I am certain that you are all sitting in your expeditionary force units in mad shock and tedious disbelief, all wondering the same thing: How is WEF4 doing? Well sit no longer! WEF4 is here to quell the many fear that you clearly have (judging by the constant barrage of emotive emails, maniac messages, frantic facebook queries and whatnot.) WEF4 is fine. Better even, WEF4 is actually enjoying employment. (Shocks: the Earth stands still.)
Most importantly perhaps is our discussion of squirrels, the beloved beasts of WEF7. They exist here in greater abundance than I have ever seen before. They prance; they tarry; they are the indigenous species of Princeton and most of us have the sense to bow down to them. (this does not apply to the wee rugby lads who like to use their footwear as squirrel pistols, but I digress..) My first week here a young woman was sitting on a bench reading a book and eating an apple. She placed the apple down momentarily to turn a page. FOLLY! In mere moments a squirrel had sprinted from across the grass, pounced on the unprotected apple, and carried it up a tree. Laws of mere mortals - theft - do not apply to gods. The young woman stared in disbelief.
But on to lesser matter, as the gods cannot take all of our time. My employment is brilliant because the kids I’m working with are AWESOME. And the curriculum is super interesting. I never thought I could tire of talking about the community-freedom divide but we have been debating it ad nauseum for so long that at this point even I grow weary! Worry not. Just in the nick of time we’re moving onto capitalism as an economic structure - one of my other favourites :) It’s really nice to be able to teach all of the topics that I actually study and care about instead of only teaching technology or basic rudimentary skills. It has also made me more confident about perhaps pursuing a PhD and going into academia.
Equally awesome are my fellow facilitators and the organization itself. They are all generally liberal - funders and facilitators alike - but firmly believe (and more importantly, it comes out in practice) that young people should be given the critical thinking skills necessary to arrive at their own opinions on any matter, even if that opinion is in contradiction to their own. This comes out in every aspect of our work. It is really liberating to be around people who are opposed to ideology even while clearly subscribing to some forms on a personal level.
On the Youth Advocacy Network front: I’ve finally finished the site, made a facebook page, and invited people to apply. I’ve realized that after taxes my salary for the summer will be somewhat less than I imagined and have thus decided to return to Cameroon myself unless I find an appropriate applicant. If any of you guys know of people who might be interested I am now offering a living stipend and housing as incentive. http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/385991-295/c WEF6 especially, if you have friends out of college who haven’t found anything in the current job climate please send them my way!
Still waiting to hear back from the one real job I applied to… if I get it I will likely to scampering about to find a more qualified applicant for YAN, as I will be able to support it financially to a greater extent.
And with that, WEfers, I am sure you will all sleep better at night
This is the latest from The Wildermuth Game-Works. By the way, there is now an open-invitation to join The Wildermuth Game-Works. It is a worker-owned worker-run venture. We currently need both human and financial resources to make our first official game a reality. We need artists, playtesters, storytellers, marketers, and production staff. But on to the real show - Picture It! Read the rest of this entry »
I have purchased my ticket. It was more expensive than I thought it would be. I decided that instead of okaying it first, since the price appeared to have increased in ONE WEEK, I would just grab it and bite the bullet if need be.
I arrive in at Bodrum airport at 1600 hours on August the 14th. Who’s gonna come get me?
As you all undoubtedly know, WEF2 is very upset about the disappearance of her jewelry and other belongings. I have no particular knowledge of the particular circumstances surrounding the storage, attempted storage, or non-storage of these items. This is not about any recrimination, blame, or anger. This is only about solving a problem.
I would like each of you, from WEF3 to WEF7, to respond to this post. Even if you don’t think you can be of any help. Please let me know what, if anything, you know or think you might know about where this stuff was stored, in what container, and where it might be now. Take the time to THINK about this and try to remember all the stuff that was moved or stored as different rooms in the house were packed or reconfigured. Don’t just say you don’t know anything about it. If nothing else, give me your best guess or opinion about what happened to it.
Could it have been thrown out? Could it have been stolen? (there’s been a lot of different people in the house, and not just residents) Please consider both of these possibilities realistically and let me know what you think the chances are. If it’s not either of those two, then it has to be somewhere in the house, or in West Virginia. Can anybody think of anywhere else it might be? Where, at the present time, is the standing jewelry container where I remember all of it used to be? Was the stuff taken out of that particular piece of furniture? If so, when? Were any of you around at the time? What do you remember about it? We should at least be able to determine the last time any of us remember seeing it. Since WEF2 left for Baghdad, did anybody look through the stuff? Did anybody borrow anything? Did anybody show anything to someone else? Remember, no recrimination, we just need to know.
WEF2 will be back in DC very soon, but she shouldn’t be only one trying to figure this out. I understand the attic is a disaster, and you can imagine how I feel about that, as either WEF2 or myself seem to try to to clean it up every time we’re home, just so it can be trashed again, so we can clean it up again. (OK, maybe there’s a bit of recrimination about this). I’ll be coming out in August for medical appointments, and I’ll do the attic yet again. I can also go to West Virginia or anywhere else to run this down. But we need to think where it might be.
Remember, I want to hear from everybody. Don’t just throw up your hands and forget about it. We’re all about to make a big deal about Mother’s Day. Let’s do more than talk about it this year, and make our absolute best effort to solve this problem.
So as Christmas time draws near and my classmates scurry about the library completing job application for banks, government and lord knows what else sinking feeling begins to settle: I still have no idea what I’m doing with my life. It seems unlikely that LSE will be giving me a scholarship for a PhD program, in fact I have doubts as to whether they’ll even accept me into the program given my odd (and to them, slightly disturbing) topic proposal.
