The River

Monday, September 24, 2007


Before the dust settled [on 9/11], it was generally agreed that this was a watershed event that would change the world, as only wars and acts of war can do. It seemed a monstrous piece of fiction to me, and all that has happened since, this war on terrorism and its political baggage, seems like a theater of the macabre, the fantasy of a deranged, paranoid mind. Had I been living in New York on 9/11, and been one of those fleeing from the billowing dust tsunami of the collapsing towers, I’d have been outraged like other New Yorkers, but for different reasons. What happened was unbelievable because it shouldn’t have happened, not in the most guarded and controlled airspace in the world, not in the most sophisticated national security state in the world!

The subsequent explanations are not plausible. One can’t deny the fact, and one mourns the loss of so many lives, but mourning alone will not satisfy our debt to those who died. We do owe them a debt. It is a debt to ourselves. Tears, grief, anger, righteous retribution, flag waving, and monuments are not enough. The very least that we owe them, as if they were our own brothers and sisters, our own children and parents, is a thorough, nay, a ruthless examination of the reasons why this event, which shouldn’t have happened, did happen. No one has lost his job for dereliction of duty. No head in any high place has rolled on account of security failures on 9/11. It is as though we, as a nation, hold our government blameless just because it is our government, which is like holding the husband blameless for the murder of the wife just because he is the husband. No serious examination of the causes of this massacre of the innocent has yet taken place more than two years after the fact, and this event has since become the justification for our slaughter of many more innocents in other lands, as well as the abrogation of our sacred Constitutional rights.

And. Barbara Kingsolver, angelic environmentalist, bears some responsibility for this state of affairs, as do all those members of the American intelligentsia who were struck dumb by the shock & awe of 9/11 and can no longer think. Her sorrow, her outrage over the deaths of the innocent seem hollow. She is not willing to undertake the due diligence required, unwilling to do so much as question, let alone challenge, the official explanation, in spite of the fact that there are many glaring inconsistencies and contradictions in this official story, in spite of the fact that George Bush & Co., Inc, will not answer questions publicly and have done all they can to prevent the 9/11 Commission from coming into being. The lack of transparency in our government and the lack of accountability from our leaders is an outrage that goes unchallenged and will certainly not be addressed by any report the Warren Commission, oops!, I mean, the 9/11 Commission offers the public. The insanity of our time is indeed contagious if it can infect the minds of even our self-styled dissidents and holy roller environmentalists and render them intellectually paralyzed. Grief is no excuse.

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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

This just in

The demolition industry will no longer induce symmetrical collapse with symmetrically placed charges.

Sept. 11, 2001 illustrated conclusively that a bomb placed near the top of the building so that it creates the most damage in a perimeter area (in lieu of a 767), combined with dowsing and igniting some office furniture is a completely effective means of demolition.

This is not without controversy. There is a faction within the community that argues that September 11th actually illustrated a better and more cost-effective means of demolition. They point to World Trade Center Building 7, and conclude that fires on several random floors using whatever is already available within the building for fuel, plus, of course, a sizable gash in one corner of the building and a few other minor and random attacks upon the building's exterior is sufficient to cause the free-fall, global, symmetrical destruction for which the industry is justly famous.

Part of the controversy stems from the fact that many of the demolition professionals were not aware that the terrorist incident had caused not two, but three buildings to fall into their footprints. They were informed by the breakaway faction that yes, not only was WTC 7 a victim of the vicious assault, it had also been completely rebuilt, but since the media has treated the building's global, symmetrical and free-fall collapse as if it did not happen, it has also treated the achievement of standing up to the attack by rebuilding a 52-story skyscraper as if it hasn't happened, when, indeed, the building opened its doors for business in 2006, a proud symbol of American resolve.



The original WTC 7 was replaced with the new 7 World Trade Center, which opened in 2006. Both buildings were developed by Larry Silverstein who holds a ground lease for the site from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. -- Wikipedia

Student at a Kerry event is Tasered

Naïve Americans who think they live in a free society should watch this video filmed by students at a John Kerry speech September 17, Constitution Day, at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

At the conclusion of Kerry’s speech, Andrew Meyer, a 21-year old journalism student was selected by Senator Kerry to ask a question. Meyer held up a copy of BBC investigative reporter Greg Palast’s book, Armed Madhouse, and asked if Kerry was aware that Palast’s investigations determined that Kerry had actually won the election. Why, Meyer asked, had Kerry conceded the election so quickly when there were so many obvious examples of vote fraud? Why, Meyer, went on to ask, was Kerry refusing to consider Bush’s impeachment when Bush was about to initiate another act of military aggression, this time against Iran?

