Yep!

Mimi and Eunice by Nina Paley -- "The Movement"

Tunes and Tales of Christmas Past

Our friend Vyzygoth has created an engaging historical perspective on the Christmas season over the past century or so, Voices of Christmas Past.

Also, Issue 6 of Inside the Grassy Knoll is now published.

The King of Skeptics is a Fraud

Apparently Michael Shermer, whose stock-in-trade is equating those who doubt the official story of 9/11 to Holocaust Deniers, needs to extinguish the fire in his own trousers.

UTICANS WITH VYZ ON THINK OR BE EATEN!

Herb Smith and I talked with Vyzygoth today, covering the topics of 9/11, the manipulation of information, and ticks in interesting places. Download the program here. Also, reference was made to an older Kee Dewdney interview which may be heard at this link (in real media format).

HERB SMITH TALKS MENA/CLINTON ON THE WRINGER!

This morning Herb Smith appeared on Pete Bianco's WHCL-FM public affairs show The Wringer to discuss Bill Clinton and his connection with Iran-Contra through the activities (and crimes) at Mena, Arkansas. Download the show here.

A much better and more informative program than the one Herb participated in a few weeks ago. Pete Bianco is the anti-Keeler.

BLAME THE TEA PARTY ON THE TRUTHERS!

A letter published in the November 8, 2010 New Yorker. The letter:

While Sean Wilentz provides a deft history of the extremist origins of contemporary conservative opinion, I would argue that the political left shares at least some responsibility for the dumbing down of dissent that we see today in Glenn Beck and the Tea Party (“Confounding Fathers,” October 18th). Wilentz describes how “extremist ideas held at bay for decades inside the Republican Party have exploded anew,” shifting our public discourse, in the words of David Klinghoffer, toward “demagoguery and hucksterism.” During the George W. Bush Presidency, some of Bush’s critics asserted that 9/11 was an inside job plotted by a neoconservative cabal, that the American press was wholly in thrall to corporate and political power, and that the elections of 2000 and 2004 were won by foul means. Such rhetoric then was hardly less corrosive, or less supported by scholarly reasoning, than the crackpot vitriol now spewed by Beck and his ilk. The parallels between these two attitudes—their insistence on governments’ hidden agendas, on a compliant or propagandizing media, and above all on the brave iconoclasm of those who make up the movements themselves—tell us more about a general debasing of protest and logical argument than about any important political divide or intellectual tradition. In each case, the real problems have to do not with the left versus the right but, rather, with serious versus shallow.

George Case
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

"Brave iconoclasm" indeed. I'm hiding under the bed like the rest of you. (But wait--there's a bedbug! Ack!)

Seriously, if the author of this screed wants "serious versus shallow" he can chat about physics with the other administrator of this site. Clever reframing of the Hegelian Dialectic, though. Gotta love these brainy shills from up north.

HERB SMITH ON KEELER IN THE MORNING TUESDAY!

UPDATE: Herb's segment on "Keeler in the Morning" is now available at this link.

Herb Smith will appear Tuesday, October 26 on Bill Keeler's popular WXUR-FM "Keeler In The Morning" program in honor of Bill Clinton's October 29th visit to the area. Herb will discuss the crimes of Mena, Arkansas (drug smuggling, illegal arms trafficking, money laundering and murder) that occurred under Clinton's watchful eye as Governor.

The Keeler show is broadcast on 92.7 FM in the Utica area between 5:30 and 10 AM, with the option of streaming the program throughout the day.

Herb further states that he has no intention of killing himself.

The Mena Connection: Bush, Clinton, and CIA drug smuggling

Part One of Six.

DECOR MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 2001 ISSUE

That twisted wreckage is, of course, the Guggenheim Museum. (Thanks to Pete!)

THIS IMAGE SAYS IT ALL

Screenshot from WFMU website.

9/11 101 PART THREE WITH HERB SMITH AND VYZ

On this installment of Think Or Be Eaten, Herb and Vyz discuss the many anomalies at the site in Shanksville, PA. Download this show HERE. The transcript of the CNN reporter talking about the second debris field (cited during the program) is available at this link.

HERB SMITH ON BLOGTALK WITH LOU BARILE

This past Saturday, Herb Smith discussed the events of September 11, 2001 on Lou Barile's CNYURBANGUY live webcast on Blogtalk radio. Download the show through this link.

LOCAL 9/11 ACTIVIST APPEARS ON WKTV!

Local activist and skeptic of the official 9/11 conspiracy theory, Andrew Steele, on WKTV.

The controlled demolition hypothesis is the only possible explanation for the manner in which the buildings were destroyed and the tremendous amount of energy and heat that was released.

Where the architects are wrong is in regards to the molten metal. What's not mentioned is that molten metal was found WEEKS later. Thermite, which produces a brief chemical reaction. can't account for this kind of persistent energy release. That's not to say thermite might not have been used but what happened was beyond conventional explosives.

At any rate, great job Andy.

Here's the full video of this press conference.

9/11 101 PART TWO WITH VYZ, HERB, AND CRAIG RANKE

The second part of Herb Smith's 9/11 101 discussion with Vyz is now posted and available for download HERE.

More from Vyzygoth:

In addition to Herb’s and my discussion, Craig Ranke of Citizen Investigation Team joins in to give an overview of what his research has uncovered.

(Craig Ranke's 2009 interviews are available HERE and HERE.)

The third audio link is excerpted from our main interview. We first play CNN reporter Jamie McIntyre’s damage control appearance to supposedly debunk criticisms of his remarks as he covered the Pentagon “crash” live on Sept. 11, 2001.

In the damage-control piece, a few meaningless fragments of McIntyre’s original report are played beneath his damage-control monologue in which he states he saw thousands of metal shards, saw glass he somehow identified as having come from the plane’s cockpit, and saw part of the fuselage. He also said that his comment about no plane crashing anywhere near the Pentagon was given in answer to someone that had asked a question about a plane crashing near the Pentagon. McIntyre then “clarified” his remarks by stating he went on to say the only crash was at the Pentagon.

Unfortunately, that is not what he said in his original report. In that audio file, which we played second, McIntyre states that the debris is so small you could hold it in your hand, that there were no pieces of the plane that looked like a wing, tail or fuselage, and that there was nothing that would indicate that a plane had crashed into the side of the Pentagon. Would at the Pentagon be the same as the side of the Pentagon? I'm thinking: yes.

As you will hear for yourself, there are good reasons why CNN did not play the entirety of McIntyre’s original comments. This audio proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the damage-control piece was loaded with lies.

And, gee, why would that be?

9/11 101 WITH HERB SMITH AND VYZ

Utican Herb Smith is now featured on a program with Vyzygoth discussing the basics of 9/11. Download this interview at this link: Part 1. (More to follow.)

