News - Will the floodgates open?

Now that the Don Imus storm has peaked will the floodgates open on right wing media personalities? The idea is beginning to float with Rush Limbaugh even telling his listeners that he's next. MediaMatters.org has posted a large data dump of the most notable examples of right wing pundits crossing the line:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200704120010

I'm waiting for the "PC" backlash to brew from the political right if this keeps rolling down the tracks and picks up steam. We need a good moral panic these days, with right and left wingers throwing the pity party for themselves complete with the good old-fashioned First Amendment finger jab to the chest.

Blueland in New York

It's a 1-1 score in the 3rd period. How about a nice Atlanta Thrasher's video of "Blueland in New York?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9kl0PfIlM4

Thanks for the link, Coptix

http://coptix.com/rove/

Now I know where those Comcast hits came from on the 12th shortly after I posted my commentary.

Coptix has linked to the following post here on this blog regarding the doctored Karl Rove picture hoax in which Coptix employees were the source of the hoax:

http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2007/04/commentary-disinfo-rumor-and-grey.html

XOXOXO's to the hoaxers in a male bonding, Iron John sort of way! Link traffic from non-conspiracy theory sources is always welcome, regardless of the source.

Other Blogs - Mack White comments on the JFK assasination

The JFK assassination has made the news once again as the result of a Rolling Stone article about the deathbed confessions of alleged co-conspirator of the assassination, E. Howard Hunt. Hunt is one of those intelligence players who shows up in many conspiracy theories and in stories about the dark arts plied by intelligence agencies. Mack White has commented on the article and his insights are worth noting. His posting on the subject can be found here:

http://mackwhite.blogspot.com/2007/04/e-howard-hunts-deathbed-disinformation.html

The Rolling Stone article can be found here:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/13893143/the_last_confessions_of_e_howard_hunt


Highlights of White's comments

A few statements of particular interest written by White:

"As a spy and a dirty trickster, his entire career was built on deception, therefore anything said by this professional liar, even on his deathbed, is automatically suspect. "

and,

"But there’s someone missing from the list: Hunt himself. "

In two sentences, White has summed up the most important nugget of the article and has gone to the heart of what any conspiracy theorist must do when studying the web of deceit in CT, never forget the true nature of the beast you are dealing with.

Further into the posting, White once again sums up what I believe is the most important aspect of identification of the cabal behind the conspiracy:

"The “Johnson plot” is a limited hangout that better explains certain things, such as the involvement of the CIA and Mafia, but doesn't mention the more important involvement of the military-industrial complex--and no wonder. The same companies are still doing their dirty business today. " (emphasis mine - The CT Blogger)

Big kudos to Mack White for a fantastic post.

Formula 1 - How good is Lewis Hamilton?

Is this kid the real deal or is he just a flash in the pan? It's too early to tell but I'm extremely impressed by what we've seen from him so far. Two races into the season and he has a 2nd and a 3rd position finish in two career starts and this morning he took a front row effort. All that we have seen from this young man is what he currently knows, he hasn't even begun to show us his promise or what he is learning.

I'm one of the American anomalies when it comes to F1. I began watching the series in the mid to late 70's when ABC would show select races on it's Wide World of Sports weekend show. The races were on tape delay back then but I had the opportunity to see the greats of the 70's and early 80's in their full glory.

In '89 I became a full time fan of F1 after attending the French Grand Prix at Paul Richard while the ship I was stationed on made a port visit to Marseilles. So I have been following the sport as closely as possible for 18 years. I've seen the great years of Prost, Senna and Mansel. I saw the emergence and ascendancy of Hakkinen and Schumacker. I even got to see Gilles Villeneuve before his death. I'm impressed and intrigued by Hamilton.

The commentators on SpeedChannel have caught a bit of grief for their praise of Hamilton but I think their attention is warranted. I can't think of a single racer in any form of motorsports who has come out of the gate so strong with signs of maturity as great as he has.

News - Fat man crushes lawyer, lawyer lives

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-lifall0412,0,400189.story?coll=ny-leadworldnews-headlines&track=mostemailedlink

Excerpt from the article:

Ellen Massey always counted being struck by a baseball or a bat at Shea Stadium among the hazards of being a Mets fan, but she never thought a 300-pound man would come crashing down the stands -- and onto her.That's what the Manhattan resident, 58, said happened on Monday, Opening Day at Shea.

Shortly after the seventh-inning stretch, she said, a man dressed in a green Army-type jacket tumbled from higher seats and onto her back, knocking the wind out of her and, ultimately, causing serious injury."I only know he came flying," Massey, 58, said Wednesday from her bed in Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. "I was literally not able to breathe for about half-a-minute or so. The first thing I was aware of was not being able to breathe, and then when I was able to breathe I was aware of the pain in my lower back."

Massey, who is a lawyer, is scheduled for surgery on a vertebra on Friday. After she was injured, she said, she was attended to by two emergency medical technicians who were in the stands watching the game, and then by Shea's own medics, who stabilized her head and neck area and took her to a local hospital.

Comment - I hope the fat dude was able to get that awful lawyer smell out of his clothes. Poor fella, it's bad enough to fall down stadium steps, imagine if you touched a lawyer to boot. I wonder if he spilled his beer when he fell?