At this point the public’s protectors—the police—decided that Meyer had said too much. They grabbed Meyer and began dragging him off. Meyer said repeatedly, “I have done nothing wrong,” which under our laws he had not. He threatened no one and assaulted no one.

But the police decided that Meyer, an American citizen, had no right to free speech and no constitutional protection. They threw him to the floor and tasered him right in front of Senator Kerry and the large student audience, who captured on video the unquestionable act of police brutality. Meyer was carted off and jailed on a phony charge of “disrupting a public event.”

-- Paul Craig Roberts, "America is No More", via Information Clearinghouse


In contrast to Paul Craig Roberts and Information Clearinghouse, the mainstream media hates you. There is no other explanation for the coverage of the police brutality in Florida. These businesses love their money masters -- the large corporations that buy the expensive ads -- and hate their audience -- me, you, us.

In news reports, such as the one from the Boston Globe this morning, there is more sympathy for John Kerry than for Andrew Meyer.

"I was trying not to have a riot started," he [Kerry] said. "I thought it was important to keep the place contained, I guess would be the best way to put it."

...

"He barged to the head of the line," Kerry said. "This wasn't someone who waited patiently for his turn and asked a question."


There is no clearer evidence, as if it was needed, that the media functions only to cover up, obscure, and even ridicule the legitimate concerns and questions of the people, in an effort to cover the ass of its corrupt clientele in business and government.

Newspaper reports, such as "Aiming to Agitate, Florida Student Got a Shock" in the Washington Post, find more "controversy" in the person of Andrew Meyer than in the horrifying behavior of the police. He was trying to ask a question even after Q&A time was up! He set up someone to film him! The publicity seeker was aiming to agitate! Poor John Kerry just wanted to prevent a riot! His questions, they were, they were, well golly gee, people just don't say things like that. Everyone knows that! Thank goodness he was tased. Don't tase me bro! LOL!

And that's just the attitude from the print media. In a moment of fatigue and weakness, I actually turned on cable TeeVee last night. Just for a moment, but that was enough. O'Reilly had Dennis Miller on. It was pathetic, and chilling. The two were beside themselves with pleasure at the thought of one of the the great unwashed being disciplined by police. They smiled and joked their way through their discussion of the incident. It was funny! It was on youtube! Let's download it and make it a screensaver! (Dennis Miller actually said he would like to do that.)

I switched over to CNN and Nancy Grace. While Ms. Grace attempted to keep intact her image of suburban mom bewildered at the crazy things people do, one couldn't help but notice that she too was pleased with the police action. Again, the focus was on the odd young man, an obvious publicity seeker, who, of course, needed to be manhandled lest he start a riot.

But what can we expect when the mainstream media has cheered the police goons of Bush, also known as the military plus mercenaries such as Blackwater employees, as they have turned Iraq into a slaughterhouse in pursuit of colonial conquest. More than one million excess deaths in Iraq since the invasion. For the media, that's a story of the odd inability of Iraqis to appreciate our gift of "democracy" and their regrettable penchant for "sectarian violence."

Kill your television, if you haven't already. I know it's a bumper sticker slogan, but it is one of the most positive things you can do. It's a medium filled with hatred and disdain for people, and worship for authority. If your experience is anything like mine, you will begin to see and feel a different world. And you will look back with horror and disgust.

You'll look at the headline above, "Student at Kerry Event is Tased," and you'll know the writers have already begun to bury the truth. By using the passive voice, the headline writer has removed the police from the incident, shifting the focus of guilt away from the authorities. The student "is Tased," not, "Police Tase Student at Kerry Event."

Can we blame the working stiff who wrote that? Yes, but we should realize, you can't have such a job unless you "Support the Troops!"

UPDATE:

Hell yeah!

I've never had the pleasure of watching our Law Enforcement Professionals take down one of these stupid liberal hippie disruptors, but I'll be damned if there isn't some primo footage on YouTube to show just how it's done right. Watch how this stupid liberal hippie tries to get Senator John Kerry to answer a question about that supposedly "mysterious" group that Senator Kerry belonged to at Yale, that "Skulls and Bone" group that the great George W Bush belonged to before he became President of our great nation. I don't get what the hippie hates about Skulls and Bone. That Skulls and Bone group has given us a whole lot of Presidents and other dedicated, intelligent public servants like Cabinet Officers and Presidential Advisers. Obviously they're doing something right.

But I guess whale-saving Mr No Nukes Liberal Hippie Guy doesn't like Skulls and Bone for some reason. Maybe he had a bad Halloween one year and got skared by someone in a skeleton suit or something. Who knows. Maybe it's just cause he's a stupid hippie liberal and he doesn't get that the reality is our country is in great shape, it's Number One on Earth, and Skulls and Bone helped us get that way.