ISSUE 5 OF BEYOND THE GRASSY KNOLL NOW AVAILABLE

The latest issue of Beyond The Grassy Knoll has been published. This is a truly beautiful publication, designed by Angie Riedel and featuring her amazing artwork. This issue includes pieces by John Bonanno, Paul Sandhu, Gordon Comstock, Vincent C. Vickers, Donald Hall, Vyzygoth, and your humble correspondent.

A NATION OF VEAL

The United States of America is a vast concentration camp in which the inmates labor under the delusion that they are free. They are held in place behind their invisible fences just as securely as if they were imprisoned by razor wire. Rather than being starved and worked to death under the watch of guards with rifles, they are fattened into passivity and hopelessness by corporate nutritionists and purveyors of cheap fatty food, and entertained to distraction from their sad lot by omnipresent and homogeneous media. When the issue of their sloth and obesity arises, they are ridiculed and blamed for their condition--thus keeping them down in their place. Their bad taste is mocked by the same media that feed their acquired craving for hollow, gaudy crap and bad food. As such, they are little more to blame for their state than the veal calf who is held fast within his pen and fattened for the market.

It is a triumph of social engineering that so many Americans are securely kept in the prison of their own indolence and self-hating obesity. While every other form of political correctness holds sway, picking on the fat is actively encouraged, and jokes about their supposed diseases (diabetes, etc.) are chuckled over by the same people who would be outraged at analogous remarks about cancer. The powers that be wink at all this--since it is in their interest to keep people depressed and sedentary within their living rooms, eating junk food and watching television.

Forget about fluoridation. Fat is the real control mechanism.

NOT ABOUT 9/11: "RADIOLA!" INTERVIEW

I'm justified in returning from self-imposed exile for this:

I spent this afternoon talking bout RADIOLA! with Keith Hansen, aka "Vyzygoth," whose excellent interviews have been a web mainstay for the past decade. The interview (with music) is now posted at this link. Vyz's main site is Think Or Be Eaten: The Knoll. Many thanks again to Vyz for hosting this great discussion on a topic that I particularly love.

I'M DONE HERE

There's nothing more I have to say on this site. It's all been said. Anything I say concerning the events of September 11, 2001 will not make the slightest bit of difference in the scheme of things. People have to use their own brains with regard to this issue. I've done so and I highly recommend that course of action.

Telling people what they should think on a particular issue is another form of Fundamentalism. To Hell with it.

Herb will continue to supply facts, but from here on in I'm keeping my opinions to myself.

Anyhow, it's been fun. No regrets.

NIST SIMULATION VS. ACTUAL WTC 7 COLLAPSE

MUCH NEEDED LEVITY WITH VYZ ON TW3

It's been a strange year so far, so the opportunity to sit in with Vyzygoth for an edition of "That Was The Week That Wasn't" was most welcome. I had a rare chance to throw away my cares for an hour and be crude and sophomoric. On the whole, it was a salubrious experience. Listen to the results here.

A NEW HIGH-WATER MARK IN UNMITIGATED GALL

Oy, vey. (Thanks to Vyz!)

In a desperate bid to complete the long-stalled towers, Larry Silverstein has reached out to the Port Authority for financial help, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Silverstein is requesting cash for at least two of the three planned office towers, sources told the paper. . .

Silverstein has less than $1 billion left from the $4.5 billion insurance settlement he got after the 2001 terror attacks, The Journal said.

So, just what did he spend the other 3.5 billion bucks on? Spa treatments?

VYZ AND DWIGHT WARD ON HAITI

This is the best discussion I have yet heard on Haiti, featuring our good friends Vyzygoth and Dwight Ward. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Download this program at this link.

PRESCOTT BUSH: A TRAITOR SPEAKS

HERB SMITH DISCUSSES SUTTON ON MINISTRY OF TRUTH

Gordon Comstock of The Ministry of Truth has just posted an excellent interview with Utican Herb Smith which is available for download here. Gordon and Herb discuss Antony Sutton's America's Secret Establishment, with particular attention to far-reaching influence of Yale's Skull and Bones. Thanks to both for a most enlightening and highly enjoyable program!

IF YOU'RE AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE, YOU'RE WITH THE TERRORISTS

I don't see how anyone could possibly write satire with stuff like this out there.

In an audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera, bin Laden criticised George Bush, the former US president, for rejecting the Kyoto pact and condemned global corporations.

"This is a message to the whole world about those responsible for climate change and its repercussions - whether intentionally or unintentionally - and about the action we must take," bin Laden said.

"Speaking about climate change is not a matter of intellectual luxury - the phenomenon is an actual fact."

This is like a great big Dagwood sandwich of riotous disinformation. I love it! (Thanks to Vyz.)

CALIFORNIA SAYS CRAP ON THE MOON A HISTORIC RESOURCE

The absurdity never stops. And when I say "crap on the moon," I'm being literal. Part of the (non-existent) lunar treasure trove includes "bags filled with human waste." I say it's equine waste.

California is poised to become the first state to register the items at Tranquility Base as an official State Historical Resource. If the State Historical Resources Commission approves the idea at a meeting in Sacramento today, it would be a victory for scientists who want to build support for having Tranquility Base designated a United Nations World Heritage Site in advance of what they believe will be unmanned trips to the moon by private groups, and even someday by tourists. Proposals to place the items on historic registries in Texas and New Mexico are planned for later this year.

How can you have "unmanned flights" by private groups and tourists? (Unless, of course, they're using the word "unmanned" to connote something too painful even to contemplate.)

Minor semantic quibbles aside, Dave McGowan must be laughing his ass off.

DOWN GOES THE ANTICHRIST

OUR RECENT (YAWN) MOON MISSION

There's nothing to see here.

DAVE MCGOWAN ON THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH

Dave McGowan discussed his series "Wagging the Moondoggie" with Gordon Comstock on The Ministry of Truth and the program may be downloaded at this link. It's a great show! (And thanks for the nod, Gordon!)

Must Read!

Dave McGowan tackles the moon landing hoax in his latest article "Wagging the Moondoggie." I've kind of stayed away from this because I didn't like all the emphasis put on the photographic evidence. Although McGowan covers much of that he shows there are much better, easier to understand arguments to put this myth to rest.

And of course it's very funny. Enjoy.

Finally, The REAL Lunar Landing Footage

Offical Training Video for NASA's Manned Space Flight Program

Wallace and Gromit - A Grand Day Out
Vezi mai multe video din Animatie

The Theme Song of NASA's Manned Space Flight Program

From 1904!

My Thoughts on Keeler Show...