Plans for a quiet, relaxing weekend

My biggest task this weekend will be making a grocery store trip to play E-coli roulette with my health, all in the name of nourishment and that full tummy feeling. Other than that I'm planning one of those lovely weekends to lounge around in my boxer shorts and old ratty bathrobe and watch the tube. Unless a wild hair gets the best of me or something brews up in the national news, the posts this weekend will be on the fluffy side, save for one.

Bill Maher is on tonight, Formula 1 qualifying is tomorrow morning in Bahrain, and the Thrashers play game 2 against the Rangers tomorrow afternoon. Go Blueland! Sunday morning will be the Formula 1 race (Go Kimi, Fernando, Lewis and Kubica!) and Sunday night is episode 2, season 6B of The Sopranos. I'm going to sprout roots on the sofa and drink copious pots of tea.

One thing to also look forward to on Sunday is that it marks the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's first Major League game. I'll post some comments about this on Sunday along with some thoughts about Henry Aaron, my greatest childhood sports hero and one of my true adult heroes.

Wicked weekend weather

Everyone east of the Pacific should bone up on their best Dorothy imitation for this weekend. Keep that weather radio handy and stay safe.

Auntie Em! Auntie Em!




Screencap courtesy of the NOAA website.

To be President..forever

I'm going to make a wild and outlandish statement.

In 2009, President Bush will not step down as President of the United States. He will stay in office and his departure will only occur once he has chosen his own replacement.

Too wild to think of, isn't it? A "fringe" statement to make? Probably. Things like the Constitution, the Congress, the Supreme Court and the opinion and outrage of the citizens of the United States of America would prevent this from happening, right? Think again. It's possible and I believe we have already seen the signs of this administration testing the waters to see if they can pull it off. This isn't a prediction, just a hypothesis of how it could happen. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the powers vested to the Presidency from The Patriot Act and Patriot Act II have given the President the power to do this.


The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Section. 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.

This amendment prevents President Bush from staying in office past January 20th, 2009. If a bill to repeal this amendment is passed in both houses of the legislature by a 2/3 majority in each, and is ratified by 3/4 of the states, Bush can run for office once again. However, there is another back door method of amending the Constitution, known as an "Informal Amendment." In essence what it means is that the meaning or interpretation of the Constitution has changed. From such a change in the meaning of the Constitution a case can be brought to the Judicial Branch to redefine the meaning of a specific amendment. Can the 22nd Amendment be re-interpreted? As a lay person with no experience in the study of law my opinion is that I don't believe the meaning of this amendment can be changed.

So the trick with this amendment would be to repeal it outright or append. With a hostile Congress and an approval rate of less than 40%, repeal of the amendment is a laughable idea. How about appending the amendment to provide an "in case of fire.." option for Bush to exploit? Why go to that trouble of either of these choices when a more simple path has recently been cleared?


Just suspend Habeas Corpus

In Moyer v. Peabody the Supreme Court ruled, "When it comes to a decision by the head of the State upon a matter involving its life, the ordinary rights of individuals must yield to what he deems the necessities of the moment. Public danger warrants the substitution of executive process for judicial process.''

Could this ruling be one example of a point of argument that the administration could use to remain in power? In signing The Military Commissions Act of 2006, President Bush was given an entirely new and wide range of powers that has gone unchallenged and opens the interpretation of who can be defined as an enemy combatant. It allows for US Citizens to be declared enemy combatants and lose all rights as citizens that had been protected by the Constitution. In effect, it is the President's arrest warrant for any person whom he decides is a threat to the nation.

What set of events could lead the President to suspend Habeas Corpus and declare martial law and leave the Constitution open for his or the Supreme Court's interpretation? The idea of a false flag operation against the United States has been the subject of many long running Internet hoaxes. This is a shaky option but I believe that a more scripted process would make the suspension of Habeas Corpus a last ditch effort or possibly a moot point. I'm going to propose a 6 point strategy that would make repealing the 22nd Amendment or appending the 22nd Amendment a possibility even with our current attitude toward the president.


A 6 point strategy

1) Float the idea of repealing the 22nd Amendment - This has already been done on a small scale this year. Numerous websites reported that Vice President Cheney suggested that Bush was seeking to challenge the 22nd amendment. The quote offered in these April Fools Day jokes was, "Mr. Cheney again cited the war in Iraq as a key component in the effort to combat terrorism, saying "The war in Iraq is such a crucial part of the greater war on terror that we currently have our legal advisers looking into the possibility that the 22nd Amendment may not apply in 2008."

So the idea is already out there in a small segment of our population, even if it was intended as a "joke". All that is left is to float the idea more seriously is get the mainstream press to pick it up and discuss it on cable television.

2) Get an outsider in on the idea - Take someone who is respected and considered and "outsider" from the daily grind of Washington politics and who seems to be above it, with nothing to lose, and have them speak in serious tones for the idea. An author, a retired politician, a business leader, etc..

3) Get traction to steer the idea - If the idea stays in the public arena after the "outsider" gets on board, the idea has traction, even if the public is not favorable to the idea. As long as it's being discussed seriously it has traction. If it isn't getting traction, get snow chains.