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Friday, September 14, 2007


9/11 Explains the Impotence of the Anti-war Movement

By Paul Craig Roberts

09/14/07 "ICH" -- - -The anti-war movement has proven impotent to stop the war in Iraq despite the fact that the war was initiated on the basis of lies and deception. The anti-war movement stands helpless to prevent President Bush from attacking Iran or any other country that he might demonize for harboring a future 9/11 threat.

September 11 enabled Bush to take America to war and to keep America at war even though the government’s explanation of the events of September 11 is mired in controversy and disbelieved by a large percentage of the population.

Although the news media’s investigative arm has withered, other entities and individuals continue to struggle with unanswered questions. In the six years since 9/11, numerous distinguished scientists, engineers, architects, intelligence officers, pilots, military officers, air traffic controllers, and foreign dignitaries have raised serious and unanswered questions about the official story line.

Recognition of the inadequacy of the official account of the collapse of the twin towers is widespread in the scientific and technical community. One of the most glaring failures in the official account is the lack of an explanation of the near free-fall speed at which the buildings failed once the process began. Some scientists and engineers have attempted to bolster the official account with explanations of how this might happen in the absence of explosives used in controlled demolitions.

One recent example is the work of Cambridge University engineer, Dr. Keith Seffen, published in the Journal of Engineering Mechanics and reported by the BBC on September 11, 2007. Dr. Seffen constructed a mathematical model that concludes that once initiation of failure had begun, progressive collapse of the structures would be rapid.

Another example is the work of retired government scientist Dr. Manuel Garcia, commissioned by CounterPunch to fill the gaping void in the official report. Garcia concludes, as does Seffen, that explosives are not necessary to explain the near free-fall speed at which the WTC buildings collapsed.

Seffen and Garcia each offer a speculative hypothesis about what could have happened. Their accounts are not definitive explanations based on evidence of what did happen. [my emphasis]


For evidence of what did happen, you need only watch the video "September 11th Revisited." It begins with mainstream media and other video footage from the scene on the day of the attacks. Interestingly, observers, including newscasters, immediately conclude that something other than planes brought the towers down (to say nothing of WTC7's swift implosion). What, they don't know. Many heard explosions, and video evidence also points to explosions.

We have been sold a fairytale. We accept it because it's easier.

Here's the video. It's not easy viewing.



Movie website: www.911revisited.com

Official logo for people with office jobs



No truth to the rumor that I was used as the model for this. For one thing, I don't sit up that straight.

Anyone want to bet that this was created during office hours on a company PC?

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Sept15 button

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Chris Floyd on 9/11

A commenter [yours truly] asked recently about my take on 9/11. In light of the anniversary (which I noted here; see also Jon Schwarz's piece here), I thought this might be a good time to set out, very briefly, what I think on the subject.

It's really quite simple and, to my mind, self-evident: the "official" story of what happened on September 11, 2001, is not a complete or accurate account. (We should of course speak of official stories, because there have been several shifting, contradictory scenarios offered by the great and the good in the six years since the attack. However, for clarity's sake, we'll stick with the singular for now, and will assume -- as the entire media and political establishment does -- that the report by the Hamilton-Kean 9/11 Commission is the final "official" version.)

To put it plainly, this official account is riddled with holes: unexplained inconsistencies, unprecedented occurrences, astounding coincidences, mysterious lacunae, and deliberate obfuscations. It is, in fact, a more improbable "conspiracy theory" than many of those suggested by the much-derided "9/11 truth movement."[my emphasis]


Any writer who doesn't show the respect for activists and writers who push for greater awareness of the 9/11 coverup, any writer who doesn't live up to the standard of decency that Mr. Floyd has set here, has revealed serious flaws in political analysis, if not in character. I'm thinking in particular of Alexander Cockburn, George Monbiot, and Matt Taibbi.

More from Chris:

The profound failures of the Commission report have been amply detailed elsewhere by many hands. For our purposes here it is enough to say that it was not a thorough, independent investigation in any way, and that such a probe is still needed: a genuinely independent, wide-ranging, in-depth investigation, with full subpoena powers and full access to all material, whatever its security classification -- and testimony under oath, and under pain of perjury, from every relevant official, including the president and the vice president.

Let us have such a probe, and let the chips fall where they may....

