Nick Gillespie | March 22, 2006
Via Arts & Letters Daily comes this New York mag article that makes it clear that Charlie Sheen--clearly the Lionel Barrymore of the Estevez acting dynasty--has lots of company in questioning whether 9/11 ever happened (in fact, did the World Trade Center even ever exist before it was supposedly destroyed? look at old maps of Manhattan and you won't even see the Twin Towers listed!).
New York's "The Ground Zero Grassy Knoll" helps you determine your "HOP level"--do you think the feds "let it happen on purpose" or "made it happen on purpose"--and introduces you to Father Frank Morales, a whackjob Catholic priest who makes child-molesting clergy seem normal and who is fond of repeating the dark truth that "Bush and bin Laden have the same banker."
Whole story--including a handy-dandy summary of the major conspiracy theories (e.g. Mossad did it; oilmen did it; Bush and Cheney did it; shrinks did it)--here.
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Personally I think it was Tom Cruise and the
Scientologists.
actually, the scientologists think the psychiatrists did it.
you can't argue against the theorists, because that means you're
one of the unthinking sheeple who accept the official explanation.
that's the key here. these people will accept any alternative
theory, no matter how incredible, just to avoid accepting an
explanation by the administration or the government.
Father Frank Morales, a whackjob Catholic priest who makes
child-molesting clergy seem normal
Hmmm... a whackjob Catholic who believes the government did 9/11...
have we finally discovered crimethink's secret identity?
Gawd, I thought of the whole Bush-was-part-of-it/did-it/whatever
conspiracy thing the very same evening after the attacks.
I also remeber reading stuff about Bush and Bin Laden having been
at Harvard at the same time (not the same time as the attacks
though :). *L*
Then there was the report of a UFO over the capital that day or the
day after...and everyone was seeing cropdusters spraying anthrax
over everybody...and...
...and I briefly thought the towers fell from the bottom the first
time I saw them go down and thought "was there a bomb in the
parking structure?" And then figured it fell from the top down
because of the fire.
It's not hard to have crazy thoughts go through my head at first
but I surely thought that stuff should have been exhausted by a
year afterwards at most.
Always craving attention, they are. No doubt because of rampant
movie "piracy".
Conspiracies are real, and are as old as mankind. But not
everything happens because of a conspiracy, and not all conspiracy
theories hold water. Where can we see conspiracy theories
considered and ELIMINATED by appeal to facts and logic? The
scientific study of conspiracy theories should winnow the field by
systematically debunking those theories that are contradicted by
facts, logic, and common sense, leaving us with candidates that
could be true, which we should investigate, in hopes of finding
evidence to corroborate or contradict them.
Dismissing all "conspiracy theories" as "whacked out" is as silly
as jumping to the conclusion that a conspiracy "must have been"
behind any particular event. Can we travel the middle road and
perhaps find some truth?
Nick Gillespie,
So, mentioning once that someone told you that Bush and bin Laden
have the same bank counts as being "fond of repeating" it, and
makes you weirder than a child molester?
Aren't Bin Laden and Bush both members of the trialateral commission? If not, I am sure their banker probably is.
Here's my conspiracy theory: 19 guys with boxcutters using funds
from various shady Middle Eastern men hatch a plan that nobody in
the US defense establishment had ever even considered by hijacking
airplanes and flying them into buildings. This conspiracy involves
thousands of individuals throughout the world and the governments
of at least two countries.
Yes, it's nutty, but the government endorses this theory and they
never lie.
If anyone with any amount of knowlege of how things work in this country, and this world, can look at what happened and really study the evidence and NOT think that there was at least some U.S complicancy,they have got there head up Toby Keiths red white and blue arse. The facts are that this government has lied and covered up so much for so long that it is almost impossible to know the true history of this nation. Anyone know about the CIA coup in Iran in 1953? no! not until 3 years ago! So any half wit that thinks this rogue state we live in is innocent of horrendous crimes in the past and present (legal torture) needs to do just a small amount of research to see that the world we live in is full of deceipt and cover-ups.