4) Prove the idea has merit - It's been approximately 2 years since the last escalation of the terror threat level. Just enough time to make us relax and feel smarter than the DHS and White House scare merchants. That's long enough for a sudden escalation to scare the bejesus out of us. With growing violence in Iraq becoming a daily reinforcement in the news, a streak of particularly heavy violence would gain our attention. Couple that with a sudden threat level rise over an unspecified threat and we would react. If the idea of repealing the 22nd amendment didn't have traction before, this would get the traction. If it had traction, this would steer it in the direction the White House wants. Approval for such a thing would increase.

5) Reinforce the idea - This is tricky to call. A terrorist attack would reinforce the idea, so would a news story involving a high value target, such as immanent capture of Bin Laden, an escalation of threats with Iran, or an attack on the US fleet in the Persian Gulf. Whatever the event it would have to coincide with proving the idea has merit or come soon enough after the fact so that Americans would associate the two.

6) Make the idea a reality - Push the idea into Congress as a bill, if it dies it makes no difference. It can be used as part of the excuse to suspend Habeas Corpus and declare martial law.


Declarations of war

This President has made no haste in declaring himself a war president, even though Congress has not declared war. His powers to use the military in Afghanistan and Iraq are the result of Congressional acts, not declarations of war. However, the acts have given him a massive amount of leeway and power. The Constitution has been weakened and limits of Congressional power is now at the forefront of the current battle between Congress and the President. This is something that too many people have overlooked. It is not Congress that is trying to reel in the powers of the President, it is actually a Congress that is testing to see what powers they have lost.

Should a bill to repeal the 22nd Amendment be shot down, all the President would have to do is declare a national emergency based on the events of the day, use the Military Commissions Act of 2006 as his legal authority, declare that his power allows him historical precedence to suspend Habeas Corpus and protect the safety of the nation and with nothing more than a blink, Bush's Presidency is open ended.


Would he do this?

Most of this posted article is a supposition to begin with. Trying to determine what the President is planning to do or say what goes through his thought process is a fruitless exercise. But it should be noted that the tools have been given to him to do this. The precedence has been laid down. The theoretical capabilities to do this are factual. What we need to do is watch very closely to see if the administration leans in this direction in the next 21 months.

Ask yourself this question. Do you think for one second that this level of power is something the Republican Party would ever dream of giving to a Democratic President? And yet if these powers are maintained through the next election cycle it is very much a possibility that a Democrat will take the White House, possibly Sen. Clinton, and then a Democrat will have all the power that President Bush currently has, unabated. The Republicans fear and loathe Sen. Clinton more than any other Democratic candidate. Can any Democrat say that they want to see a Democratic President wield this kind of power, let alone how a Republican would view this, especially Ms. Clinton? I can only say no to the last question.

So why would they take a chance that someone like Ms. Clinton could hold this type of power? Especially for a party that Karl Rove has tooled to be the only political party in a "One party America". They do not plan on relinquishing this power and they didn't plan on losing the White House, ever, when the plans were being drawn up to gain this power. It's the only conclusion I can come to.

I hope I am the most paranoid person in the world and this will never happen.

A system of structure and definitions for Conspiracy Theory - Pt 1

Like most people who have studied conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists for any given period of time, I have formed my own opinions on the nature of the CT field, and how it really interacts with the world around us. Rather than focus on a single subject within the field I have "shopped around", so to speak, and looked at many corners of the field.

One area that seems to be somewhat vacant of research by the conspiracy theorists themselves, in my opinion, is the nature of what a conspiracy theory really is and what conditions must be present to qualify as a conspiracy theory. While there are many academics who have taken the subject of conspiracy theory as a whole as an area of their research and writing, it seems we are lacking in being able to fully describe who we are or even what it is that we do, and why we do "it."

I'd like to present for your consideration, in two parts, a system of hierarchical structure and definitions that I use in my research and how you can use this system. This system will help you define a conspiracy theory, how to categorize the theory itself and how to use this system of classification and categories. A researcher can link seemingly unconnected theories together if they know how and by the same token a researcher can separate the wheat from the chaff and bring order to a seemingly unorganized CT.

In his "Octopus" research, the late Danny Casolaro was reportedly able to find the connecting points for a multitude of conspiracies and weave them together into a cohesive structure that created a unifying conspiracy theory. Unfortunately, we will never see his work but we can work toward a more formal approach to our work which may help us create an overview that may resemble what he was trying to achieve. I'm not looking to create a unifying theory for conspiracism but using this system has helped me find the connections between seemingly unrelated events and strip away the disinfo planted in some theories. Here is my system.

The definition of a Conspiracy Theory (CT)

1) A situation and/or event where an individual or group of individuals conspires with another individual or group of individuals, to maintain and/or gain power in one or more of the three systems of society:

- Polemic
- Economic
- Theocratic

2) The true nature of the situation or event that is the subject of the conspiracy must remain secret to protect the physical and/or legal security of those involved in the conspiracy.

3) The base motivation of the conspiracy is gaining and/or maintaining power.

4) Any theory which does not involve the gain or maintaining of power and cannot be directly linked to at least one of the three systems of society, cannot be identified as a conspiracy theory.