But you and I know that there will never be an investigation like that into 9/11. Regardless of what it might or might not reveal about the origin of the attacks, such a free-wheeling, fully-powered probe would inevitably uncover other vast swamps of bloody murk in the shadowlands where state power, criminal gangs, covert ops and financial interests mingle, merge, squabble and seethe. It would, in other words, open a window into the real way that the world works, into the bestial realm of raw power and savage greed that churns on behind the facade of public events and the trappings of state.

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I agree there will not be any satisfactory answers from officialdom. No open windows and fresh air from that squalid sector. But we can open that window ourselves. Isn't that what dissident writers do? Just as William Blum has documented the war crimes of U.S. imperialism to open windows and eyes, so too does the 9/11 truth movement seek to show that these crimes are not limited to misadventures in other countries. If we have truly seen enough, we need to say so.

Monday, September 10, 2007

A curmudgeon looks at 9/11

What’s up World’s Oldest?

I am. Barely. Wish I had one of those computers that can make you a latte.

Haha.

No, seriously kid. I distinctly remember reading an article in Wired that said the internet was going to put coffee shops out of business. And those commercials on television that said all work is accomplished via a laptop. Point, click and it’s done. Even more efficiently than ever before. It’s what we professionals call an enterprise-level solution.

Yeah, I guess media does like to hype things a bit.

Kid, you have no idea. This is where the movers and shakers of our world live. In the hype zone. The hyper-real zone. It’s where they continually troll for enterprise-level solutions.

What the hell even is that?

Ah kid. You’ll never get out of retail asking questions like that. Let’s see…an enterprise-level solution is one that achieves efficiency. Since the machine age started, efficiency has become the god that can either elevate you to become one with it, which is what we call C-level, or can banish you for insufficient faith, in which case you can work retail, corporate functionary, or, well it goes very far down from there, kid, and I don’t think I should get into it, because you’re young. You mind steaming the milk while I pull these shots?

Sure. What about this espresso machine? Is it an enterprise-level solution?

I’m sure there are powerpoint presentations from DeLonghi that say so.

So what’s wrong with this coffee maker?

Not a godammed thing, kid. Look at these three beyootiful shots. But…ahhhhhhh, but, but, but. The buts will kill you kid. So don’t smoke. But seriously, this machine was made by slave labor in China, and that is where the enterprise-level part of the solution comes in. The “enterprise” in the equation is like a shark with a single-minded focus on food. Food is the holy grail, which is, as said, efficiency. Efficiency scripture states that God is pleased when revenues increase, as they certainly do when you pay subsistence wages to your workers.

Does DeLonghi say “slave labor in China” on their powerpoints?

Aha. Good one, kid. You ask great questions.

Well, I just wanna know.

You’re golden, kid. Really. You know they couldn’t say that. It’s what Orwell called doublethink. The power of language. They use euphemisms to such a degree that they don’t even see it that way. Part of it, I think, is that God is so obviously pleased because they are so obviously wealthy. Or is it they are so wealthy because God is so obviously pleased? Same difference. When they write something like, “third quarter revenues increased 30 percent due to off-shore production strategies” their imagination conjures up nothing more than an excel spreadsheet, or a bar graph, a pie chart, or your proverbial rising trend line.

And yet, we both know that slave labor is driving profits. See, I’m not that naïve.

Sure kid. I know. But you probably want to take it easy. Party, get laid. All that. Don’t be reading "The Culture of Make Believe" by Derek Jensen. There’s a time and place for everything.

You sound like a mystic to me.

I am kid. I surely am. It’s the only way to be, especially at my age. Unfortunately, millions are sold a profoundly empty brand of mysticism, as I was sayin.

Who sells it? The illumanti?

I think there are smart, soulless, extremely wealthy people who understand this stuff, this machine that feeds on souls, and like it. I don’t like labeling them. Then some smart-ass will say, “ping, I just burst your illumanti balloon, whatcha gonna say now?” Or, “that’s stoopid. Prove it to me.”

Who sells the line of mystical BS then?

We do, of course.

We do..

Yes. The "War on Terrorism" is a great example. It's the ultimate enterprise-level solution, a great money-maker. And we go along with it. We write the mainstream news articles. We repeat the phrase “war on terrorism” over and over. Every once in a while, someone says, “you can’t have a war on a political tactic” and people go, “yeah, that’s right!” and then they hear ‘war on terror” repeated ad infinitum and go back to sleep. For a minute or two, they can almost see the whole disgusting reality behind the phrase – 1 million Iraqi deaths caused by the invasion, DU poisoning, millions of refugees, completely shattered infrastructure – but then they see the holy graph with America’s safety and prosperity going up and the enemy’s line going down. Double plus good. Goodness upheld, evil confronted. God’s grace ensured.

Why?