You can't blame Charley Sheen, he has bad genes.
Speaking of conspiracy theory, a client sent me this link.
Anyone know about the CIA coup in Iran in 1953? no! not
until 3 years ago!
The first hit in google for "Iran CIA" is an article from 2000 in
the NYT about this very subject.
Just because you did not know about it until 3 years ago does not
mean that it was not common knowledge.
Inadvertantly or not, that's a tremendous strawman.
Reason SUCKS!!
I used to subscribe, but after this hack job by Nick Gillespie, I
will never pick up that piece of sh*t mag again.
I don't pretend to believe I know what happened on 9-11. All I know
is the official story just is not believable. It is kind of like
when I was in 4th grade and asked my Catholic School teacher about
questioning the Bible. Her response was you just need to believe.
OK, NICK,
you are a believer, but maybe you should change the name of your
magazine to BELIEVER rather than REASON. My retort was where would
we be today if George Washington had not questioned King George. I
was put in the corner with the plant for the remainder of the day.
I never returned to that class, and have never returned to
Catholicism. One wonders though given the present situation if we
might not have been better off without all the Georges including
the criminal who claims to be the leader of the "so-called" free
world.
Wingnutx,
Maybe I am misremembering, but I seem to remember a lot of people
in the 1980s saying that the U.S. was responsible for the mess in
Iran because it spnsored the coup that created the Shah's
government by sponsoring the 1953 coup.
John,
I remember the same thing. I was replying to Steve, who asserts
otherwise.
Sorry if I was off by a few years, it was inadvertent but it was not known what went on in 53 until recently. In the 80's there was plenty of talk about the mess in Iran, but this story did not officially come out until very recently. The fact of the matter is that this administration and previous ones have purposefully misled us into situations tthat are NO GOOD! The current Bush crime family just happens to be the worst of the bunch!
First off, I don't believe the wacko conspiracy shit. On the other hand, I disbelieve it a lot less forcefully than I did on 9/11/01. Since then, we have learned just how quickly and completely the event was co-opted by the Bush White House to justify every goddam thing under the sun, including the Iraq war. We have seen how half-hearted the effort in Afghanistan was, to the point of allowing UBL himself escape when he was literally run to ground. Not conclusive of anything other than opportunism and incompetence, I agree. But we also know for certain now that flat-out lies by the intelligence and defense establishment regarding the Gulf of Tonkin incident-- which did not happen at all-- constituted the springboard for Vietnam. We know now that the military drew up plans for terrorist attacks on US soil to justify a war against Castro, but never carried them out. At this point, even if I don't buy the conspiracy theories about 9/11, I can't say they are any crazier than the various official versions of various critical events in recent history. And that is frightening as hell.
Stephen M:
Actually, I just read an item in Popular Science that a tin foil
hat actually increases the reception of certain radio frequencies
that are reserved for government use. So it appears that the idea
of using a tin-foil hat is in fact a government conspiracy.
I think the conspiracy theorists just make up all these cockamamie stories to distract everyone from the fact that they were responsible for 9|11.
Father Frank Morales, a whackjob Catholic priest who makes
child-molesting clergy seem normal and who is fond of repeating the
dark truth that "Bush and bin Laden have the same
banker."
Nick, I think you're a great writer, and I love your stuff, so I
won't do a Dan-style freak out. I have a couple of greivances with
this post.
1. Can you and the MSM please stop involuntarily spitting out the
term "child-molesting" every time you have to say "Catholic
priest"?
2. I'm not sure if this is what you were saying, but anyone who has
lived through being molested would probably not consider the act of
questioning an official explanation of our government worse than
molesting a child.
I believe an apology and/or clarification is in order. Not because
you need to censor yourself for the sake of PC, but because I'm
pretty sure that you did not intend to convey either of these
messages.
I read about the CIA coup in Iran when I was in high school in the mid-1980's. Wasn't that the one Kermit Roosevelt was involved in?