The three systems of society that I refer to; Polemic, Economic and Theocratic, are the foundations of any conspiracy theory and the foundations of our society itself. If the theory does not have a direct connection or implication of that connection with one of those three foundational systems, it is not a conspiracy theory. This point is essential.

For example, Bigfoot research if not a conspiracy theory field of study however, if a theory were proposed regarding the suppression of Cryptozoology study which addresses the consequences of unknown hominid proof and it's effects on the structure of scientific review, then it could be defined as a conspiracy theory. The field of Bigfoot studies would still not fall under CT but the theory proposed would be a CT. There is a hierarchical structure within the scientific community which maintains a level of power over the community. This is a Polemic system, and depending on the subject there may be connections to the Theocratic and Economic systems.

High Weirdness and the Weirdness Confluence

Using this guideline it is easy to classify Bigfoot studies as Cryptozoology and not Conspiracy Theory. The guideline also classifies instances and conditions where Cryptozoology can overlap with Conspiracy Theory. The two fields are not directly related but they can be conditionally related. Any High Weirdness subject can be defined by the fields of study that it belongs to, but it can have a conditional relationship with others in the Weirdness Confluence. High Weirdness subjects are any subject that followers of the Church of the SubGenius may find of interest, or derision. The study of kooks, art, obscure writings, politics, consumerism/anti-consumerism, Discordianism, Evangelism are all examples of High Weirdness. The Weirdness Confluence is the area where those strange interests intersect with the reality defined by non-Church of the SubGenius members.

Categories

Any conspiracy theory which has interlocking connections to all three of the societal systems and is totally dependant on all three, is classified as a Pure Conspiracy Theory (PCT). An example of PCT is the fabled Rand report which states that if Extra-Terrestial life were proven, it would require absolute secrecy from the public at large as it would cause a complete breakdown in the society that would effect religion, the economy and government. Many UFO and Alien conspiracy theories can be classified as PCT because of this foundational structure.

Any conspiracy theory which has interlocking connections to two of the societal systems, is classified as a Crossover Conspiracy Theory (CCT). An example of a CCT are the theories that swirl around the response to Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans. Those theories propose that financial gain is the cause of inaction and those in political power furthered the agenda because they are somehow directly connected to the economic gain. This CCT has direct ties to the Polemic and Economic foundations with no connection to the Theocratic foundation.

Any conspiracy theory which is directly connected to one of the societal systems and no connections to the remaining two, is classified as a Standalone Conspiracy Theory (SCT). An example of a SCT is the takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention by extreme fundamentalists. This SCT involves power over a Theocratic system and it's members and any polemic or economic gain is wholly incidental.

PCT, CCT and SCT are not hierarchical when compared to each other. All three categories have equal standing among each other. The hierarchical structure of CCTs and PCTs are defined by which of the systems appears to take precedence in the function of the CT. It is my belief that unless a unifying theory of conspiracism is formed, no CT will have a higher importance over another, only direct or conditional connections. Even within a unified structure I believe there could be instances where an SCT could be removed from the overall structure simply because of it's conditional connection.

Part Two

I will post part two within the week. Part two will define how to use this system of definition and categorization. I will include examples of how to clarify a theory with this system and how to expand a theory as well. I'd love to read any comments, suggestions, rants, ravings or insults that you may have. Please feel free to write me at conspiratorsnest@bellsouth.net

Update - Part 2 can be found here: http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2007/04/commentary-system-of-structure-and.html

Commentary - Disinfo, rumor and grey propaganda

Two recent news stories highlight the care that must be taken when reporting or blogging current events. The news items in question are the story told by Ford Motor Company CEO Allen Mulally about preventing the President from accidentally blowing himself up with a new hydrogen fueled vehicle during a photo op; and the story which connected Coptix and GWB43.com with the growing scandal over fired US Attorneys based on political grounds. In both cases the information that was being reported were incorrect. The Ford CEO story involved a mis-reporting by the press as Mulally attempted to make a joke which didn't exactly get told correctly. The Coptix story was actually a hoax created by employees of Coptix complete with a Photoshopped picture of Karl Rove.

Rumors, lies, propaganda and red herrings are abound in the world of political maneuvering, especially with the current White House staff. I don't believe there has been a more manipulative and smoke and mirrors driven Presidency in my lifetime. Chief of Staff Karl Rove has a long and legendary history of creating false stories and using lies as a tool dating back as far as 1970. Identifying the lies is not easy, especially for the regular blogger or average CT enthusiast. For the casual CT enthusiast the challenge is even greater. Faced with a master political manipulator like Karl Rove we all have our jobs cut out for us, conspiratorial centric or not.

There are 3 forms of propaganda; white, grey and black. White propaganda is classified as propaganda in which the true source is declared. Black propaganda is classified as propaganda that is purportedly to be from a source on one side of a conflict but is actually from that sources opposite side. Grey propaganda is classified as propaganda with no identified source. From these three choices, a propagandist will take an existing propaganda model (stereotyping, flag-waving, etc..) and create their message. Rove and his followers are particularly adept at weaving their web using these tools.

Was the Photoshopped Coptix/GWB43.com hoax really just a joke? What did the creators of this hoax have to gain and did they gain anything? What did this hoax prove? What did the hoax really do?