Good strategy, poor execution. The point I was trying to make was the buildings were being destroyed as they descended meaning they were encountering maximal resistance. Keeler obviously does not have x-ray vision. He wasn't seeing floors hitting floors any more than he was seeing people or desks, chairs, core columns etc.

But even saying floors were pulverizing he was acknowledging the building was being destroyed and I probably still should have went with that.

So close to putting this over.

HERB SMITH ON "KEELER IN THE MORNING" TOMORROW!

UPDATE (11/03): Herb's "post game show" with Vyz is available at THIS LINK.

UPDATE: Herb's interview is now available for download HERE.

Herb Smith will appear on Bill Keeler's popular radio program, "Keeler In The Morning" Thursday, October 29. The show broadcasts daily beginning at 6 AM from WXUR 92.7 FM ("The Drive") in Herkimer, NY. Herb's segment is scheduled for just after 8 AM.

For those outside the Herkimer-Utica listening area, continuous streaming of Bill Keeler's show may be heard HERE.

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WTC

Click on image to enlarge.

VOLCANO AT GROUND ZERO?

EXPLODED TO DUST BEFORE IT HIT THE GROUND

HERB WITH VYZ ON TOBE!

UPDATE: The link to Herb's interview is now fixed. Sorry for any inconvenience.

In response to certain issues raised by Robert Denton, Jr. on a recent episode of Think or Be Eaten, Herb spoke with Vyzygoth Wednesday. This is a most excellent program. (If Herb wasn't someone I've known for 35 years, I'd want to meet him based on this interview.)

There's more on the instability hypothesis here: Tom Scott Gordon's 2007 Interview on the Instability of WTC 1 & 2

ISSUE TWO OF "INSIDE THE GRASSY KNOLL" IS UP!

Another excellent issue of Vyzygoth's e-magazine, Inside The Grassy Knoll, is available for your reading enjoyment. There are articles by Vyz, Gordon Comstock, the Collins Brothers, John Bonanno, Dwight Ward, Michael Trudeau, and your humble correspondent. (And check out Ang Riedel's amazing cover art. Ang designed the look of this e-magazine, which is so nice I wish I could lift it off my monitor and display it on my coffee table.)

The first issue is still available for your perusal here.

ANG WITH VYZ ON THINK OR BE EATEN

Vyzygoth has recently posted a delightful and informative discussion with Angie Riedel, webmistress and designer of Think or Be Eaten. Ang also designed the Inside the Grassy Knoll e-magazine, and her wonderful artistic creations may be seen and purchased at the TOBE shop. (The above image is available as a poster here.)

THE JOY OF NIST SEMANTICS by Dwight Ward

(Author's revision, Oct. 11, 2009)

"The focus of the Investigation was on the sequence of events from the instant of aircraft impact to the initiation of collapse for each tower. For brevity in this report, this sequence is referred to as the 'probable collapse sequence,' although it includes little analysis of the structural behavior of the tower after the conditions for collapse initiation were reached and collapse became inevitable." (NIST, p xxxvii/39)

The preceding paragraph, from The Final Report on the Collapse of the World Trade Center Towers, may be a better synopsis of the entirety than any critic could compose. On the face of it, it's absurd, and in a practiced and casual manner it uses.a cognitive shock tactic wherein the logical absurdity is presented openly while simultaneously admitting that absurdity in superficially rational-sounding language. This is a ploy to preempt any close examination or protest of the absurdity. It is a hurried bum's rush past a vital topic.

The nonsense presented here is compact and multi-layered. It consists of the following elements:
a) an arbitrary decision to report on only part of the sequence of events
b) a naming and labeling of that act to characterize it as its own opposite
c) a conscious and blatant admission of the rhetorical, psychologically aggressive tactic that has just been used.

The first sentence is preparatory and an essential part of what is to follow. It acknowledges that the investigatory method to be used will result in deliberately ignoring a huge swath of the sequence of events. It makes the assumption that this method is proper by means of an even deeper and hidden assumption, namely that the events of the actual collapse can be properly separated from the events that lead up to them and that the resulting analysis will be as valid as if the total of all events had been examined. It is as if investigators of a murder ended their formal inquiries at the moment when the bullet was headed from gun to victim, with all subsequent events declared irrelevant.

We have here an attempt to make a highly artificial separation within an anomalous and dramatic series of events - things leading to collapses, then the collapses themselves. One caused the other, of course, and the way the collapses took place contain much vital evidence of what caused the collapses. This would seem trivial from a scientific standpoint and one watches in awe as NIST exhibits the temerity to essentially discard the actual collapses from analysis. The overall presupposition is that such a truncated analysis is as valid as one which did not arbitrarily draw a sharp line dividing those events that would be examined from those to be ignored. This is just bad science, bad logic, bad politics, and, to borrow from Sartre, bad faith.

By truncating their report with the bullet hanging in midair, the police investigators want the assumption to be made that the bullet was the primal and only cause of the victim's death. The NIST report accomplishes a similar thing. By ignoring the way the towers came down, they eliminate from consideration a host of possible causes other than plane impacts and fire. They accomplish this by simple omission of a huge portion of the available facts. In doing so, they destroy the context of the whole event. It's a bold stratagem and completely removes the report from the realm of the scientific and moves it into the political.

With this done the NIST investigators proceed to label their actions as their own opposite. They name the events leading to collapse as the 'probable collapse sequence'. It is done brazenly and with an inadequate explanation, much as if they had just stated that two equals three and then proceeded to more important matters.

To continue with the analogy of the murder investigation given before, it is as if the police investigators titled their report, which ended with the bullet hanging in midair, "What Happened After The Bullet Hit The Victim." The method has the advantage of being so simple as to nearly escape analysis and examination. One reads such things with the thought "Is it just me or did that sentence make no sense at all?" The critical parsing of language needed to show that it makes no sense is of necessity tiresome and tedious.

For a final assault on the reader's sense of congruity and logic the report writers simply acknowledge their own pathology by admitting that the content of the report has little to do with the informal title which they, themselves, have selected. They further state that it is not a random distortion but is in simple and direct opposition to the truth. The reason given? Brevity. Two equals three and we don't have the space or time to explain why this is so. The writers of this report continue the events of 911 with their assumption of the public's credulity. This report is an attack of another sort than 911 but it is an attack, all the same.

UTICANS WITH VYZYGOTH!

Herb Smith and I discussed many pertinent topics last night in a phone interview with our friend Vyz. This is a landmark webcast because it was Vyz's last program before his move to more a congenial neighborhood. Some of the language we used is not suitable for all ages--but it was a fun, relaxed conversation. And we thank Vyz for having us on for the last show recorded at his old digs.

CITIZEN INVESTIGATION TEAM CENSORED ON PRISON PLANET--AND ALMOST EVERYWHERE ELSE

UPDATE: Download the Vyz interview with Craig Ranke where this issue is discussed.