I watched the planes fly into the first tower from blocks
away.
I watched the towers fall from (several more) blocks away.
They fell because of the fire.
There were no explosions (except for the planes).
A conspiracy theory has to explain the facts, not imagined
events.
Our ability to find patterns in randomness will allow us to
"reason" our way to unreasonable conclusions.
Add in a good dose of emotion, and you've got a consipracy
theory.
I recently saw a new lengthy examination of the Zapruder film that
proclaims it a fake... these things don't go away.
"In 1979, in Los Angeles Time, Kermit Roosevelt, who claimed to
be a member of CIA in 1953 revealed his roll in the 1953 coup. He
made the involvment of CIA ..."
From a google search.
how about the fact that the U.S spent 40 million investigating Clintons B.J and only 600,000 on investigating 9/11?
believe an apology and/or clarification is in order. Not
because you need to censor yourself for the sake of PC, but because
I'm pretty sure that you did not intend to convey either of these
messages.
I want an apology from the conspiracy wack-jobs for offending
logic.
what is logic to you? an unorganized group, comprised of american trained terrorists flying planes into buildings using box cutters? where are the photos of a plane hitting the pentagon? why did wtc building 7 collapse? why did the lease holder larry silverstein admit on pbs that he gave the order to "pull" the building? why did dozens of firefighters say there were multiple explosions?
The conspiracy theorists have been out in force lately - see this thread on Metafilter. The best part of that was that one of the conspiracy-believers is running for state senate in idaho as a Democrat.
"how about the fact that the U.S spent 40 million
investigating Clintons B.J and only 600,000 on investigating
9/11?"
And how much did they spend investigating who leaked the name a
non-covert CIA employee to the media - with nothing other than a
peripheral indictment?
The more the Bush administration lies to us, and the more those lies are exposed. The more people will believe these kind of conspiracy theories. The reasoning is, if Bush was willing to lie to us to get us into a war, what won't he lie to us about?
Dunno - how much have they spent on the non-Plame story? And who
are they? Assuming it's a bunch, wouldn't that kind of support the
idea that our government has a tendency to overspend on non-issues
while giving the appearance of sweeping more serious fare under the
rug?
So in 1979 and through the '80s there was more common knowledge
about the 1953 boneheaded overreaching. Agreed. I knew it, too.
Prior to that, might it be safe to reason that conjecture was
limited to tin foil hat wearers? It only took 26 years for the
truth to come out. Progress.
Not willing to fully believe the conspiracy here, mainly because it
would hurt what little soul I have, but also not willing to
discount the fact that there are some very effective people working
at all levels of our government capable of dirty pool, if not
preferring it to fair play. To think not is to think they don't
exist and are incompetent down to the last one. And if they are so
grossly incompetent, that seems like a perfect window for
complicity in terrible deeds. The stupid need help at succeeding.
"They" kept trying to teach us that in school, too.
what is logic to you? an unorganized group, comprised of
american trained terrorists flying planes into buildings using box
cutters? where are the photos of a plane hitting the pentagon? why
did wtc building 7 collapse? why did the lease holder larry
silverstein admit on pbs that he gave the order to "pull" the
building? why did dozens of firefighters say there were multiple
explosions?
Snopes - it's your friend. Now move along kiddo.
How about: The Mossad did it and Bush and Cheney knew about it.
I know of no direct evidence for this but the Israeli government
certainly had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks:
http://www.antiwar.com/israeli-files.php
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0595296823/reasonmagazineA/
a good site is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9-11_domestic_conspiracy
wikipedia usually avoids hysteria
there are so many discrepencies that it deserves honest
consideration.
did you know the towers are the only steel buildings to ever
collapse due to fire (before or since)? and they only burned for
like an hour.