I think I will follow in the footsteps of my beloved brother and be a writer. Only of science-fiction style distopian/utopian futures. But first, I have to design the political backbone of the perfect society. I have to learn how societies are put together today and how they were put together in the past in order to paint the future with words. Thus why I do think I will be trying to find a PhD program that will accept my desire to write an anarcho-capitalist manifesto as my dissertation. Said academic work can then be the formulaic structure of my first sci-fi novel - which will undoubtedly be as widely read and loved as Atlas Shrugged. Leaving me with a cult of followers and ensuring that “erinism” is forever used as a synonym for the grand anarcho-capialst future that is sure to be built upon the throne of my literary genius. I know. I am still odd.
Anyway, I wanted your advice of my plan of action. The cool thing about this is that I don’t need to go to a good school. There is no need to have a PhD from LSE, Harvard or Yale. It is the work itself and not the degree that matters. Really I just need to find a place that will pay me to do it - ie. a full fellowship. At the moment my first choice is a program in Italy: http://www.luiss.edu/dptssp/doctoral-programs They only accept 8 people a year, but half get a full ride. Plus, I think Italy has a pretty strong anarhcist tradition and then I could learn Italian (Plus, Shannon would so visit me with the small gremlin Chloe)
What do you guys think?
PS. Nate - my research has led to some interesting writing things that I think you should look into:
A boy by the name of Chris lives upstairs. He has been receiving calls at very strange hours. The early morning and late evening seem to be Prime calling time in Chris’ world.. Oddly they all ask for the same person…and it isn’t Chris.
So, in case there’s been some confusion, my number is 505 995 4304.
And, yes, I do realize I just posted my phone number on the internet. But since I can’t seem to figure out how to make these posts private, I will accept the horrendous insecurity of people I don’t know being able to call me.
Personally, I fear for my life.
On a side note, I do LIKE getting calls from the family…and I’m quite dismayed to realize that any of them have been waylaid to Chris. So, call me!
OK we’re going to move on to the not contested, undebated, acts of government-sponsored terror that are “in fact openly admitted to by western governments.”
But before we do… You know I really don’t want to go there, but it’s probably important to determine how far the boy is gone. We need to dig this thing out by the roots, lance the boil, use whatever medical metaphor you’d like.
So tell me, what does he think happened at the Pentagon, and on UA Flight #93? I shudder to imagine the possible answers.
Anyway, back to the tape, the “historical examples” of state-sponsored terror, and the boy’s comments on these issues.
Of course I stand by what I said before, that Jones failed miserably in making his case on the video after he made a big deal of these questionable stories. When he doesn’t show you what he says he’s going to show you, his credibility goes out the window and it’s impossible to take anything he says seriously. When we’ve discredited the video, we’re done, since that was what this was all about. But now the boy wants to help the video out because Jones can’t come close to making his case on his own. Fine, lets look at what he has to say.
1)Reichstag Fire- Easy. Even the boy admits to no conclusive evidence that the Nazis started the fire. We’re done. It’s contested. It’s debated. It’s certainly not “openly admitted”. Any questions? The boy finds one side far more convincing than the other. So what? Lots of other people don’t. That’s called “contesting” and “debating”. I would be remiss, however, if I let the boy’s accusation that Sefton Delmer was a known Nazi sympathizer or ex-Nazi go by. Delmer knew Hitler and many of the Nazis as a journalist in Berlin before the war. If he was pro-Nazi, he sure had a funny way of showing it. During the war he worked for the British and conducted effective “black propaganda” against the Nazis that was often criticized as being too vicious (one example was broadcasting to U-Boat crews that their wives were sleeping with foreign workers back home while they were out on patrol). The only time he was ever accused of being a Nazi sympathizer was when he said he was convinced that they didn’t start the Reichstag Fire (circular reasoning, anyone?) I can’t find anyone today who claims that he was ever a Nazi sympathizer. I can’t find anybody saying that Der Spiegel author Fritz Tobias was a sympathizer or ex-Nazi either.
Shirer’s quote from from the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is an example of one side of the debate. He may be right, I don’t know–I’m certainly not going to defend the Nazis (does the boy defend the Soviet Union and the other communist regimes?) The point is that the video is not telling the truth.
2) Operation Himmler: In this case, the boy defends the truth of the video by claiming that Jones got it wrong! In fact, most versions do have the Nazis dressing up in Polish uniforms. That would make it a false flag operation, so I bow to the boy’s point. It’s just not the scenario Jones describes-He just talks about putting dead guys in Polish uniforms. His Mistake/Lie is so obvious this time even the boy has to change the story! No matter which one you use it’s certainly no act of terrorism, despite the boy’s claims. Beatings? Shootings? Killings? I certainly wouldn’t put it past the Nazis; but you’re going to have to show me some evidence.
So far Jones has made his best effort to smear the West with the crimes of the Nazis for Crom’s sake, and he still can’t pull it off.
And let’s not even mention “vandalism” and “false radio announcements” as terrorism, shall we? Did they break a window, and then tell a lie on the air when the station manager didn’t give them back their ball? If that’s the kind of “terrorism” he’s reduced to claiming, I’d like to think he’d have enough sense to be embarrassed, so we’ll give him a break and act as though we didn’t notice that part.
So even the boy is calling Jones on this one. Next!
Oh yeah. My favorite-Operation Ajax- I confess all the hype about “declassified documents” and the like had me interested. The boy even provided documentary evidence!
“Watch this brief interview of Kermit Roosevelt,where he admits to actual violence. It is about 7 minutes long, and comes as they say “straight from the horse’s mouth…”
And: “Also, here one of the relevant declassified CIA documents, entilted “Clandestine Service History- Overthrow of Premier Mosaddeq of Iran.”