I dunno. Why do people insist the purveyors of the official 9/11 conspiracy theory are the one’s who have asked all the pertinent questions and it’s the truthers, as they’re called, that are crazy for the questions they raise? Because just as “war on terrorism” is repeated relentlessly, 9/11 as a jihad martyrdom operation – the work of Al Qaeda -- is repeated over, and over, and over. A “reality” has been established. Questioning its validity makes you odd, crazy, a nutjob, etc. Where is the refuge then? Where is the safety? Where is God’s grace?

So people are scared to confront 9/11 truth?

Many are. Many have spent so much of their life trying to fit in socially, out of fear of ostracism, that they’re afraid to voice their doubts, even to themselves, let alone in public. Then it’s them against the world. Nevermind that the Twin Towers obviously exploded, and there is no possible explanation for WTC-7 except demolition. Truth is dead, and when you see that, you have no ground to stand on. But, and here’s the corner you find yourself painted into, you can’t go back either. Because to stand with the horrible simulacrum of reality that accepts monstrous crimes as the due course of civilization, is also impossible.

But how can you know that?

I..uh..I speak from experience, kid.

You know 9/11 was an inside job?

Yes.

So your own government is more chilling than a Bin Laden video could ever hope to be?



Maybe you should write, kid. You nailed it, there. It is indeed. I’ve known for a long time. No evidence. I don’t need it. It has always been obvious to me. Perhaps that fact freaks me out more than anything else, because it’s so at odds, ya know? I’m a man without a country, and I have been for six years.

Yet I’ve heard you say you want others to know it too. That seems almost sadistic.

Maybe so. It’s kind of a dark period we find ourselves in, don’t you think? How does one keep on the light side? 9/11 is like some kind of satanic initiation. You can’t help but feel contaminated by it. Yet look at Iraq, or Vietnam, or Rwanda, or the world wars. Or third world starvation, modern slavery. The Roman empire. It’s not like slaughter was invented six years ago. We’re living through it. We can’t always make sense of it.

I know that’s right.

Yet something’s gotta pull ya through. I just can’t shake the feeling that 9/11 simultaneously makes that search essential and robs you of your necessary supports.

You’re positing a diabolical mastermind.

Am I? I dunno. I know there is an agenda. I know 9/11 fits with it. I know our world is being led, herded in a direction through brutality. I know Bush and Bin Laden are two of the biggest frauds ever foisted on humanity. Yet millions, even billions, play along. Can you imagine how that must feel to the people behind these cardboard cutouts, the people who I believe are one and the same? This is a new order of power. I would dearly love to go back, ya know. Innocence. I know it's not gone from this world, but it's so fragile...

You ok?

Yeah. I’m aged, but I’m not old. I’ve still got my rock band, Stupidity of Hubris. We’re thinking of changing the name though. Gotta stay fresh. What do you think of Google News Juxtaposition?

It’s alright. You don’t worry about people making fun of you, being the World’s Oldest Curmudgeon and all, and playing rock n roll?

Nah. I don’t do anything for them, whoever “they” are. I do it for my friends. That’s what gets me through. Besides, I’m an American. It’s my music. Might as well claim it. It's the one thing I've found that can hold it all. Hold it together...

Fuck, Mudge.

I know. Why don't you pull us another latte while I crank up Todd Snider's latest?

Can't dance and it ain't Christmas.

No, it's fucking September 11th. But we can dance.

Friday, September 07, 2007


Zogby Poll: 51% of Americans Want Congress to Probe Bush/Cheney Regarding 9/11 Attacks; Over 30% Seek Immediate Impeachment

67% also fault 9/11 Commission for not investigating the anomalous collapse of World Trade Center 7

Kansas City, MO (Zogby International) September 6, 2007 - As America nears the sixth anniversary of the world-churning events of September 11, 2001, a new Zogby International poll finds a majority of Americans still await a Congressional investigation of President Bush's and Vice President Cheney's actions before, during and after the 9/11 attacks. Over 30% also believe Bush and/or Cheney should be immediately impeached by the House of Representatives.

The 911truth.org–sponsored poll also found that over two-thirds of Americans say the 9/11 Commission should have investigated the still unexplained collapse of the 47-story World Trade Center Building 7 at 5:20 p.m. on September 11, 2001.

WTC 7 housed the mayor's emergency bunker and offices of the SEC, IRS, CIA and Secret Service and was not hit by any planes but still completely collapsed into its own footprint nearly eight hours after the Twin Tower attacks. FEMA did not explain this collapse, the 911 Commission ignored it, and the promised official study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is now 2 years overdue.

...more at The Brad Blog