The Joke - Speculating motivation is tricky so we have to take the act and the explanation by the hoaxers at face value and go from there. The perpetrators of the photo hoax have claimed it was an April Fools joke, but the joke wasn't revealed until several days after the fact. Let me ask you a question: If you own or are employed by a professional technology business with customers that include mass media (Chattanooga Times-Free Press), one of the major political parties in America (The Republican National Committee) and the means of communication that the RNC uses for electronic communication with the staff of the President of the United States(GWB43.com) are you going to risk your reputation and income by creating this type of "joke"? The payoff for such a ruse is minuscule compared to the firestorm of bad publicity you'll receive, not to mention the potential customer base you will lose once your antics get publicity.

The gain - On the surface, the only thing that appears to be gained by working this hoax is publicity; and the joke is one that can only be appreciated by a small, fragmented sub-culture that is loosely tied by political ideology. Chattanooga is a city that is going through a period of major growth. Over $1.2 billion dollars of business investment is in progress in the city right now( http://www.chattanooga-chamber.com/PDF_Files/ttwongoing.pdf ), international businesses are investing in the city and smart local business owners have everything to gain with their reputations alone. Copitx has three "Tiffany" customers; one is local (Times-Free Press) and two are national/international (RNC and GWB43.com), and we are asked to believe that the corporate leadership at Coptix is willing to risk all that over a "joke" played by it's employees? No one was fired for misrepresenting the company they are employed by? Would your employer condone your actions if you pulled a similar publicity stunt with their company? Outside of Hollywood the axiom of "There is no such thing as bad publicity." does not apply. When you are a business owner, and especially in the fickle and tumultuous world of technology providers, the last thing you want associated with your company name is bad publicity and an instance of hoaxing the public.

What did the hoax prove - The hoax proved one thing, bloggers can be lured into taking the bait without vetting the source and we can't always believe what we see. Not at all surprising since very few bloggers are doing this full time and would not have the time, resources or skills to fully investigate the story in question. In hindsight it has proven one very important thing. There are people within the blogosphere who are considered a threat to certain people in power and this was most likely a shot across the bow by Rove and his followers. It was an attempt to discredit and tarnish the work of certain blogs and bloggers. The lingering effect will be to equate blogs and bloggers as untrustworthy and gullible, like the conspiracy theorists.

What the hoax really did - To political bloggers it proved that they need to be more careful and skeptical when a scoop pops up in their inbox. It also proved that they need to be wary of what the powers that be think about them. For conspiracy theory researchers, authors and enthusiasts it reinforced our knowledge of the tactics and MO of certain targets of the subject matter we follow. This is a chance for a lessons learned moment.

The other half of this story will be asking ourselves how it fits into the bigger picture of propaganda, conspiracy theory study and the Bush Presidency. Was the Dan Rather Air National Guard documents controversy an act of a single person or was it a conspiracy that originated within Karl Rove's office? Why isn't the mainstream media weaving together the instances of false documents, propaganda and lies which all terminate and originate with this administration? We know that answer to that, so what do we do about it?

Vonnegut

Novelist Kurt Vonnegut has died. I was 16 when I first read Slaughterhouse Five in the summer of 1982 and the impression it made on me was so great that I can remember the time and place when I first read it and the feelings it stirred. Only a handful of books hold that honor with me. The world is a little smaller and a little more gray and unfocused now.

Other Blogs - Federal nominee has Bigfoot links

Cryptozoology researcher and author Loren Coleman has a very interesting article posted today at Cryptomundo.com:

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/laverty-bf/

It seems that a proposed appointee to the Department of the Interior has a background in Bigfoot research. Since people still joke about Jimmy Carter's UFO sighting report I can imagine what the political junkies will say about this nominee.

Loren always has interesting articles and his site's registered commentators are sharp. The CZ world, much like the CT world, gets a lots of grief over it's subject matter but both fields are fortunate to have many sharp eyed authors who dig deeply before they put their reputation on the line. Cryptomundo is one of the high weirdness sites that I highly recommend. I also believe that his books are required reading for any budding CZ enthusiast or veteran researcher.

News - al-Qaeda claims responsibility in Algiers blasts

While searching for updates on al-Qaeda's claim of responsibility in today's bombings in Algiers I came across an interesting article regarding al-Qaeda's reach into northern Africa that has been ignored by corporate news:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/50490.html

Moroccans felt relatively safe from the Islamist terrorism plaguing
neighbouring Algeria, but that sense of security is now definitively gone. A
recent string of suicide bombings and arrests has exposed the vulnerability of
the kingdom in a region where al-Qaeda is extending its reach.

Moroccan terrorists are still amateurish, but widespread poverty and a lack
of opportunities for young people provide a fertile ground for extremism to
grow, local analysts said. (Emphasis added)

An Algerian-based, al-Qaeda-linked umbrella organization is now coordinating
North African Islamist cells which are also believed to train their activists in
Africa's Sahel countries.