It sounded so bad for my argument that I decided to resort to dirty and unfair debating tactics: I read the document and watched the videos! Sorry but I was willing to do anything to help my case.
Here’s the first paragraph of the document’s Summary:
“By the end of 1952, it had become clear that the Mossadeq government in Iran was incapable of reaching an oil settlement with interested Western countries; was reaching a dangerous and advanced stage of illegal, deficit financing; was disregarding the Iranian constitution in prolonging Premier Mohammed Mossadeq’s tenure of office; was motivated mainly by Mossadeq’s desire for personal power; was governed by irresponsible policies based on emotion; had weakened the Shah and the Iranian Army to a dangerous degree; and had cooperated closely with the Tudeh (Communist) Party of Iran. In view of these factors, it was estimated that Iran was in real danger of falling behind the Iron Curtain; if that happened it would mean a victory for the Soviets in the Cold War and a major setback for the West in the Middle East. No remedial action other than the covert action plan set forth below could be found to improve the existing state of affairs.”
Gee, that doesn’t sound so bad. And it’s the boy’s document, the smoking gun and all that, so I guess he’s stipulating that it’s accurate.
I think I have heard something about this “Cold War” going on at the time, where the Soviets were attempting to gradually align the “coalition of forces” in their favor so that they could weaken us, dominate the rest of Europe and Asia, and eventually force us to change our preferred form of government. The above certainly seems like a reasonable reaction to that aggression. So far so good. It certainly doesn’t say anything about terrorism, or even violence.
I kept reading, and it turns out Mossadeq wasn’t the committed democrat that I keep hearing so much about. In fact he rigged a referendum and unconstitutionally dissolved the Parliament so he could rule by decree.
So I pretty much went and read the whole thing, and by the end I was pretty darn proud of our boys in the CIA for pulling off such a victory over the bad guys. They did great!
Oh, and I finally found the “juicy bits” the boy seemed so happy about:
Juicy Bit#1 :
“On the appointed day, staged attacks will be made against respected religious leaders. in Tehran.” (my boldface, natch)
“Other religious leaders will at once say that these attacks were ordered by Mossadeq as his reaction to the disfavor in which his government is hold by the religious leaders of the entire country.”
Hmm, I wonder what this word “staged” means? Elsewhere it says that the Brits and the Americans had excellent relations with many religious leaders. It seems clear that these were fake attacks, and these friendly religious leaders blamed Mossadeq. False flag operations? Absolutely. Terrorism? Hardly; there was no real attack.
Juicy Bit#2 : this one may be referring to the same action (the Tudeh is the Iranian Communist Party):
“At this time the psychological campaign against Mossadeq was reaching its climax. The controllable press was going all out against Mossadeq, while [Blacked-Out] [Blacked-Out] under station direction was printing material which the station considered to be helpful. CIA agents gave serious attention to alarming the religious leaders at Tehran by issuing black propaganda in the name of the Tudeh Party, threatening these leaders with savage punishment if they opposed Mossadeq. Threatening phone calls were made to some of them, in the name of the Tudeh, and one of several planned sham bombings of the houses of these leaders was carried out.” (my boldface again)
Are we starting to see a pattern here? Have reading comprehension skills drastically deteriorated over the past few years? Once again, this is describing a psychological campaign featuring false flag operations and black propaganda, but no actual attacks or bombings (or did the word “sham” just have its meaning changed?). No terrorism here.
And that’s the best the boy can come up with? Where’d all the terrorism go?
But wait, there’s still the damning tape! CIA demon Kermit Roosevelt admitting to actual violence! Straight from the horse’s mouth!
At this point, I pause to mention how difficult it sometimes is to be charitable. I suppose we can assume that the boy, being the endearingly trusting, naive, and uncynical young man that he is, never reviewed the recording himself and simply took the word of his fellow Searchers for Truth as to its contents.
In the three statements we find by Roosevelt on the two links the boy provides, here is the substance of what he says:
1) He described how Ambassador Henderson says that the plan was a considerable departure from diplomatic tradition, but he understood that it was required by the situation. He just didn’t want to know the details.
2) He said that only six to eight CIA personnel were involved, and he thinks they had $700,000 or $800,000 available, but only used $10,000. This was possible because the Iranian opposition was already organizing itself, and they just had to provide support and some professional guidance.
3) He said that it wasn’t difficult because Iranian elements were already there ready to move. They only needed advice, some assistance, some physical support, and occasional small amounts of money.
Then there’s a quote from Maj Gen Stewart, who testified before Congress that when “the thing was about to collapse,” they violated “normal criteria” in providing to the Iranian army, on an emergency basis, guns, trucks, and armored cars from the Military Defense Assistance Program.
That’s it. That’s the smoking gun from the “horse’s mouth.” Funny, I didn’t hear anyone admit to violence, much less terrorism.
This was a covert operation using propaganda, both white and black, planted stories, out and out lies, and yes, (non-violent) false flag operations. You can debate all you like about whether you think it’s appropriate or not, but it certainly isn’t terrorism.
You know, if the boy actually heard what the other side had to say now and then, he’d figure out that he can’t go into a debate just wishing that these things were true and producing evidence that will just embarrass him. He would have to make a convincing case now and again, something he apparently isn’t used to doing as he and his buddies nod in unison to their latest fairy tales.
The Gladio thing is probably the best argument the boy has, mostly because I’m not very familiar with it. But at this point I’m not sure I’m willing to wade through it on his say-so. We’ll see.
OK, lets see about polishing off the rest of the boy’s 9-11 dementia– It’s probably good therapy as we contemplate the dark future ahead (Great Caesar’s Ghost, will that be considered a racist comment by our new Overlords?!!)