watch and learn my scared little children
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5137581991288263801
truth always prevails
Why did WTC 7 collapse? You guys on here attack the messenger
and ignore the message. We offer tons of proof to back up our
claims and you offer none. The collapse of WTC 7 has still not been
explained by the government beyond
"The specifics of the fires in WTC 7 and how they caused the
building to collapse remain unknown at this time. Although the
total diesel fuel on the premises contained massive potential
energy, the best hypothesis has only a low probability of
occurrence. Further research, investigation, and analyses are
needed to resolve this issue." (FEMA, 2002, chapter 5;)
9/11 Evidence to the Contrary
http://911research.wtc7.net/index.html
http://www.st911.org/
http://janedoe0911.tripod.com/
http://www.911revisited.com/video.html
http://www.physics.byu.edu/research/energy/htm7.html
You guys attack because you are scared if you actually look at the
evidence you might be wrong.
did you know the towers are the only steel buildings to ever
collapse due to fire (before or since)? and they only burned for
like an hour.
Wrong. Steel buildings collapse due to fire all the time. The idea
in designing the fireproofing is to delay collapse until the
building can be evacuated. If you had said that no high rise
steel building had collapsed before that would be
correct.
But then no high rise steel building had ever been subjected to
such an intense fire acompanied by such a severe impact. Most fires
involve only the combustable material in the building, not the full
fuel load of a jumbo jet.
The WTC also had a unique design. The framing was arranged quite
differently from conventional towers to allow for wide column-free
spaces.
The problem with most conspiracy theories (like most urban legends)
is that they rely on a combination of completely false information
and unwarranted or irrelevant conclusions drawn from cherry-picked
facts.
The deniers posting here remind me of homophobics, agressively
attacking anything at all that raises doubt in their minds of their
own masculinity in order to avoid the potentially painful
experience of realizing that just maybe they have a feminine side
like everyone else.
Labelling all who ask for truth about 911 as "conspiracy theorists"
and ridiculing them is your childish way of avoiding the terrifying
reality - that there is just no way that the US government
explanation of 911 is true.
I too was angry at the "terrorists" after 911. I accepted the
government story for years. I am certainly not a democrat. But
after seeing the irrefutable evidence I had to admit 911 had to be
an inside job.
I am not a conspiracy theorist. I never devoted time to that stuff
before. I am a university educated average guy. But then again, I
never believed a lone gunman killed Kennedy. And I would be
surprised if any readers of REASON beleive that either. Does that
make you all conspiracy theorists? No, it just makes us all
apathetic. We all know the US government covered up the truth about
the Kennedy assassination, but what can we do? that's the way it
goes...baa-baa-baa...
It is not up to us to theorize what the conspiracy was, but when we
realize the government is LYING we must demand justice.
I challenge the deniers to watch one of the many videos on 911
available for viewing on the internet for free (google video,
youtube, etc.). If for anything, do it for some laughs while
ridiculing those "silly conspiracy theorists"
Once you see the evidence you will face a real choice in your life
- are you going to remain a sheep in the heard or are you going to
be a patriot and demand truth and justice.
9/11 WTC Explosions the government will not acknowledge:
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/wtcshake.mpg
(12 seconds before WTC1 collapse, the tripod shakes, debris falls
off the right side of the building)
It corroborates with this from the video 911 Eyewitness:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3498980438587461603&q=911+eyewitness
(Time frame 52:50 - 55:10 , 4 explosions can be heard roughly 12
seconds before WTC1 collapse + white smoke rising from the
streets)
The above 911 Eyewitness film was shown in Japan, 50 international
journalists were almost in unanimous agreement that controlled
demolition brought down the towers.