You'd think being a truth-teller in an ostensible Truth Movement would make one popular within said Movement. Not so fast, Diogenes. Craig and Aldo of the Citizen Investigation Team find themselves practically personnae non gratae almost everywhere but here and here. Jeffrey of the Rock Creek Free Press sent me the following screen shot of a post revealing how Alex "Arbiter of Truth" Jones has banned mention of CIT work from his site.

WHY DO YOU THINK THEY CALL IT "KINDLE?"

UPDATE (8/13/2009): Not that online petitions ever do a damn bit of good, but here's one regarding Kindle's 1984 hijinks.

UPDATE (8/1/2009): In this week's New Yorker, Nicholson Baker takes a swipe at Kindle (No mention of the disappearing Orwell trick, however.)

In a supreme stroke of irony worthy of Orwell himself, Amazon erased the text of 1984 from its Kindle digital readers--even as said text was being read. Mark Hershon writes about the episode here. (Thanks to Randy Maugans.)

Kindle is on the face of it a useful gadget and offers certain advantages, but paper books are far more simple and elegant in that they are cheap, portable, and require no batteries. And text on dead trees doesn't vanish in mid-sentence due to any glitch, whim, copyright tussle--or government edict. The durability and immutability of the printed word far outweigh the capacity to monkey with typefaces and backlighting. Gutenberg had it right after all.

Major General Stubblebine: 9/11 Was a Fraud

(Thanks to Dr. Lance!)

INTERNECINE STRIFE ON PRISON PLANET

Alex "The Voice of God" Jones and his wife Kelly "Free Speech Incorporated" Jones are revoking the "copy and distribute freely" provision regarding his fearmongering videos. An insider tells all. (Thanks again to Vyz!)

A FURTHER SALIENT NOTE ON FLIGHT 77

Shortly after posting the program mentioned immediately below, Vyz received the following note from a listener:

Keith,

Here's a memory that came back to me as I listened to Craig while pulling up weeds in the garden. I was working my mailman gig on 9/11, listening to the radio as I cased up my route. When I heard the news about the Trade Towers I was as amazed as everyone else around me. But having a suspicious mind forces one to immediately raise up the BS antenna whenever something like this happens. As the day went along and the news of the "plane flying into the Pentagon" reached my ears I knew immediately that something was very wrong.

The military has something called a CIWS (close in weapon system) which serves as a last line of defence. I remember hearing 'speculation' when I was in the Navy (late 70' early 80's) that systems similar to the Pheonix CIWS we had on our ship were in place on the Pentagon and the White House to protect against suicidal flyers or missiles. The CIWS is a automatic machine gun that fires spent uranium projectiles directed by a computerized radar system that controls everything. Turn it on and anything that gets in range is destroyed. Spent uranium projectiles will rip through anything that flies. I never heard any question from the media to the military about the presence of the CIWS. And as far as the videos of the event, I guarantee you that if an unauthorized ant is walking on the pentagon lawn, they have a hidef picture of it.

On that bizarre day in September I remember a gigantic WTF going through my mind when the tale of a plane hitting the Pentagon was told. I remember thinking: "How could those fools (and there are a lot of fools wearing brass) forget to turn on the CIWS system after planes had just hit the WTC and some planes were still unaccounted for?

Just a thought,
JB

Craig Ranke and Vyz on Flight 77

Craig Ranke, of the Citizen Investigation Team, discusses Magical Mystery Flight 77 on Think or Be Eaten with Vyz in a program available for download at this link.

Indeed what, if anything, hit the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001? It sure as hell wasn't American Airlines Flight 77.

I Talk Nock With Vyz on TOBE

My recent conversation with Vyzygoth on Think or Be Eaten regarding Memoirs of a Superfluous Man and other writings of Albert Jay Nock is now available for download at this link.

UTICANS IN PERCALE?

Chip Berlet and Terry Gross got together today to discuss "wacky conspiracy theories" and why they make certain white men get trigger happy. Fortunately, those of us who doubt the Official Conspiracy Theory of Sept. 11, 2001 merely got the usual condescension from Berlet, who accuses us of "oversimplifying" and indulging in "magical thinking," and believing that everything will be peachy once the culprits are caught and convicted.

First of all, and most importantly, most of us who have taken more than a few spins on this planet realize that identifying the Real Criminals of 9/11 isn't going to solve a Goddamn thing. Knowing that the Official Story is crap is its own reward. It will not restore sexual potency or grow hair on a billiard ball. Nor will it feed all the starving children in Africa or provide me the money to buy the exquisite 1916 Steinway Model O I test-drove today. If such knowledge is power, it's like one of those batteries you make by sticking a penny in a potato.

Second of all, we don't hate anybody. We don't even mind dorky shills like Berlet (who used the word "milieu" at least three times today in an attempt to break Dave Emory's old record).

Lastly, we're not "lefties" or "righties," and although we're "whiteys," we're not "tighties." So who's oversimplifying now, eh Chipper?

MIXIN' METAPHORS WITH AJ

The first minute is a psychedelic smorgasbord of Alex's verbal imagery--all by way of introducing renowned reptilian theorist David Icke. Yep. (Thanks to Vyz!)

MY TOP FIVE BOOKS: THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH

UPDATE (6/15/2009): Herb talks about his top five books in an excellent program downloadable at THIS LINK.

Today I had a wonderful conversation with Gordon Comstock to discuss five books I consider indispensible. (I was feeling slightly taciturn--I spoke for only an hour and eight minutes.) The interview is already posted on Gordon's Ministry of Truth audio page, and may be downloaded from this link.

One of my main five is Albert Jay Nock's Memoirs of a Superfluous Man, now deplorably out of print--and commanding rather steep prices on such sites as ABE books. Fortunately, thanks to the Mises Institute, this excellent book may be downloaded in pdf format from this link.

GOTTA LOVE BILL HICKS!

NEW VYZ INTERVIEW ON FLIGHT 93!

Vyzygoth has just posted his recent interview with Dominick DiMaggio of the Citizen Investigation Team regarding Magical Mystery Flight 93. Download it HERE.

INSIDE THE GRASSY KNOLL E-MAG NOW ONLINE!

The Inside the Grassy Knoll electronic magazine, assembled by Keith Hansen (aka Vyzygoth) and Angie Riedel, is now available online here. Besides your humble correspondent, contributors include (in order of appearance) Dwight Ward, Philip Collins, Randy Maugans, Gordon Comstock, Paul Collins, Larry the Contractor Guy, and Vyz himself.

And Ang's layout and design of Inside the Grassy Knoll is delightful. (Check out the STP sticker on the car "made of twine and twigs!") This is a beautiful publication, and one that I'm proud to have contributed to. Enjoy!