I've posted a few entries to the blog over the past few days which discuss not only the fascination that al-Qaeda has with attacks on the 11th, but also about the methods of recruitment and indoctrination that link al-Qadea's efforts to create Manchurian Agents with the CIAs MKULTRA program. Links to both posts listed below:

Mind control:

http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2007/04/commentary-mind-control.html#links

al-Qaeda and numerology:

http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2007/04/ct-dates-pick-number-from-1-to-infinity.html#links

News - President looks for a new General of the Armies

The Washington Post is reporting that President Bush is looking for a "War Czar" to lead the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and issue commands to the DoD and State Department. In other words he is looking for a General of the Armies, a rank last held by John Pershing.

Link to the WaPo article on MSNBC.com:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18026723/

Some highlights of the article:

At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military.

Translation - Even the megalomaniacs don't want this baby.

The administration's interest in the idea stems from long-standing concern over the coordination of civilian and military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan by different parts of the U.S. government. The Defense and State departments have long struggled over their roles and responsibilities in Iraq, with the White House often forced to referee.

Translation - Presidentin' is hard work. It only took 5 years for them to realize this.

Personally, I think it's a good idea as long as the position has teeth and the person who takes the position is a true leader, not some manager with a staff of drones. The Iraq war needs to end and the strategy in Afghanistan needs to be refocused but to get us from where we are today to where we need to be are millions of miles apart. A leader with vision and guts can do it but where are we going to find such a person and will Lockheed/Haliburton/Dick Cheney allow it?

100 Millionth iPod sold

According to Census data there are more than 230 million Americans over the age of 16. So it appears that Apple will now have to focus their attention on the final 130 million of us who still are not iPod owners. What can Apple offer to make the rest of us Luddites, audiophiles and stalwarts to take the plunge and buy one?

At this point in the game it is probably too late for us to join the ranks of iPod owners. We have become set in our ways and simply refuse to buy one out of principal alone. What would the incentive be to jump on the bandwagon when the shark has already been jumped? The hip factor left us a long time ago and is in the closet with that pair of Cuban heeled boots that we just can't bring ourselves to part with.

Knowing the reputation of Steve Jobs he can't simply write us off. He'll need to re-double his efforts and come up with some new device that appeals to the rest of us the moment we see it. How about an iVinyl player? My design choice can be seen above.

Commentary - Mind Control

The year 1959 saw the release of Richard Condon's novel The Manchurian Candidate; five years earlier a CIA behavioral researcher and guru, Morse Allen, made his first attempt to create a programmed assassin by using hypnosis within the auspices of Project ARTICHOKE. By time Condon's novel had been turned into a film and was in theaters the CIA's MKULTRA project was in full swing. Allen had been pushed aside in the development of creating a process to hypnotize an unwitting subject into performing covert operations for the agency. Condon's novel is fiction. Project ARTICHOKE, MKULTRA and the CIA's efforts to create hypnotized assassins and covert operatives is real. The creation of a Manchurian Agent is the result of this work.

What became of this program? There is no known end date for MKULTRA. The last report I have been able to find which mentions the project's activities is a 1994 GAO report which states that human experiments were still being conducted in 1974. As we have seen with John Poindexter's pet DARPA project, Total Information Awareness, a project can be birthed, grown, exposed, banished and re-birthed under a new name, new agency and a new focus. A project such as MKULTRA, which specializes in methods of controlling the minds and actions of human beings, holds a seductive promise that would be impossible for the agency to relinquish. This is the type of power that no agency or organization would ever want to part with. It can be argued that the project is still alive in one form or another after reviewing several events of the past 15 years which have glaring similarities to suspected MKULTRA projects.

The assassination of Itzchak Rabin in 1995 has many of the hallmarks of an MKULTRA based operation. Assassin Yigal Amir fits the "lone nut" profile. He has connections and close ties to extremist organizations. There are numerous inconsistencies surrounding official reports of Rabin's assassination. The methods used to recruit radical Islamic suicide bombers appear to match methods developed in Project BLUEBIRD and Project ARTICHOKE. The "lone nut" (Manchurian Agent) method of assassination (JFK, RFK, MLK, Wallace, Reagan, Rabin) appears to still be the preferred method in western or westernized societies but in emerging third world nations and in the Arab and Persian states, the "Groupthink" style of Manchurian Agent operations and indoctrination appears to be preferred for assassinations as well as day to day operations.

Beginning with the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis and continuing today with the Iraq insurgency and al-Qaeda attacks, what we see emerging is a pattern of attack methods in which groups of individuals or individuals who align their actions with the dogma of radical groups and perform advanced strategic operations, are taking center stage. The methods of luring individuals into these radical groups use aspects of Project BLUEBIRD as well as the writings of many researchers and psychologists who study "Groupthink". Confused, disenfranchised and impoverished people are indoctrinated into movements in which they are made to feel a part of something greater than themselves. The promise of acceptance, righteousness and social justice are cornerstones of this method. Once they become a member of the group, advanced techniques can be employed which condition the subject into accepting the idea of sacrificing their life for the greater good of the group. A Manchurian Agent is created in this way.