2) Hijacked planes not intercepted–Pretty easy. Prior to 9-11 our air defense system was as you might expect, looking outward. The ADIZ or Air Defense Identification Zone was placed around the borders of the country. If you were flying into United States airspace and didn’t follow the simple procedures required, you could be pretty much assured of meeting a curious fighter aircraft before you hit landfall. Truthers that talk about the “tested system put into effect time and time again” are talking about that system.
OK, hold on. Time out for more cool airplane pictures:
>
Whew! I feel better.
Now where were we? Oh yeah, the ADIZ. Anyway, back in the day, Air Defense Command was doing this kind of stuff all the time, but by 2001 the force had to a large extent stood down. In any case these interceptions were all over the water.
So by 2001, massive resources were no longer spent on air interception, except at the border to the south where we were intercepting drug smugglers–but that was mostly a DEA mission, not generally using USAF interceptors. And even in the best of conditions, intercepting aircraft over the US is much harder than over water in the ADIZ. Especially If the transponder’s shut down. It’s very difficult to pick the target aircraft from all the other aircraft.
Even more importantly, NO ONE was going to give any interceptor clearance to shoot down an airliner, hi-jacked or otherwise, in September of 2001. By the time people had figured out what was going on that day, and they were seriously talking to any fighters, it was all over. Again, for more details of the command and control challenges of that day, you can google it. The idea that anyone stood down the fighters is pure fantasy, with no evidence but the forlorn hope of the more desperate Truthers.
3) The 9-11 Commission: Finally, the boy and I are on the same page, standing shoulder to shoulder on this one. The Commission was a complete farce. He’s right, I don’t think there were any commission members that were unbiased and independent. The whole circus was a political exercise. The Dems were trying to pin the tragedy on the Bush Administration, which had been at the job for nine months, while being careful to keep the Clinton Administration clean. The Repubs were playing defense, but the only way to play successful defense in that environment was to be ridiculously cooperative.
The thing is, they realized that the worst thing that could happen was to get accused of holding back information. I was in the Counter-Terrorism Office at the time, with responsibility for South Asia, which included Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the Bin Laden dossier. I just about had to empty my safes and ship it all over to the Commission. No smoking gun, I’m afraid, sorry. But the point is, the White House was a true pain in the butt making sure we gave these guys everything they could possibly want. It was political theatre at it’s finest.
The boy is right again when he points out that both Clinton and Gore and Bush and Cheney limited their testimony– Because it was all a game of gotcha, and they understandably didn’t want to play. Right again about the outrageousness of having Gorelick on the Commission, when she should have been one of the first to be testifying.
But this had nothing to do with a cover-up or any of the other fantasies the Truthers dream about. It’s only deadly serious political combat in Washington, and the boy illustrates that by noting that both Dems and Repubs were engaged in it. Anyone who had to watch the thing knew it. We wanted to pop popcorn and invite the offices down the hall over to the CT Offices to watch the boss’ testimony on our TV, but the deputy wouldn’t let us.
Next time: The “false flag” operations the boy is so concerned about.
Sorry WEF6, our boy here is making wild accusations that dozens or hundreds (depending on his favored scenario) of real people who work for the government plotted and executed a plan to murder thousands of Americans, and I’m being unbearably rude? I suspect he’s said a lot worse about certain public officials I can think of. I’m afraid I don’t have much patience with these stale 9-11 fantasies any more, so if I’m to engage, I wouldn’t think you’d deny me a bit of fun while I’m at it…
By the Mystic Moons of Munnopor, is he as humorless as he seems?! I’m surprised you didn’t prepare him for a healthy dose of derision, ridicule, and sarcasm! I mean, come on… has he seen the website? I was actually going for fear, ridicule, and humiliation, so I only got one out of three. I might also point out that, along with entertaining myself, I really have engaged him and his claims– and there’s more to come! So he shouldn’t just run away– he certainly didn’t seem too shy about pointing out how I’ve sold my miserable soul to Amerikkka, and my feelings didn’t get hurt! So if he can get over his attack of the vapors (smelling salts, anyone?), he can engage me right back! But have him wait awhile– my whip-arm is still a bit sore after last week so It’ll take me a little while to finish with the rest of his tome. Besides, I’d like to post my final pre-election whine tomorrow.
But for now, before bed, I’ll point out a few things.
As for the lies he seems upset about, the first five in the beginning of the video (OK, maybe two of them were the same lie told twice) were all unsupported assertions by Jones, two of which the boy agreed were untrue. If he doesn’t like my calling the others lies, he can find the sources to back them up- As someone (Carl Sagan?) once said, “extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof,” and he’s the one who picked the video.
I don’t think I called anything else a “lie.” Although the statement, “no skyscraper has ever collapsed due to fire” comes pretty close, in the context it was used–It’s certainly intentionally misleading.
Let’s see, what else? (I hate having to go over this stuff again, but I’m a bit surprised WEF6 wants citations) Anecdotal stories about the fires being under control and the “explosions”– I thought I covered those pretty well… BTW, doesn’t he have to cite anything, or does he just get to make unsubstantiated claims that I have to prove wrong?
We all saw the photos of the airplanes, so I guess I don’t have to prove that there were a couple of those involved and not just fires…
I think you can find the fact that steel loses it’s strength way before it melts on any sane website that talks about it– the most famous one is the Popular Mechanics which addresses most of the 9-11 claims (which all the Truthers laugh at but none of them can refute the arguments–typical)
The various phenomena–again it’s fairly obvious, but he’ll need to be a bit more specific about the claims he’s making– for example, why does the dust imply controlled demolition? Thermite? He really doesn’t want to go there. Once again, WEF6, how come you’re asking me for citations–I’m not even sure what he’s talking about!