PREDICTIN' DA FUTURE WITH FETZ AND CAPTAIN MAY

I missed hearing all my favorite Truthy-types until I discovered that Unca Jim Fetzer was broadcasting on Revere Radio. But he's not the same old Fetz. In this broadcast he's scarcely to be heard as he lets the redoubtable Captain Eric May go on at length about the terror attack that was destined to take place this month in Chicago, with the Sears Tower as the Roman Candle du jour. I can only assume that Jim went out for a beer and a snack as the Captain held forth.

I gotta say I've barely been paying attention to the news these days. Did the Windy City actually get whacked? With all due respect to Eric May, I hope not. It's my ambition to try a Maxwell Street Polish sausage sandwich before I step off the planet.

Truly, if there's no kielbasa, the terrorists have won.

UPDATE: For those unable to listen to the two-hour program, this video clip will give you the flavor of the interview:

SHEILA CASEY: DO TRUTHERS GET LAID?

No problems here. And you?

NEW PROGRAM SATURDAY!

UPDATE: This program may be downloaded HERE.

LIVE Webstream—Saturday: April 18, 2009

Call-in via Skype and Phone

The Debut of :

Live talk: topics, news, commentary, YOUR calls

Gordon Comstock | Bob Eccleston | Randy Maugans

Airs - 9:00 - EST | 7:00 PM - CST | 6:00 PM - PST

ShoutCast URL: http://69.56.143.20:8015/ (Winamp, Windows Media Player, or iTunes, etc.)

Skype conference/call-in: “watchmen.live”

Call in phone numbers to be announced on air

NANO-THERMITE!

(It tastes just like regular thermite, but with fewer calories.)

NWO "ROMARABIC" WATCHES AVAILABLE ON EBAY

UPDATE (April 9, 2009): Buy your Romarabic pocket watch HERE. (Also available in black and beige.)


BERNE, SWITZERLAND (DUI) The International Council on Numeration has voted unanimously to institute the new "Romarabic" system of numbering to be phased in over the next two years. Council Chair Claus Hess said the change in numbering was long overdue because "Roman numerals are very hard, you know, with all those letters and things--while Arabic numerals are too easy and logical. Here we seek to level the playing field so that it will again be as much of a challenge to do basic multiplication as to read the cornerstone on some old building."

Math historian James Murray Staunton of NYU had mixed feelings about the change. "It's an exciting era to be living in, but the new system makes both the old Roman numerals and the standard Arabic numerals obsolete. Now everyone will have to go out and buy new clocks and watches to stay in compliance. And then there are house numbers. I just bought nice new brass house numbers, and I'm not ready to junk them. "

And Dale Wayne Marks, host of Patriot Radio Network's "My Cold Dead Hand," is suspicious of the move. "This is just the NWO at work again, trying to reduce us to a mass of slobbering ignoramuses. Fine. Take away our analog TV sets and force us to buy our Bourbon in metric bottles. What did you expect? This is just another insult from the Illuminist serpents in their ploy to render us subject to their Luciferian One-World rule."

Romarabic watches are now freely available on eBay and from other sources. Mr. Hess has published a guide to Romarabic numeration in Esperanto, Urdu, and Inuit. "It's a very elegant system once you get the hang of it," he said. Numeric conversion should be fully implemented by early MMX2.

WITH ALL DUE RESPECT . . .

. . . I find it difficult to agree with or even get along with anyone at the moment.

I think Nellie McKay says it best.

. . . BUT NOT THAT LONELY

UPDATE 4/6/2009: The Ministry of Truth is now officially up and running again!

This brief note, dated March 22, on Gordon Comstock's Ministry of Truth site:

There's been chatter. The Ministry might be about to reconvene. Stay tuned.

PROFESSOR IRWIN COREY

Here's the World's Foremost Authority at 93. (Check out what he says at about 3:50.)




And why do I get the impression that Lyndon LaRouche is cribbing from him?

FUSION WITHOUT FISSION?

Yep.

(Video here.)

STATEMENT FROM VYZYGOTH

I appreciate the kind words that were posted on this site.

I would also like to set the record straight.

The information that the program shared was meant to reveal the nature of the real conspiracy against not only Americans but all peoples of the world.

That information did not paint a pretty picture, but it was an accurate representation of the way things have been, are, and will be.

It’s simple, really. It’s always been about the money and mercantilism. Nations were created to open new markets, not to shelter huddled masses yearning to be free.

Despite the number of Christians who came to the New World, the United States was not God-breathed, nor was there any special providential dispensation granted this nation.

But that fairy tale was necessary to get Americans to believe we won the revolution, that our “framers” were really good guys, that the Constitution was for our protection.

That fairy tale also made it easier for us to accept the misinformation about the real forces behind the internecine slaughter known as the Civil War, the genocide of aboriginal peoples, and our twentieth-century role as the global hitman for corporations.

At this point in our history, it should be clear that government is irredeemably corrupt. There were honest representatives even into the last century, but they were thwarted and, finally, weeded out. What we have now are whores who have rented themselves out to the forces that will turn this nation into not only a socialist but, ultimately, a totalitarian state.

We never had our country to take it back. The Constitution was never meant to provide us with protection from the Federal government, yet paytriots still cannot get it through their heads as those who try to use the Constitution as a legal tool get threatened with contempt by judges, who, though reprehensible in their own right, are doing what is legally mandated.

When will the dumbass paytriots ever learn that the framers framed all of us a long time ago?

The show was not my day job, though it became the equivalent of such with regard to the time and energy expended and the seriousness with which I undertook it. But, unlike a real job, this endeavor sucked thousands of dollars from our personal finances across seven years, which is why I incorporated to write the losses off against our tax liability. The dollar drain is something I never complained about nor begged money for. That was a decision and sacrifice Lady Vyz and I chose to make.

All of you have issues, physical or otherwise, that arise in your lives. We do, too, to the point where, given our age, we don’t take tomorrow for granted. And it’s clear to us that it’s time to lighten the load, shift gears, and slow things down. We’re not passing this way again. And we cannot change the shape of things to come. But we do want to enjoy what we can while we can.

I can’t run a race of endurance or play a game of attrition with the paytriot networks. I’m outmanned and out-resourced and outlawed by them. But, understand this fully, the networks are not your allies. You know the mainstream and PBS/NPR broadcast outlets are full of shit, but the paytriot networks are just playing the other side of the street, because, in the end, money does change everything and the first casualty is the always truth, especially in paytriot broadcasting.

From here on in, I hope you will avail yourselves of the audio to be posted at http://thinkorbeeaten.com/theknoll. At the pace of a volume a month, it will take over four years to air them all.