I don't believe that the suicide bombers of the middle east are CIA manufactured Manchurian Agents. I do however, believe that the techniques used by the CIA were passed down to members of the radical groups which utilize Manchurian Agents to carry out suicide missions throughout the world. The outcome of the Jonestown Massacre was all the proof that the CIA needed to focus on a method of psychological indoctrination rather than biological or chemical agents as an effective, low-risk solution. It's no secret that the agency was active in Afghanistan in the 80's and their presence in Afghanistan coincided with the emergence of the main al-Qaeda players. Osama Bin Laden was even trained by the agency during this time frame. I think it safe to assume that of the individuals who were trained in the psychological methods of indoctrination, many turned into Agent Provocateurs, willing to freelance their work to meet their own goals and needs. The connections made by Bin Laden during the Soviet Afghan War later found their way home in the early 90's as he began to form the foundation to al-Qaeda. Those trained in mind control techniques would have found their way to Bin laden or he would have actively sought them through his connections.

Would the Groupthink method be viable for use in America against Americans? I think there are signs that it would. American's have lost the perspective and insight needed to even recognize basic propaganda disseminated by their own government. Constant negative and positive reinforcement of following leaders and aligning oneself to political parties and moral absolutes is a 24 hour a day business on the corporate news outlets of cable news channels. Dissenters from any side of the political spectrum are shunned, mocked and verbally assaulted by the "true believers". Maintaining a specific and all-encompassing belief system is not yet the norm in America, but maintain AN all-encompassing belief system is the norm in America. The worst thing a person can say in today's cultural climate in America is "I don't have an opinion of that subject." It is expected and mandatory that you have an opinion on any subject, even the ones which do not effect you in any way. You have to have an opinion on abortion, the economy and foreign policy. Even sports, a pastime, is an area where everyone must have some type of opinion.

All that is needed to push the Groupthink training into action is a single event and action will occur. It's happened before, within the past 7 years. Think of 9/11 and how you and those around you reacted. No one had a unique experience, no one has unique memories of the events of that day. Every single American recalls that day in words in the exact same way.

"I remember seeing the planes crash into the buildings."
"My mind couldn't comprehend what I was seeing."
"All I wanted to see was justice brought to the people who did it."
"I fully gave my support to the President."

To quote from The Manchurian Candidate, "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, warmest, most wonderful person I have ever met."

In America, we have become a nation of Manchurian Agents.

News - NM Governor tours USS Pueblo

Coincidence can be a strange thing. Only days after Iranian officials released the 15 British Marines and Sailors that they had held captive for 15 days, NM Governor Bill Richardson was taken on a tour of the USS Pueblo while on an official visit to North Korea.

(Crew of the Pueblo display their true feelings for their North Korean captors.)







Link to article about Gov. Richardson's trip:

http://www.chieftain.com/national/1176185110/1

On it's own, the Pueblo incident is another event in the history of the Cold War which could have turned into a much more dangerous escalation of hostilities which fortunately did not occur. Happening just 6 months after the attack on the USS Liberty by the Israeli Air Force and Navy, and in the midst of the Vietnam conflict, the Pueblo's seizure by North Korean forces was one more link in a chain of terrible events that the US Navy endured. Five months after the capture of the Pueblo the fast attack submarine Scorpion was lost with all hands in the Azores. Six months earlier a fire aboard the carrier Forrestal took the lives of 132 crewmen. As this was going on the Navy had no idea that a massive spy ring within it's ranks was in it's infancy.

In the years since the 1985 arrest of John Walker Jr. and the members of his spy ring there has been much debate as to whether or not his activities had a connection to the capture of the Pueblo. Walker claims that he began supplying the Soviet Union with documents after the Pueblo incident occurred. However, Maj. Laura Heath presented a thesis to the US Army Command and General Staff College in 2001 where she laid out the possibility that the Pueblo was captured because the Soviets wanted to study the equipment that was described in documents that Walker had already supplied to them. http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/heath.pdf I highly recommend reading this thesis for anyone who is interested in the Walker spy case and for people who are interested in the mechanisms of intelligence agencies.

Television - Jonestown documentary to air tonight on PBS

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/jonestown/?campaign=pbshomefeatures_1_americanexperiencejonestownthelifeanddeathofpeoplestemple_2007-04-09

Aficionados of cults, mind control and CIA studies will have the chance to watch a new documentary this evening, produced for PBS' American Experience series. The documentary will include interviews with former Peoples Temple members, including survivors of the massacre.

I may take notes and post some thoughts here on the blog.

Don't drink the Kool-Aid, folks.

News - School reopens following mystery rash

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/clayton/stories/2007/04/09/0409metschool.html (Login required, free registration)

Exerpt from the AJC.com article:

Pulliam also said the school system will conduct an analysis of how it handled the outbreak. Some parents argued the school system shouldn't have reopened the campus after the first group of students complained of rash symptoms on March 23. Officials closed the school March 26 after more students said they had the rash. The symptoms reportedly went away after cold showers and over-the-counter medicine.

Students at an Atlanta area school are back in class following a mystery rash that forced the school to close. Forrest Park Middle School officials disinfected desks, walls, computers (anything that didn't move) in an attempt to stop the spread of the mystery rash. Air and surface samples have turned up negative as to the cause of this outbreak.

Was this a case of mass hysteria or was something actually causing the rash?

Commentary - The message or the messenger?