The building seven thing doesn’t even pass the idiot test– He’s going to have to explain why it was so important for the evil government to take out that building hours after the attack, especially if it had as little damage as he claims. Did they just get overenthusiastic?
I suspect the “molten steel” thing is about the thermite as well. I stand by the points I made on that theory: it doesn’t work horizontally, the results don’t look like the damage they’re pointing to, and you just can’t see “residue” and claim it’s from thermite. Again Sagan’s law applies.
So I think I did pretty well at engaging the boy’s arguments. Stand by for more within a few days. Until then, maybe this will help:
By the Ruby Rings of Raggadorr! Doesn’t the boy have classes to go to? Homework to do? I certainly don’t want to be responsible for him neglecting his studies. Particularly if any of them have anything to do with logic.
He does seem to have a lot of time on his hands. I, on the other hand, have been deeply entrenched in the affairs of the State, assisting our Government in countless acts of murder and deceit. In fact, my name came up on the duty roster, so it was my week to terrorize citizens of sovereign nations. Next week I get to carry out terrorist actions against our own citizens. No rest for the wicked, I guess!
Despite that, I’ll try to do my best to educate the boy. Unfortunately, it takes longer to explain stuff than it does to spout gibberish, so I’ll have to respond in sections. I’ll stop for a break when the enormity of the ignorant, mush-headed lunacy I’m dealing with becomes too much to bear.
On the other hand, I do love the smell of Moral Indignation in the morning! Smells like… Well certainly not the odious and familiar stink of state-sponsored terror…
So I guess things are getting pretty bad, eh? Stripped of true citizenship? Made into subjects? Reduced to absolute slavery? Wait a minute, Obama hasn’t even won yet!
Anyway, much as I would enjoy performing the examination of conscience that the boy is recommending, perhaps we should just stick to the issue at hand– for now, at least.
As I understand it, the boy was touting this wretched little video as providing some kind of revelation-you know, Road to Damascus, scales dropping from my eyes, that kind of thing… and I was pointing out that it was a pathetic, lying screed put out by a loser who is so famously deranged that he’s an embarrassment to the rest of the deranged loser community. What this says about the boy himself, I leave as an exercise for the student.
It’s a simple question. Is the video reliable and trustworthy, or does it make claims it can’t back up? It’s important to keep this in mind because there’s an unfortunate tendency among the conspiracy types to change the subject rather than admit they’re mistaken/lying. The boy picked the video; it’s this territory he chose to defend. Now he can bloody well defend it.
For the record, the boy already agrees that the “poll” Jones talks about (3:15) is nonsense, and the attempt by Jones to equate terrorism with false flag operations (3:52) is another mistake/lie. That’s not even counting the lie about “our leaders” telling us we’ll be at war for 100 years (0:49) and that the terrorists can never be defeated (0:55), and another “100-year war” lie (1:53).
That’s five lies in the first 3 minutes and 52 seconds of the video, averaging to a lie every 47 seconds. Take out the 45 seconds of credits, which of course includes the misleading Solzenitsyn quote, and it’s up to a lie for every 37 seconds. And the guys not even talking very fast. Not an auspicious beginning if we’re evaluating for reliability and trustworthiness.
Jones says that 9-11 is “the foundational event” and “the pretext for the current geopolitical structure.” He says he’s already made his case in previous videos. The last thing I want to do is watch another one of his videos, but the boy has kindly given us his “best pieces of evidence,” so we can start there.
Actually, 9-11 has become a fairly boring topic these days. To the more or less sane world, the “Truthers” have become something like a more manic version of the Flat Earth Society. Like Alex Jones himself, even to the America-haters, these people are sorta like the crazy old aunt the family keeps locked in an upstairs bedroom, hoping nobody else will notice.
So I’m surprised the boy took me up on my request for him to defend this particularly moronic (sorry, it’s really the only word for it) opinion of his. Let’s see…
The physical evidence of the collapse: This is pretty old stuff, and most of these points have long since been debunked by, you know, engineers and guys like that, rather than liberal arts majors-but we’ll slog through them again.
Anecdotal claims of witnesses talking about the fire being under control: Besides the general problem with witnesses’ reliability, firemen couldn’t even get above the point of impact, so even if the boy could find some legitimate statements (which I’d love to see) they’re not very reliable. Besides, we all can look at the gazillion pictures of the towers and judge for ourselves. I guess nobody told all those people who jumped out the windows that the fires were under control.
Explosions? Great! Did anybody see any explosions prior to the collapse? No? Pictures? Hmm, just bad luck I guess. Oh, some people said they heard explosions. Gee, I’m convinced. People also often think a car backfire is a gunshot. There was a little bit going on at the time, and plenty of chaos, panic, and loud noises. He doesn’t seriously think this is evidence, does he?
“No skyscraper has ever collapsed due to fire.” Now there’s an incredible statement. First of all, very few skyscrapers have collapsed at all, so there’s not a whole lot of data on this kind of thing. But, in any case, is it true? I don’t have a clue, because it sure didn’t happen on 9-11. How about skyscrapers collapsing due to fires and getting struck by a 160,000lb fully-loaded airliner at 500 mph? Think there might have been structural damage involved? How could the boy write a sentence like that, totaling ignoring this impact? How stupid does he think we are? I’ve seen the exact same sentence appear in the ravings of his fellow moron’s websites, so is he just parroting what he reads without thinking about it? Is that what happens when all you do is talk to people who think like you? Sorry, but the boy’s argument is just incredibly incompetent. But we’ll soldier on.