The Inside the Knoll e-zine will be out shortly on the TOBE site.

That e-zine will reveal some of the workings behind the scenes and also provide an insight to some of my frequent guests who have contributed to this work.

I ain’t going anywhere, just putting the brakes on. Hope you’ll stick around.

And thank you all again.

KEITH HANSEN

NEW HOME FOR THE KNOLL ARCHIVES

Ang, of Think or Be Eaten, will soon host the complete archives of From The Grassy Knoll and Beyond the Grassy Knoll at THIS LINK. At the moment, there's this message:

The bad news: Regular listeners to Vyzygoth's Beyond The Grassy Knoll were stunned earlier this month when learning of the end of Beyond The Grassy Knoll broadcasts.

The good news: Think Or Be Eaten will be carrying on the legacy of The Grassy Knoll.

Specifics are still to be determined, but at this time here is what we know. The Grassy Knoll archives, spanning seven years of many diverse interviews, will be accessible here. The re-broadcasting of his entire archive, A to Z, will be made available one month at a time.

Bookmark this page because this will be the new permanent place on the web to access all Grassy Knoll audio archives and other related Knoll materials. TOBE has offered to make this space available to Vyz in whatever way he wants to utilize it and he has accepted that offer.

Exactly when this transition will occur is not yet known but tune in here for further information and updates, we will keep you apprised. As we get more information we will pass it on to you.

IT'S GETTING LONELY OUT HERE . . .

It's with much sadness we report that our friend Vyzygoth has discontinued his excellent program:

The reasons for my withdrawing the program, the closing down of my e-mail addresses, and the subsequent shutting down of the websites are predicated on nothing other than a desire to regain my privacy and time. A one-time, free e-zine is due out shortly, but I will not be involved in any other show or engage in any e-mail correspondences. This e-zine project and perhaps others, though, will be affixed to another website because, at the end of March, this site will be pulled down. If you want to save the 2008-09 audio archives, do it as soon as possible.

It's sad but also quite understandable that Vyz would walk away at the top of his game. He'd been increasingly frustrated by the amount of crap and half-crap that was circulated as valid news by people who should have known better. He had also made it a point to answer every email sent to him--and wound up on every CC list of forwarded rumor and inane ranting imaginable. In his most recent "These Days" installment addressing this surfeit of dreck, he sounds stressed--and tired.

In a conversation I had with him last Friday after he had decided to retire, he sounded much happier. No one should ever make himself a human sacrifice to the alternative media Play-Doh Fun Factory of feces. The world is much wider and richer than the 17-inch monitor in front of you, and certainly these words have much less significance than the concerns and enjoyments teeming just outside the range of its tunnel vision.

By all means download Vyz's programs while you still have the opportunity. There's good stuff there--you won't hear any better. Save the shows, back them up on DVD-R or your external hard drive, and take them out and listen to them when the universe of crap starts to close in on you. You'll feel a bit less lonely in so doing--and God knows it's getting lonely out here.

MALARKEY!

malarkey, n. Slang. Exaggerated or foolish talk, usually intended to deceive

As it's St. Paddy's Day and I'll soon be boiling my corned beef and cabbage (with carrots, potatoes, and onions) there's probably no better time to deal with the distracting and inane malarkey of that malevolent leprechaun, Fintan Dunne.

Most recently and most regrettably, Dunne has exerted his underwhelming knowledge of basic physics, deployed his Fort Apache array of straw men on the battlements, and cheerfully ignored all salient facts that do not agree with his revised theory of How The Twin Towers Came Down--a hypothesis which bears more than a passing resemblance to an early draft of the NIST report. As such, he merits an F in 8th grade science, an A in basket-weaving, and a B+ in tap-dancing.

First of all, forget about WTC 7. Dunne doesn't know how it was done, so ignore it. Sure, it looks like a controlled demolition and it fell at about free-fall speed--but that's just impossible. And when Dan Rather said it reminded him of a controlled demolition, pay him no heed because he was told to say that by the powers that be. Rather was instructed to plant the notion that explosives were used (as was Peter Jennings).

(Dunne is particularly adept at picking out fakes like Rather and Jennings. In fact, he's managed to prove that everybody is a fake except for Fintan Dunne. Imagine that.)

Dunne also believes that if explosives were used and the perpetrators wanted to cover it up they wouldn't bring in Controlled Demolition Inc., especially given their role in the cover-up of the OKC bombing. This from a guy that said the anomalies in the Nick Berg beheading video were placed there deliberately to bust the chops of the people that get it. Dunne could also add the naming of the disaster scene "Ground Zero" and the "terrorist hate your for your freedoms" line while they passed the Patriot Act. Controlled Demolition's presence on the scene was a show of arrogance and a necessity.

When Dunne attempts to explain the collapse of the towers he reveals just how stunningly ignorant he is--and how crafty. Before he serves up his plate of warmed over pancake theory (with rancid butter and adulterated syrup), he defines the opposition to his irrefutable logic as espousing thermite/thermate, cutter charges, or space beams. He pooh-poohs pyroclastic flow. And he completely ignores other credible theories (such as the deployment of tactical mini-nukes) to explain how the buildings disintegrated from the top down and pulverized themselves to dust following the path of maximal resistance.

He asserts (contrary to supposed popular belief) that there was plenty of steel lying about for NIST and others to examine--and so why didn't NIST (or others) find signatures of explosives? Well, NIST never felt the need to analyze the steel for signs of explosives, being in the employ of the perpetrators and otherwise following the Official Story: planes brought down the buildings, and explosives (of whatever sort) did not compute.

When confronted with the long-lasting molten steel, Dunne responds with an explanation that would have made Guinness come out my nose: friction! Apparently, in Dunne's physical universe, there was such friction when the towers came down (in less than 15 seconds through the path of maximal resistance) that the resulting heat melted steel and caused it to stay molten for three months. (By the same token, if I put on corduroy pants and walked around the block three times I'd burst into flames.)

And those lovely squibs: Fintan says they were just air being forced out of windows as the floors pancaked. The forced-air hypothesis also explains how steel beams were ejected hundreds of feet. The air, Dunne claims, was being compressed so that it escaped at something like six hundred miles per hour--enough to throw around girders like Tinkertoys. Uh-huh.

Dunne also conveniently forgets (or never knew) the difference between "heat" and "temperature." He avers that the steel got so hot (as a result of the jet-fuel and office fires) that it began to distort and buckle within 20 minutes. Forgetting for the moment that steel conducts heat and would have distributed it through the steel framework of the buildings, 20 minutes isn't long enough to bake a pizza. But while there was some heat from the fires, the actual temperature wouldn't have been high enough to compromise the steel.

