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Order The LITE in the Heart by Australian mystic Omna Last from this websitecom for $20 +$5 S&H. Use the “Donate” button at the top of this page. See the “Omna” page on this website for more information on this important book now available in the U.S. for the first time.
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Check out the new website for the local currency system in Roanoke, Virginia at www.OurNokies.org
- YouTube interview by James Corbett on “The Cook Plan” Click Here
- Happy Birthday to my good friend Marjorie Rich. 97 years young!!!!!!
- At a meeting at the Cannon House Office Building on April 23, 2009, Richard C. Cook presented a signed copy of his new book, We Hold These Truths: The Hope of Monetary Reform to Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Order Here
- Six-part video now available: “Credit as a Public Utility: The Solution to the Economic Crisis.” See “Blogs and Updates” to view the video or order the 2-hour two-DVD set or PDF script.
- See the extensive citations of a 2008 article by Richard C. Cook in this Petroleum World commentary: Click Here
- Website now includes PayPal “Donate” and Google Ad functions to support research and publication mission.
- 2-minute video on Dandelion Salad (courtesy WillowTreeWorld): Richard C. Cook discusses his “Bailout for the People: The Cook Plan” View Here
- Now affiliated with the Save on Home Energy program of Dr. Peter Lindemann.
Introduction
Richard C. (Rick) Cook is an author, consultant, and teacher who works out of College Park, MD, Williamsburg, VA, and Roanoke, VA. His interests are local economic sustainability, monetary reform, health and wellness, meditation and spirituality, and space exploration. He attended the College of William and Mary, the alma mater of Thomas Jefferson, where he graduated with honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He is married to Karen Shirron, a public school teacher in Maryland. He has five children and four stepchildren.
Rick is a former U.S. federal government analyst who in 1986 became one of the foremost whistleblowers of modern times. He was instrumental in exposing multiple layers of cover-up in the wake of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. As a witness to the incident and a participant in the subsequent investigations, he received the Cavallo Foundation Award for Moral Courage in Business and Government for his testimony. In 2007, his memoirs of the tragedy were published in a book entitled: Challenger Revealed: An Insider’s Account of How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age. It has been called by one reviewer, “The most important space flight book in 20 years.”
As a policy analyst for the U.S. government from 1970 until 2007, Rick’s career included service with the U.S. Civil Service Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Carter White House, NASA, and the U.S. Treasury Department. He also taught history at the Field School in Washington, D.C., and owned and operated an organic farm for 10 years while commuting to work from rural Virginia.
Rick’s most recent book is We Hold These Truths: The Hope of Monetary Reform, released in December 2008. He is also author of a book about a guru from India: In the Footsteps of the Yogi: The 1999 U.S. Tour of Sri Sri Sri Shivabalayogi Maharaj.
Rick’s articles on public policy issues appear widely on the internet and in print venues. He was an adviser to Congressman Dennis Kucinich during the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns and a contributor to the American Monetary Act drafted and currently being promoted by the American Monetary Institute. In a June 2007 article entitled “It’s Official: The Crash of the U.S. Economy Has Begun,” he accurately predicted the current worldwide economic crisis. On February 27, 2009, he presented his solutions at the 8th Congress of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network in a paper entitled “A Bailout for the People: Dividend Economics and the Basic Income Guarantee.” He has encapsulated his prescriptions in a concise proposal for monetary reform called “The Cook Plan.”
Rick’s ideas about monetary reform have provided such a fresh approach to issues often viewed as unsolvable that they have begun to appear in the writings of many other commentators, especially his definition of credit as a “public utility” and a key component of the societal commons. He has also begun to apply his ideas on a practical level by starting to work with citizens of Roanoke, Virginia, on establishing a local currency system for the Blue Ridge Mountain region.
Rick is available for speaking and consultation in a variety of fields, including monetary systems, sustainable economics, contemporary spirituality, and organizational renewal. He is a practitioner of yogic meditation and teaches meditation to private students. He also stays in close touch with readers and invites comments and communication through the “Comment” section of this website.
Wikipedia Article on Richard C. Cook Wiki
In January 1986 Cook became the first NASA official to testify publicly on the space agency's prior knowledge of flaws in the solid rocket booster O-ring joints that destroyed Challenger and took the lives of its seven astronauts. He told his story in the book Challenger Revealed, published in 2007. Publisher's Weekly wrote of the book: "Easily the most informative and important book on the disaster."