Melting Steel: He’s got to know that it’s been pointed out countless times (by like, you know, engineers) that steel loses 50% of its strength at 650° F, well within all estimates of the temperatures involved, and can lose as much as 90% of its strength at temperatures of 1,800°, which is the upper estimate of the temperature of the fire. How many times do people have to say this for it to affect these guys’ talking points?
No, the “various phenomena,” such as the dust cloud, (lotta concrete and stuff); debris found away from the building (airliner hits building, building falls down), rate of collapse (once it starts down, the floors underneath don’t slow it down much), symmetrical collapse (I thought there was a lot of debris found away from the building?) do not suggest an controlled demolition. If the boy wants more detailed information, he can give me his specific fevered imaginings about these things, and I’ll point him to the expert who will explain reality.
Building 7: I’ve always wondered what the heck is the deal with Building 7? Did they think Bush and Cheney said, OK, we’ll fly airplanes into the other two to give us some cover, but we’ve just got to take out building 7. It’s just so critical to get that one, we’ll just blow off the painstakingly planned and executed procedures we’ve used so far and just destroy the building even though there’s no apparent reason for it to go-we’ll just say it caught fire. But whatever you do, BUILDING 7 HAS GOT TO GO!… Umm, seven hours after the others.
Does this sound rational to anyone?
The authorities on the scene knew it was going to come down two hours before it did, because there were extensive fires and a huge section of the building had been scooped out of the south side. This collapse was no surprise. They even “pulled” the rescue squad out of the building (does that phrase ring a bell to anyone?) –Funny, the Truthers never show photos of the south side of the building.
Thermite: This is the paranoid delusion of one Prof Steven Jones (no relation). He is currently the laughing stock of the scientific community, and his theory has been conclusively debunked by just about everybody. Check it out if you like. A few points: 1) Thermite doesn’t burn in a directional manner and can’t be used to cut through large vertical objects-like steel columns. 2)The effects of thermite on steel don’t look anything like the “evidence” that Jones points to. 3)There is absolutely no evidence indicating any residue found at the sight is from thermite. Finally, Thermite isn’t an explosive. I thought the whole Truther theory is based on explosions causing the collapse. Which is it? Or do they just throw anything they can think of out there, hoping something will stick?
Oh and what does the boy think is the significance of the pools of molten metal? Remind him to think before he writes..
Oh, look at the time! Gotta go! I’m late for my waterboarding class! I hope to put up the next installment soon.
Well, WEF2 thought I might have been too rough on the boy. Let me rephrase:
HE’S not a moron… It’s the opinions he HAS that are Moronic! (explain it to him, WEF6)
So I have to dive back into the fevered swamp of this Alex Jones’ delusions again? OK, I do it for you, WEF6, because I love you.
Oh, BTW, is conspiracy-boy with you the same boy who was the hero of your post “Annoyed” who refused to wait when you were scared to travel in the storm and basically ignored you while you freaked out? Hmm.. Strike two, slick.
Anyway, where to begin? At the beginning?
OK, Solzhenitsyn’s quote on war and domestic tyranny: Is he saying that every war in every country is only an excuse of domestic tyranny? On both sides? American Revolution, War of 1812, Spanish American War, Civil War, World Wars One and Two? Or was he talking about the wars his country engages in, which, strangely enough, is the Soviet Union, which had him jailed for a good portion of his life? You decide.
This was all of five seconds into the film before I had the opportunity to call BS.
After the credits (we’ll assume they’re truthful, but who knows?) The first sentence talks about our leaders saying the war “may last 100 years — enemy that can’t be defeated–generation after generation–lay down liberty–endless war for global empire.” Our leaders said that? Right. Which ones?
Then a montage of the war in Iraq. Got it. War is not nice. Anything else? Oh yeah, Rumpsfeld gets a big kick out of children dying. Check.
You get the idea. Michael Moore would be proud.
So on we go to how we are controlled by lies and fear, yada, yada, yada, until we get to 9-11. It claims that 90% of Americans believe there is a US coverup of 9-11 and a “large part” of those think it was an “inside job”. The poll shown is a CNN internet QuickVote? Can we stop now, or haven’t we embarrassed ourselves enough? No? OK.
Hey, where’s the boy’s two best pieces of evidence for MIHOP /LIHOP? You know, the ones that really convinced him.
Back to the film. Now we get to the point, I guess. They’re going to show us “government-sponsored terror”. Got it? Examples of it that aren’t even contested, but openly admitted. Government. Sponsored. Terror. The only relevant question–Can they deliver?
But, immediately, the guy starts talking about false flag operations, saying, (in a very serious voice) “There are literally 100’s of examples of government-sponsored terrorism in modern history, or what are known as “false flag operations”.
Except the above statement is a bald-faced lie. False flag operations aren’t terrorism. He even defines the term: covert operations pretending to be from a different country or organization. Nothing about terrorism at all. Deceptive, yes; not very gentlemanly, I suppose; in some cases even a violation of the rules of war. But unless it involves an actual terrorist act, it has absolutely nothing to do with terrorism. Heck, I’ve even been involved on a few of these back in the day. Uh-uh, I guess that means there’s a “Peoples Tribunal” in my future.
Now for the examples:
1) The Reichstag Fire — Sorry, not a “fact,” no matter how many times they put the word on the screen. This has been debated ad nauseum since the incident, and historians still can’t agree. I’d go so far as to say that most believe that Hitler took advantage of the act of the communist (?) perpetrator to seize power, rather than planning it himself. Still, he could have done it. But this is definitely “contested,” and it has never been “openly admitted.” 0 for 1
2) He does a tad better with the second one, about the Nazi claim that the Poles attacked them first to start the war. That story is at least more or less true, but it wasn’t a false flag operation. The Germans didn’t conduct covert operations while pretending to be somebody else; they didn’t conduct any operations at all. They just attempted a simple hoax, trying to convince the world that the Poles did something that they really didn’t. It was actually pretty half-hearted and convinced no one. So the Nazis come out of this section pretty much smelling like a rose? No uncontested, openly-admitted, state-sponsored terrorism here. 0 for 2. C’mon Alex, when you can’t even pin these guys with the heinous crimes you’re accusing the West with, it time to go home.