Tokyo, Japan event:
http://www.fccj.or.jp/modules/eCal/display-event.php?id=2014
article:
http://www.911eyewitness.com/truth/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=27
Also footage from Loose Change 2nd Edition (time frame 51:30 -
53:40)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8260059923762628848&q=loose+change+2nd+edition
MIT engineer:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1822764959599063248
FEMA and NIST have been unable to offer a plausible explanation for
WTC7's collapse. WTC7 was intentionally omitted from the 911
Commission Report. This is why:
http://st12.startlogic.com/~xenonpup/video%20archive/wtc-7_collapse.mpa
Bombs were found in the buildings, and numerous explosions occured
before the towers collapsed. Of course, you won't hear about that
in the official 911 Commission Report ;)
USA Today reported the FBI believed bombs brought the towers
down
http://terrorize.dk/911/comments/911.wtc.truck.bombs.fbi.jack.kelley.rm
CNN reported secondary devices
http://media.putfile.com/911-WTC-Reporter-Secondary-Explosions-CNN-News
NBC also reported secondary devices
http://media.putfile.com/911-WTC-Police-Found-Explosives-Rick-Sanchez
Videos of witnesses reporting explosions before the towers
collapsed
http://www.mypetgoat.tv/video/Bomb_Montage.WMV
http://plaguepuppy.net/public_html/video%20archive/floor26th_firefighter_high_quality.wmv
Fire fighter: "here we go again"
Another fire fighter: "Bomb in the building, start clearing
out"
Background voices: "secondary device..."
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4574366633014832928&q=9%2F11+bomb
Recently uploaded video on google with footage of a presentation
given at the University of Wisconsin, along with another
presentation that includes a MIT researcher (Debunking the official
collapse theories given by our government), news interview with a
BYU professor, and Morgan Reynolds. The 9/11 Commission Report
denied the existence of the 47 central steel columns in the towers!
The 9/11 Commission Report also fails to mention WTC 7.
Video link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1951610169657809939&q=11+revisited
Fire fighter quotes:
"I know I was with an officer from Ladder 146, a Lieutenant
Evangelista, who ultimately called me up a couple of days later
just to find out how I was. We both for whatever reason -- again, I
don't know how valid this is with everything that was going on at
that particular point in time, but for some reason I thought that
when I looked in the direction of the Trade Center before it came
down, before No. 2 came down, that I saw low-leve] flashes. In my
conversation with Lieutenant Evangelista, never mentioning this to
him, he questioned me and asked me if I saw low-level flashes in
front of the building, and I agreed with him because I thought --
at that time I didn't know what it was. I mean, it could have been
as a result of the building collapsing, things exploding, but I saw
a flash flash flash and then it looked like the building came
down."
"No, the lower level of the building. You know like when they
demolish a building, how when they blow up a building, when it
falls down? That's what I thought I saw. And I didn't broach the
topic to him, but he asked me. He said I don't know if I'm crazy,
but I just wanted to ask you because you were standing right next
to me. He said did you see anything by the building? And I said
what do you mean by see anything? He said did yc.u see any flashes?
I said, yes, well, I thought it was just me. He said no, I saw
them, too.
I don't know if that means anything. I mean, I equate it to the
building cowing down and pushing things down, it could have been
electrical explosions, it could have been whatever. But it's just
strange that two people sort of say the same thing and neither one
of us talked to each other about it. I mean, I don't know this guy
from a hole in the wall. I was just standing next to him. i never
met the man before in my lite. He knew who was I guess by my name
on my coat and he called me up, you know, how are you doing? How's
everything? And, oh, by the way did you... It was just a little
strange"
source:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/Gregory_Stephen.txt
**********************************************************************************************
Captain Karin Deshore, Batallion 46:
"Somewhere around the middle of the World Trade Center, there was
this orange and red flash coming out. Initially it was just one
flash. Then this flash just kept popping all the way around the
building and that building had started to explode. The popping
sound, and with each popping sound it was initially an orange and
then red flash came out of the building and then it would just go
all around the building on both sides as far as I could see. These
popping sounds and the explosions were getting bigger, both going
up and down and then all around the building.
I went inside and I told everybody that the other building or there
was an explosion occurring up there and I said I think we have
another major explosion...