Fintan Dunne is an occasionally-charming rogue who has obviously played tonsil-hockey with the Blarney Stone. With this series on the destruction of the World Trade Center towers, it's clear he's jumped whatever shark may dwell in the Irish Sea. Not that he's as tender and savory as the corned beef we'll enjoy today--if you stick a fork in him you'll find he's Dunne.

JEFF LONG ON VYZYGOTH!

Jeff Long of DC911Truth and The Rock Creek Free Press appeared with Vyzygoth this week on Beyond the Grassy Knoll. This is one of the best programs I've heard on the 9/11 Truth "movement" since stepping aboard this bus. It's very informative, with lots of fun gossip about all the usual suspects.

Also Jeff reveals that activism isn't about having meetings and forming committees. (But you already knew that.)

Download this excellent program HERE.

THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH PULLS THE PLUG

It's sad to note that one of the Good Guys is discontinuing his invaluable and genial program: Gordon Comstock is shutting down the Ministry of Truth for at least the foreseeable future. Here is his statement:

Due to the hardships of feudal serfdom, the Ministry has adjourned. There was always a thin window in my week when I could pull off a show; there is no such window right now for me and mine to keep up with website maintenance. The tech stuff finally did me in. I have no idea when or even if this thing will return. God knows; I don't know. I'm tired; my wife's tireder. Score two for the Robber Barons. Lord, have mercy; give us rest. --Gordon

Herb Smith and I had a very enjoyable time doing his show late last year--Gordon is very easy to talk to and has a deep and true knowledge of literature, history, and the current state of world affairs. More than that, in listening to him one gathers the accurate impression that he is simply a great guy.

His sane and sensible voice will be missed in this realm where shrill fear-mongering and rabid fulminating would seem to hold sway. We sincerely hope he will return with more excellent interviews and cogent analysis once he is able to do so.

FINTAN DUNNE: PLANES, FIRES BROUGHT DOWN TOWERS

Dunne veers into 9/11 debunkery HERE. What--no Controlled Demolition? No "near free-fall collapse?" No long-lasting subterranean pools of molten steel? In Dunne's view, issues about structural integrity trump physics.

It's worth listening to both segments (Part 1 and Part 2), if only to elevate one's blood pressure. Herb and I will respond to this material shortly.

BILL COOPER VS. ALEX JONES

A classic snippet from Bill Cooper's radio program--lest we forget:

UPDATE: This video seems to have been removed, but you can download the hour-long program segment from which the video was made from THIS PAGE.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE . . .

Some lynx-eyed satire from Jon Stewart:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

(Of course, Obama says it much prettier.)

Conspiracy to Kill MLK

Here's a letter I recently submitted to the Observer Dispatch. Unfortunately I received no response.

The Conspiracy to Kill Martin Luther King

In 1999, Memphis bar owner Loyd Jowers and co-conspirators were brought to trial in a wrongful death civil suit on behalf of members of the King family. Proceedings lasted one month during which attorney William Pepper called 70 witnesses and detailed a plot to murder Martin Luther King that - with Jowers as a go-between- involved J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, Richard Helms and the CIA, the U.S. military, Memphis police and organized crime figures from New Orleans and Memphis. Alleged motives were King's public opposition to the Vietnam War and plans for the encampment of 500,000 of the nation's poor in Washington D.C.

Jurors took one hour to decide in favor of the King family. The verdict read that Jowers had participated in a conspiracy to harm Martin Luther King and that others, including government agencies, were party to this conspiracy.

The plaintiffs were awarded their requested amount of $100 in damages. The judge apportioned liability at 30% to Jowers and 70% to all other co-conspirators.

Pepper chronicled the trial in his book "An Act of State." Transcripts of the entire trial are available at thekingcenter.org via the News and Information link.

RELIEF FOR TELEVISION ADDICTS

Not that I watch the lousy thing, but I'm compelled by familial and matrimonial loyalty to aid those who jones for broadcast video. Here's a solution to the DTV reception problem, at the best possible price: FREE. I'll be building one of these for my aunt this week, and one for my wife shortly thereafter.

UPDATE: Here's the antenna I constructed, without much trouble or expense. Now I just have to see if it will work!
UPDATE (1/24): I installed this monster today, and it receives the four local digital channels available in the Utica, NY area. The difference between WKTV Channel 2 analog and WKTV 2-1 digital is dramatic. Channel 2 had always been plagued with interference and ghosting. (Perhaps this whole "digital" thing isn't just a bag of rocks, after all.) The rabbit ears worked all right (and were installed on the kitchen TV at my aunt's house) but the coat-hanger contraption is far superior, and draws UHF stations beautifully as well. Signal strength was quite good. Now--if only the actual programming were better!

UPDATE (2/5) I've built two more of these things, trying one in the attic and one in the window of our bedroom. I've discovered that they're somewhat directional, especially for the reception of standard UHF signals. The one in the bedroom window is the one in use at the moment, since it may be more easily repositioned. Signal strength is good, but there are still only four digital channels available here even using an amplified splitter. Also, there is some interference on the PBS translator station--possibly from digital (or other) sources. I'm guessing the Syracuse PBS giant isn't going to spring for a digital relay in Utica. And we cannot receive CBS in Utica without cable, period. So much for the Digital Revolution.

HIGH ROLLERS IN THE BIG CASINO

My aunt gave my wife and I a subscription to Newsweek this year, and the first issue arrived today. Normally I would have ignored it, but the theme of the issue and the names on the cover are very telling--and the imagery of the photo illustration (complete with roulette wheel) leaves no doubt. Newsweek is giving us the list of patrons in the Big Casino--though some names are missing, some mentioned here are playing quarter slots, and others, like Osama Bin Laden, cashed in their chips some time ago. And who's the Croupier? (Click on the image for a detailed view.)

SPEAKING OF STARS . . .

Here's a great video by Angie Riedel:

WATCHING THE STARS WINK OUT

They're dimming the lights at the Limited Hangout, and it's last call at the Cointelpro Cafe. Apparently, The Dynamic Duo (the Fetzer-Barrett tag-team show on GCN) is ending its current run. As the curtain rings down, Fetz is still mired deep in the "no-plane" distraction, Kevin Barrett is still giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, and Morgan Reynolds and Judy Wood continue their low-key, bizarro improv.

It's all reminiscent of a Beckett play. You know that the characters are trapped in their scripts, and must repeat their lines endlessly without growth or epiphanies. Godot is never going to appear with the key piece of evidence that will Prove Conclusively How It Was Done So Let's Move On With Our Lives Already. If you haven't heard it from us yet, here it is: The 9/11 Truth Movement is the last and best manifestation of The Theatre of The Absurd.

And this: The 9/11 Truth Movement doesn't actually move. You can be certain the Fetzer-Barrett-Reynolds Endgame on GCN will continue as concentric ripples into outer space, forever.