3) Operation Ajax– I’m not in the mood to detail how the description of the events leave out a whole bunch of relevant information. Let’s just cut to the terrorism that’s mentioned over and over, along with the “declassified documents”. They pull out several words from these documents: “Propaganda,” “Demonstrations,” “Bribery,” “False Flag,” “Agents of Influence.” Please. Where, oh where is the terrorism we keep hearing about? Heck “bribery” is the only one that’s even manifestly illegal, much less a terrorist act!
Then when they talk about actual violent acts, there are no more words coming out of “declassified documents,” just unsupported claims on the screen with nothing but stock photos in the background. Where are the uncontested, openly admitted, state-sponsored terrorist acts? Wait! Afterwards, they used the same techniques in other countries! Oh no! Not demonstrations,bribery, and propaganda?! 0 for 3
4) I must admit I don’t know much about the Operation Gladio, reportedly part of an Allied/NATO “stay behind” units that would operate in Soviet-occupied territory in case of a European war. The worst possible reading of this is that NATO sponsored and provided arms to some para-military, staunchly anti-communist, groups that may have at some point attacked domestic communist groups with these weapons. Even if such things happened, there’s no evidence that these were “state-sponsored” actions, and certainly none of these reports are uncontested, or openly admitted. If you look at the newspaper stories shown in the background, they talk about revealing the existence of the groups, or they talk about a bombing, never both elements together. The good thing about this Alex guy is that he is so over the top, you know if there was anything worse, he’d be showing it to you. In this case, he ain’t showing squat, and he clearly has nothing. 0 for 4
One thing’s for sure, though. The statement that there were hundreds of bombings carried out by western intelligence agencies and NATO is an out-and-out lie.
In sum, the video promised examples of uncontested, openly admitted government-sponsored terrorist acts, and they never came close to giving us even one. If we take out the uncontested and openly-admitted requirement, They’ve got one possible incident, by the Nazis for God’s sake, and maybe another weak, indeterminate case, possibly by a rogue right-wing group unwisely supplied at some point by NATO in the defense of Europe.
By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth, can I quit now? I made it through ten whole minutes of this drek, and I think I need a shower.
But Wait!!
I see now that this Alex guy in the video is none other than the twink that runs Prison Planet! The last time I heard about that site was when it ran that big exposé about the government operating extensive concentration camps in the southwest! You mean I spent some of my precious time on this earth debunking Prison Planet?! This is a website that’s even an embarrassment to your normal leftist loons because it makes them looks so bad!
Well WEF6, I hope you appreciated the lengths I went for you here. You can tell me how the boy responds to the cold light of truth. I mean, I hope to get some entertainment value out of this.
I finally broke down and signed on. I hope it wasn’t a mistake. I have a visceral aversion to pasting my personal information on a billboard to the world.
But WEF2 has it and she gets to hear lots more from the family than I do through it, so I felt I was missing out on something.
I listed all the WEFers as my “friends” so I understand that you now have to accept my invitation to be my “friend”… I don’t like this already.
I see how this can get out of hand. Looking at my account , I see the category “Friends” and underneath this the following appears: “0 friends”. Clearly I can understand where that would not be conducive to a healthy level of self-esteem.
Even more depressing is the realization that there is probably a good chunk of an entire generation that looks at their Facebook page and sees “627 friends”, and thinks with great satisfaction “Oh boy, I have 627 friends!”
Um… No, you don’t. Now go outside and find up a pick-up basketball game to join or something.
You know, in 1939 Heinlein wrote about a “United Europe” In For Us, The Living. Now this Europe was a monarchy as opposed to a dictatorship under the guise of democracy but it’s close enough so that I’m kinda, sorta waiting for the thirty years of war that will demolish the majority of the population . . .
That said, my SuperHuman ability to be amused by the parallels between real life and Sci-Fi have led me to want to write a piece about the ways in which the EU resembles dystopian fictional societies. I don’t really want to use obvious ones like 1984 - you know with the blocs that will be perpetually be at war with each other once formed - ominous, huh?
While I am sure that my Sci-Fi expertise will allow me to write said piece, I am more sure that it will be super awesome with WilderSciFi knowledge backing it up. Any books that remind you of the EU?
Long awaited SPORE game shows signs of online life! Apparently the creators of this new god-live game in the tradition of the Sims and CivNet is allowing users to create creatures online before the games release on Sept 7th. Furthermore, they’ll be stealing users’ ideas to help populate the world before release.
On one hand this is kinda lame, they’re using users for free instead of hiring developers. On the other hand, WEF4 thinks it would be super awesome to find her homemade character already in SPORE world when she gets there
You’ll notice that this is filed under family duty. This is no accident. I fully expect you all to have WilderSporeBabies populating SporeWorld in September . . .
If I come over to your house at 2:50pm, and you are all asleep, I reserve the right to call you ‘Zombies’. Maybe we should re-name the WEF the WEZzzzzzz.
Recently I referred to this object as, “A Monument to Our Children.” At the time I wondered if I was being too subtle. Of course, it’s all about deciding to never grow up.