So here these explosions are getting bigger and louder and bigger
and louder and I told everybody if this building totally explodes,
still unaware that the other tower had collapsed, I'm going in the
water."
source:
http://www.sfgate.com/gate/pictures/2005/09/10/ga_karin_deshore.pdf
****************************************************************************************************
Firefighter Louie Cacchioli, who was quoted earlier, testified in
2004 to members of the Commission's staff. But, he reported, they
were so unreceptive that he ended up walking out in anger. "I felt
like I was being put on trial in a court room," said Cacchioli.
"They were trying to twist my words and make the story fit only
what they wanted to hear. All I wanted to do was tell the truth and
when they wouldn't let me do that, I walked out."58
That Cacchioli's experience was not atypical is suggested by
janitor William Rodriguez, whose testimony was also quoted earlier.
Although Rodriguez was invited to the White House as a National
Hero for his rescue efforts on 9/11, he was, he said, treated quite
differently by the Commission: "I met with the 9/11 Commission
behind closed doors and they essentially discounted everything I
said regarding the use of explosives to bring down the north
tower."59
When reading The 9/11 Commission Report, one will not find the name
of Cacchioli, or Rodriguez, or anyone else reporting explosions in
the towers. It would appear that the Commission deliberately
withheld this information, as it apparently did with regard to Able
Danger60 and many other things that should have been included in
"the fullest possible account of the events surrounding
9/11."61
The definitive report about the collapse of the towers was to have
been provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST). According to Rodriguez, however, this investigative body
was equally uninterested in his testimony: "I contacted NIST . . .
four times without a response. Finally, [at a public hearing] I
asked them before they came up with their conclusion . . . if they
ever considered my statements or the statements of any of the other
survivors who heard the explosions. They just stared at me with
blank faces."62
In light of this report of NIST's response, it is not surprising to
find that its final report, which in the course of supporting the
official story about the collapses ignores many vital issues,63
makes no mention of reports of explosions and other phenomena
suggestive of controlled demolition.
source:
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20060118104223192
Would an American administartion ever take part inn activities
that would lead to the deaths of innocent civillians?
No! Never!
And anyone who says that "Yes, history teaches us that they have
and would" is obviouslya tin hat waering child molester.
I love Bush. I voted for him twice.
The terrists were very clever. They knew we had the worste air
defenses in the western world.
They hate our freedoms.
I hate lefties. I hate Hollywood, it is full of gahys.
I am a Right-Wing American so I AM RIGHT and anyone who says
anything I don't want to haer is a nutjob.
Sheen is a traitor
Prey for Bush and Rumsfeld, they are the two most honest guys in
the world.
Cheney is honest too.
And the media are honest.
Remember: 911 only happened because we had the worse air defenses
in the western world and the terrists knew this (perhaps some
lefties tole them?)
We will win this war on terror.
Put all the lefties in Guantanamo bay and make them listen to Norm
Chomski all day while we proper Americans eat apple pie and prey to
God.
Yehaaaaa.
Isaac Bartram Said:
"Wrong. Steel buildings collapse due to fire all the time."
Can you prove this? A source maybe?
"But then no high rise steel building had ever been subjected to
such an intense fire acompanied by such a severe impact. Most fires
involve only the combustable material in the building, not the full
fuel load of a jumbo jet."
How does this explain the collapse of WTC 7? Remember it wasn't hit
by a plane and only had a few small fires.
"The problem with most conspiracy theories (like most urban
legends) is that they rely on a combination of completely false
information and unwarranted or irrelevant conclusions drawn from
cherry-picked facts."
What completely false information are we relying on? Are you just
making a blanket generalization or did you do research only to find
false information that we base our beliefs on? Are you saying the
fire fighters were liars? Where is your proof? We have plenty but
you do have to click some links and do some reading. Don't say our
information is false if you haven't looked and it and cannot back
up your statements. I don't mean to come accross in a hostile
deminor so please don't take it that way. Just approach what we are
saying with an open mind. Theres good reason millions of people
believe this.
Heres a good video with lots of FDNY testimonials.
9/11
Revisted
And heres a video of a MIT structural engineer question the pancake
explanation.
MIT
Engineer breaks down WTC controlled demolition
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