THE UTICANS ON THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH!

Last Sunday evening, Herb and I spoke with Gordon Comstock of the Ministry of Truth. We recorded almost two hours with Gordon, but we were on the phone for three. It was fun. The time, as they say, just flew. The program is now posted on the website, and is available for download at this link.

We left no turncoat unstoned here, so all those who feel their particular ox has been gored may send their hate mail to the usual address.

UPDATE: Here is the infamous John Judge interview. (Thanks to Jeff!)

A Kick in Our Crystal Balls

Positive, adj.: Mistaken at the top of one's voice. -- Ambrose Bierce

Okay. We admit it. We were wrong, wrong, wrong. But so were all those other dime-store Nostradamuses who proclaimed that Hillary Clinton would be the next President of the United States. We figured that They always get the one in office that They want; that the matter of the Presidential selection is foreordained many years in advance--and that the logical and symmetrical progression that They favored was Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton. The late Kent Daniel Bentkowski heard this from some Illuminati insider in the 1990s, and Victor Thorn cheerfully stated that it was a foregone conclusion. And, like dogs barking idiotically in the night (to borrow a phrase from H.L. Mencken), we picked up the news and told anyone who would listen: It's gotta be Hillary in '08.

Boy, did we feel brilliant with an inside scoop like this. It was just going to happen, that's all. Why? Because. Because They have so decreed.

But predicting the future is always a mug's game.

Boy, were we wrong. El wrongo. Wrongalicious. Wrongkonkoma, New York.

So, yeah, we feel like idiots here. But in a more profound sense it's truly liberating knowing that nobody has an inside track on the future. In other words, whenever you hear dire predictions of an apocalyptic sort (and a Hillary win sure seemed apocalyptic to us), it's just crap. It may set your adrenals a-tingle, but the little-league Edgar Cayce who's selling that stuff (and likely gold and MREs besides) hasn't a bloody clue.

(This observation also applies to a certain Mr. Tarpley who has stated that we should all be soiling our knickers about now because Obama is undoubtedly the next Mussolini. Naturally, the same Mr. Tarpley has two prolix books to sell on the topic.)

(Be very afraid--but stop by Amazon.com on your way to the bomb shelter.)

We here resolve never to speak with certainty on anything that has not yet happened. It cannot be done.

If you ever catch us again trying to divine future events in tea leaves or in the entrails of sheep, please slap us.

Que sera sera, Baby.

WE ARE SO SCREWED: A Short Primer on the Federal Reserve

This seemingly says it all, and very tersely. (It's from "Zeitgeist," so chew carefully.)

911 BLIMP DAVE: THINK NUKES

UPDATE: Dave discusses his hypotheses with Vyzygoth in an interview (recorded September 30) available at this link.

One of the most daring and most credible theorists regarding the events of September 11, 2001 is our compatriot 911 Blimp Dave, much of whose most compelling research is hosted at his 911 University site.

His newest musings regarding the possibility of the use of multiple mini-nukes at the World Trade Center towers may be viewed HERE. This is his abstract of that section, titled "'Ground Zero' Energy Surplus":

Having first recognized the vast energy surplus accompanying the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11, and having then connected the dots on the evidence that points to widespread molecular dissociation at "Ground Zero", we now consider the possibility of the simplest and thus most likely potential source of the form of energy capable of accomplishing that feat: fissionless fusion energy, released from multiple very-low-yield thermonuclear devices.

THE WRINGER: Pete Bianco Interviews David Kennedy

Pete Bianco, our good friend (and my colleague at WHCL) has begun uploading some of his excellent interviews to a-infos radio including this recent program with anti-Fluoridation activist David Kennedy. Listen live to The Wringer from 8-10 AM Wednesdays on WHCL 88.7 FM, Clinton, NY, with streaming HERE.

WE NEVER GET TIRED OF WTC 7

Was the collapse of Building Seven a blunder or a distraction? Whatever the case, it doesn't hurt to remember that this couldn't possibly have happened except by controlled demolition.

And here's some hard science, as opposed to what NIST has been offering up lately:

(Thanks to Lynne!)

PUTTING DIANE REHM ON AN ICE FLOE

Aside from the fact that John Zogby is from my hometown, I consider that John's new book The Way We'll Be is one of the best non-fiction books I've read in years. John Zogby goes way beyond the current election, and offers a truly hopeful message about the resiliency and resourcefulness of Americans, reaffirming our independence of thought and our basic common sense and common decency. From a purely social standpoint, there is no Apocalypse waiting in the wings here. There may be a crisis or two ahead, but we'll make it.

So I really looked forward to John's appearance on The Diane Rehm Show today (as part of his book tour). John was scheduled for the second hour, which is usually the province of "features"--i.e., lots of books about diseases. A discussion with John Zogby about the positive conclusions reached in The Way We'll Be would have been a relief from all the usual cancer talk. Of course, the Rehm people had other ideas. Not satisfied with a positive show that would have actually made people feel better, they had to turn it into an ambush. They brought in a "con" guest (David Moore, who has a book of his own "debunking" polls) and there was absolutely no discussion of John's book. Nor was there much discussion of anything but the current election, and how polling relates to elections, specifically. (John handled this discussion in stride, naturally.)

My only conclusion is that the types at The Diane Rehm Show want to keep the discussion narrow and divisive--and depressing. Hence the parade of the walking wounded Diane Rehm interviews on a daily basis. There is no joy or hope offered either in so-called Public Radio or in the partisan ranting that dominates commercial radio. It's all about keeping people edgy, if not downright angry. In fact, there are very few decent talk hosts I can think of working today, particularly my friends Pete Bianco, a colleague at WHCL-FM, and Vyzygoth. Pete lets his guests speak, and does not attempt to railroad the discussion, a la Rehm. Vyz is without peer in the realm of internet radio.

The shame is, John Zogby wrote a genuinely good, valuable, and upbeat book in The Way We'll Be--and was not permitted to discuss it on national radio. I'd be willing to sign a petition to have Diane Rehm put on an ice floe, though chances are she'd be replaced by someone just as bad (or worse).

And we should send Rush Limbaugh a nice cerebral hemorrhage, just for balance.

"Good 'n' Plenty--A Holocaust of Flavor?" Not quite.

UPDATE (9/24/2008): The ad copy reads, "Realize Your Sweet Dreams. Collect Elite Packages and Fly To America." Just who is doing the dreaming here? (Thanks again to Vyz.)

UPDATE (9/22/2008): This Israeli magazine ad for Elite Candy Bars actually falls into the category of "predictive programming" (or at the very least "unsettling coincidence") since it appeared between 1997 and 2000. (Thanks to Vyz for this image--and for the update.)