, that people would take the bus to the Hackensack Court House just to witness him try a case. His father (who also worked tirelessly in government) was also a tremendous public speaker, while his mother (a school teacher of four decades) perfected his grammar, and fine-tuned his manners.

The key to Brian’s success, not only as a public speaker, but as a politician and businessman, lies in his unique ability to:

    Inspire and motivate people to be the best they can be.
    Empower each and every individual, from all areas, backgrounds, and ages, with the gift of who they are and how they can do anything they wish.
    Illuminate before audiences the great value of civility and the importance of how we present ourselves publicly.
    Demonstrate with kindness, how each one of us has a responsibility to conduct his or herself with graciousness, compassion, strong character, and a respect for all people.

A generous and engaging raconteur, Brian shares stories, anecdotes and personal experiences from his life to demonstrate how each principle he teaches has shaped and formed his approach to these ideals. While his personality and delivery is similar for all audiences, stories and experiences are chosen to perfectly fit the audience being addressed.

Brian believes that effective business leaders can learn to refine themselves, expand their knowledge of social and business etiquette, improve upon their communication skills, develop charisma, presence, and strengthen self-confidence for any social or business setting.

Miko Peled is a peace activist who dares to say in public what others still choose to deny. He has credibility, so when he debunks myths that Jews around the world hold with blind loyalty, people listen. Miko was born in Jerusalem in 1961 into a well known Zionist family. His grandfather, Dr.  Avraham Katsnelson was a Zionist leader and signer on the Israeli Declaration of Independence.

His father, Matti Peled was a young officer in the war of 1948 and a general in the war of 1967 when Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and the Sinai.

Miko’s unlikely opinions reflect his father’s legacy. General Peled was a war hero turned peacemaker. The general clearly stated that contrary to claims made later, the 1967 war was one of choice, and not because there was no existential threat to the state of Israel. He then dedicated his life to the achievement of Israeli Palestinian peace.

The political becomes personal with Miko’s stories. He might have learned compassion from his mother who, in 1948, refused the offer of an Arab home in West Jerusalem with the understanding that the family who lived there were now forced to live in a refugee camp. As the daughter of one of the signers of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Miko’s mother could have used her position of entitlement to get a lovely home for herself and her family. But she said, “No.”

Miko grew up in Jerusalem, a multi-ethnic city, part of a system that conspired to keep Palestinians and Israelis separate. The Arabs of Israel, as the Palestinians are called– the laborers, janitors, cooks, etc. are indistinguishable from Arabs across the Middle East and as such had no special connection to Jaffa, Lod, Ramle, Lydda, Haifa, Jerusalem or any other part of the land of Israel. Miko had to leave Israel before he made his first Palestinian friend, the result of his participation in a dialogue group in California. He was 39.

Peled insists that Israel/Palestine is one state. Facts on the ground are undeniable and irreversible– massive investment in infrastructure, cities,schools and malls for Jews only, Jewish only highways bisect and connect ever expanding settlements on the West Bank, the separation wall and the checkpoints have destroyed the possibility of a contiguous, viable Palestinian state. The question for Israelis, worldwide Jewry and the international community is: What kind of a state do we really want to see? An apartheid state with half the population confined to intolerable bantustans, without access to proper nutrition, medical care or clean water, condemned to humiliating long lines at checkpoints?

Or, will Israel/Palestine transform itself into a secular democracy for the five and a half million Israelis and almost five million Palestinians who live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. To become such a sanctuary, Israel must give up the idea of Jewish dominion over all the land and resources.

Before Miko came to hold such a vision, he had to face his fears. Driving alone in the to Palestinian towns in the Galilee or the West Bank in a car with license plates that identified him as Israeli, Miko imagined a terrorist lurking behind every curve of the winding road following the rolling hills. Heading towards the village of Bil’in for the first time, he silently questioned if he was crazy to trust “these people”? Peled was afraid but kept on driving until he found the village and was greeted by friends.

The solution might be obvious but the problem remains, how to change the existing paradigm– from fear and loathing to co-existence? At the heart of Peled’s solution lies the realization that Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live in peace as equals in their shared homeland. At the a gathering in Taos, New Mexico, an Israeli woman who heard Miko speak told Miko that his father was the hero of her childhood, and in fact, a photograph of the general hung in their home. “It is an honor to meet the son of Matti Peled,” she said, “I had given up hope for any kind of just solution and try to stay removed from events there but I see how much you care and meeting you gives me hope.”

Those who cling to fear, mistrust or greed are under the false assumption that Palestinians and Israelis have a choice other than to live as equals. But it’s inevitable – the wall must come down, and the two people must be allowed to live as equal citizens in their shared homeland. Refusing this means condemning future generations of Israelis and Palestinians to ongoing mayhem and violence.

And Miko Peled’s family knows about that too. On September 4, 1997 they have lost their beloved Smadar, 13, the daughter of Miko’s sister Nurit and her husband Rami Elhanan to violence.

The bible tells us a great story of the patriarch Abraham willing to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac to prove his faith. At the moment of truth, when Abraham was about to kill his son an angel appeared telling Abraham not to harm the boy. In the Koran, Abraham is about to sacrifice Ishmael to the same God and the angel of God appears telling him not to harm his beloved son, Ishmael. The moral of the story is quite clear: Neither Israelis or Palestinians are called to sacrifice their sons and daughters to war, in fact, whether we are believers or not we are all called by our God or our conscience to care for our children so that they may live in peace and grow up as the equals that they are.    

ABOUT THE GENERAL'S SON by Miko Peled
In 1997, a tragedy struck the family of Israeli-American Miko Peled: His beloved niece Smadar was killed by a suicide bomber in Jerusalem. That tragedy propelled Peled onto a journey of discovery. It pushed him to re-examine many of the beliefs he had grown up with, as the son and grandson of leading figures in Israel's political-military elite, and transformed him into a courageous and visionary activist in the struggle for human rights and a hopeful, lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Esteemed African-American author Alice Walker has contributed a very moving and thoughtful Foreword to The General's Son.

The journey that Peled traces in this groundbreaking memoir echoed the trajectory taken 40 years earlier by his father, renowned Israeli general Matti Peled. In The General's Son, Miko Peled tells us about growing up in Jerusalem in the heart of the group that ruled the then-young country, Israel. He takes us with him through his service in the country's military and his subsequent global travels... and then, after his niece's killing, back into the heart of Israel's conflict with the Palestinians. The book provides a compelling and intimate window into the fears that haunt both peoples-- but also into the real courage of all those who, like Miko Peled, have been pursuing a steadfast grassroots struggle for equality for all the residents of the Holy Land.

Cobra is a Pleiadian contactee and has been in contact with the underground for over 35 years. He has been told to remain anonymous by The Resistance and has ongoing communications with beings from Planet X that assist The Resistance Movement. As an earthly representative of the Agarthan network and the light forces, he strives to prepare humanity for the up and coming event horizon.

Our intention is to dissipate fear, clear up any misunderstandings, and add insights into what is really happening behind the daily headlines.

Lee is the author of The Spirit Recovery Meditation Journal and contributor to Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul. He is an avid blogger at spiritrecovery.blogspot.com and has released a trailer for his upcoming documentary "Dreaming Heaven".

Lee is a partner and co-creator of the Dreaming House in Teotihuacán, Mexico; a group retreat center at the foot of the pyramids.

His pursuits also include being a certified chemical dependency counselor, spiritual teacher, and Toltec Guide trained in the tradition of the Eagle Knight lineage of don Miguel Ruiz.