Lately several stories of WEF financial irresponsibility have come to light. If fact, it recently cost us more than $500 to cover one of you. I understand it is easy these days to take the easy path and spend money you don’t have or blow off some bills, but it will ALWAYS catch up with you. Mummy and Daddy are not here to pay for it anytime you decide that staying within your budget is just no fun. Jobs are really handy things to have, and it’s even better to get one BEFORE you spend the money.
Also, WEF2 hasn’t gotten from some of you the information she needs to provide you with your FREE TICKET to Turkey in August, despite telling you that we needed to make arrangements early to keep costs reasonable. Please contact her by phone and/or e-mail within the next day or so to see if she needs anything you haven’t yet given her and to reconfirm your plans for the Summer.
(This may seem a little impersonal for wexforce, but I wrote it for a larger audience, as part of my reflections on life. I hope all is well, family, and can’t wait to see you again. Life is very good to me here.)
Over the past three days, I’ve had my 1000% daily recommended dose of ‘Pope’: waving “hi” and “bye” at the National Shrine, attending the mass at Nationals Stadium, reading his flurry of speeches/addresses/homilies over and over again, and most importantly - praying that the Holy Spirit will open my heart to learning from our Church and its leader. But I wasn’t quite prepared for the opening salvo of our Holy Spirit, coming in the Pope’s words at the White House:
“Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience — almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad.”
These words crushed me.
How could the Pope repeat United States propaganda, and express admiration for US bloodshed? I racked my mind for ways to interpret his words in another way, but I couldn’t. Not in that context. Not at the White House with the President standing next to him. Not as the Iraq war rages on. The Pope meant what he said, but not as propaganda. He spoke sincerely. He marvels at American monuments and sees those who “sacrificed their lives defense of freedom”. Pope Benedict looks at our country and sees . . . goodness. When I look at our country, I see . . . evil. I want the Pope to condemn war and abortion, not to call our country ‘great’ and ‘religious’. I want brimstone and fire and words of fury! But from the mouth and heart of our Pope come nothing but goodness.
I have so much to learn.
After a great deal of reflection and prayer, my heart has moved, my neck has bent. I have seen something startling: we live in a society where “defense of life” and “nonviolence” are mostly mutually exclusive, and because the defense of life must take priority over a commitment to nonviolence, most Christians are duty-bound to defend life with the least amount of violence possible.
Did I just write that? I did. But only after three days of gut-wrenching prayer!
I am not suggesting that violence is good, or even Christian. I am suggesting, however, that the circumstances of our society require us to choose defense of life over nonviolence. In other words - if the only way I can defend life is to use a gun, then I must use a gun.
Those familiar with nonviolence and theology will hear echos of the “fallen world” defense of violence in my thoughts. But here’s where I depart from such thinking: Jesus Christ has redeemed the world, and has sent us into the world with his Holy Spirit. This fallen world can be transformed. And we are the ones called to transform it.
But at present, our fallen society has few practical, concrete, and readily available means of nonviolently defending life. Boycotts will not save us from a bullet to the head. Strikes will not stop robbers from breaking into our homes. Nonviolent communication will not stop those who do not wish to communicate. We have no nonviolent alternatives to police forces or militaries. We have no nonviolent alternatives to courts and prisons. Nonviolent means of defending life are mostly confined to idealistic exhortations to “love your enemy and trust in God’s grace to work miracles.”
Nonviolent means of defending life must be reasonable, passing the common sense rule, being as readily available as the gun in Target, or a call to 911. To criticize those who use violence to defend life when there are no other ways to defend life is . . . well . . . possibly scandalous.
To summarize, Gandhi said:
I have been repeating over and over again that he who cannot protect himself or his nearest and dearest or their honour by nonviolently facing death may and ought to do so by violently dealing with the oppressor. He who can do neither of the two is a burden. He has no business to be the head of a family. He must either hide himself, or must rest content to live for ever in helplessness and be prepared to crawl like a worm at the bidding of a bully.
Instead of offering concrete ways of defending home and family without violence, I have condemned all violence in every situation. I forced people into a corner - demanding they renounce violence while giving them nothing in its place - asking them to be “like a worm at the bidding of a bully.” I have fought to show violence as wrong in every situation, but never considered that violence could be wrong yet relatively legitimate. In a not-yet-redeemed society, the evil of violence may be the least wrong choice, and our duty.
My advocacy of nonviolence has consisted in saying, “no, no, no!” to America. But our Pope tells us that Christianity is not “no, no, no,” but is “yes, yes, yes!” All his words and actions reverberate within the great “yes” that is Christ our hope. Not one word of “no” passed through his lips over the past three days, even as he spoke of evil. Instead, he proposed solutions aimed at transforming our society into one of peace and justice - a world where men and women can finally embrace nonviolence, “a world where it is easier to be good.”
It is time for me to do the same.
It’s amazing what a Pope can do. I feel like I’ve been through a war, and that this little reflection is but a brief respite. But thank God, and praise Him. He is GOOD.
Updated clarification: I don’t feel like I’ve turned 180, even if it might seem that way from what I’ve written. The development of my thought isn’t a 180 turn. It’s more like a 360. I am not saying that bloodshed will always be necessary. Just the opposite.
I believe in nonviolence. I hate violence. I think it is evil. But I understand now why it is legitimate for many (if not most) in our not-yet-redeemed society, where violence is the only option (or so it seems). It puts the burden on me, and others who have taken to heart “love of enemy” as the nucleus of the Christian revolution, to help build a society where nonviolence is available as a concrete solution to the fight against evil. More than anything, I feel free to pursue and promote nonviolence in ways I never could before.
I’m sure you’re all waiting with bated breath for news of this season’s 2 year old debuts! All 41 horses were successfully entered in races for tomorrow…so, the wait shall soon be over!