The 9/11 truth movement has had a a major public airing following a celebrity endorsement from Rosie O'Donnell. Gaining mainstream publicity is one thing, to gain publicity when a celebrity does a verbal data dump to approximately 3.1 million daytime TV viewers is another. The fallout, as should be expected, was swift. The 9/11 truth movement followers tell us that Rosie's statements are proof that the the idea of a massive conspiracy involving the 9/11 attacks is now a mainstream idea as evidenced by her statements. The 9/11 conspiracy skeptics tell us that science debunks all of the 9/11 truth movements theories, and that O'Donnell is just an unfunny, ignorant, overweight lesbian who should be ignored.

Personal attacks are nothing new in this arena. When you prescribe to an "out in left field" idea it should be expected that scorn will follow you. In the case of O'Donnell's comments we see more than an attack against her beliefs, we see an attack against her based on personal feelings. I'll admit that I am not a fan of Rosie O'Donnell and have never watched her TV shows, personally, I find her grating. But, I think that is part of her shtick as a performer. It's a part of her delivery method as an entertainer, much like a shock jock or a blue comedian.

It's interesting to me that the debunkers, who pride themselves on their logic and adherence to science and scientific methodology would include the personal insults that are being used in debunking her statements. It's not necessary and in the long run I don't think it helps their cause. It makes O'Donnell a sympathetic individual because the attacks are so personal and so specific. Does her sexuality, weight or physical attractiveness have anything to do with the belief that 9/11 was an inside job? No. Does her pushy vocal style have anything to do with the belief that the government planned and executed the 9/11 attacks? No. Does her profession have anything to do with the belief that the NIST report on the collapse of the buildings is wrong? Well, yes, there is a connection there but the rebuttal by referencing her profession is a straw man argument. Following the argument that a non-scientist's opinion is worthless in regards to the report findings is no different than dismissing the typical registered voter's opinion if they are not a political science major.

I'm not a believer in the 9/11 truth movement. There are aspects of the 9/11 attacks which raise red flags with me but many of the pillars that the followers of the movement stand on don't jibe with me. I don't believe explosives were in Towers 1 and 2. I don't believe that a directed energy beam was used. I don't believe that thermite was used to bring down Towers 1 and 2. But there is more than enough evidence that key government officials ignored warnings and many were guilty of dereliction of duty. NORAD's response on that morning was nothing short of criminal. Trade Center 7's collapse is too convenient and unexplainable based on the reasons given for it's destruction. But I won't join the movement because of those irregularities. The tone of the attacks against O'Donnell are not surprising and they are not a sign that the 9/11 truth movement is based on scientific fallacies. The tone of the attacks is a sign that even those who pride themselves on their adherence to scientific standards are not above confusing the messenger with the message.

Commentary - When conspiracy theory becomes conspiracy fact

Are you a true believer of conspiracy theories? Are you a skeptic? Or are you like me, a friend of Bob who loves a little spice in their life? The world of conspiracy theory personalities is broken down into those three groups. The true believers provide the theories, the skeptics debunk the theories, both of those side battle and the friends of Bob float between the two depending on the wind, claims of both sides and mood.

What makes a person become a conspiracy theorist or follower of conspiracy theories is hard to define. I have noticed from my own experiences that in many cases what seems to spark a person down this road is an event or series of events that causes the person to question what is really going on in this world. Take legendary CT activist Mae Brussell for example. Her interest in the Warren Commission report was the key to her involvement in this sub-culture. The inconsistencies in the Warren Commission findings are many and one of the subjects I will be blogging about in the future. As if we need another Kennedy conspiracy theorist?

Mae was the first of the serious JFK researchers and her work is invaluable to this day and just as vital in a time of war on terror, war on the citizenry and Big Brother as it was in the 60's and 70's. Her work on government conspiracies was groundbreaking and of all the CT subjects it is the one area I feel most strongly about. It's easy to dismiss this field as being full of kooks, but it's impossible to deny that groups of individuals within our government are active in conspiring against the very people they represent and serve. All one has to do is look at the formation of the Office of Special Plans (OSP), it's manufactured intelligence, the events that transpired based on that false intelligence and you have conspiracy fact rather than theory.

The X-Factor of the OSP's bogus intelligence is "why" this was done. What agenda is advanced by manufacturing intelligence that will cause war to be waged? Is the motivation financial? Is the motivation expansion of power? Is the motivation xenophobia? Are all three of those things interconnected? This is where the typical theorist trips themselves. They postulate a motivation that is clouded with their own bias and leads them to conclusion that can be shot down for lack of proof.

Slowly the information is being uncovered and while we may never be able to piece together the true motivation behind the invasion of Iraq we are slowly seeing the apparatus that is used in a conspiracy. This is a real world example of how these things are created and how they are operated. Knowing this information can help us in future events and when we look back at events of the past.

News - Stovepiped intelligence

Truthout.org is reporting on the cooked intelligence that led the US into war in Iraq.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040607A.shtml

The Defense Department's Inspector General has issued a report on this which backs information that many of us have known for a long time. Officials placed within the Pentagon intentionally provided the White House with false intelligence to justify the Iraq invasion. Congress may have seen the same intelligence that the White House saw but that intelligence was blatantly false.

The war on terror will be a major CT subject for many years to come.

Happy Easter

A Happy Easter to you and yours from The Conspiracy Theory Blogger.