911 Loose Change - Are All The "Facts" Straight?

Many of you have viewed the conspiracy video 911 Loose Change. If you haven’t yet, here’s the URL:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8260059923762628848&q=loose+change

I’m not passing this information along to promote the video, but it does raise some interesting and possibly disturbing questions. Interesting and disturbing as they are, does the filmmakers’research stand up to close scrutiny? I’m not a technical expert by any means, but I do know at least one fact that they got absolutely wrong. And that one out-of-place ‘fact’ tarnishes, in my opinion, their entire hypothesis.

First of all, let me say that I do believe in conspiracies. I believe JFK’s, RFK’s and Martin Luther King’s assassinations were perpetrated by a group or groups of conspirators. The single gunmen theories in all those crimes against America simply don’t make sense. So I do believe that there are people with agendas out there that run counter to the American people’s best interests.

What about 911 Loose Change?

The evidence they raise is certainly compelling, and I’d like independent experts to follow up on all of it.

Here are some of the issues they raise.

Air Force drills were conducted by NORAD just prior to September 11, 2001. Though no one in the Bush White House seemed to be taking seriously the warnings of Richard Clark, the White House counter-terrorism advisor, perhaps NORAD was. If so, hooray for NORAD!

There were an unusually high number of ‘put’ options placed on both United and American Airlines stocks just prior to September 11. ‘Put’ options make a profit when a stock goes down. Who placed these put options? That’s never revealed, but maybe some enterprising investigative journalist could find out. What if it’s discovered they were placed by a number of Saudi princes? According to the video, those options were never exercised. Whoever it was must have been scared off, but that was a lot of money to leave on the table. I guess they could afford it

Then there was the size of the hole made by the plane hitting the Pentagon. The video suggests that it couldn’t have been a Boeing 757. The hole was too small. Eyewitnesses claimed the aircraft was everything from a corporate jet to a C-130 cargo plane. And what happened to the large titanium engines? If a Boeing 757 didn’t hit the Pentagon, what did? I’d like to see this researched further.

I believe the video’s least compelling argument was about the World Trade Center. Either The History Channel or the A&E channel did a complete study and analysis in a documentary about what contributed to the WTC’s collapse. Much of it was due to the way the buildings were constructed, a hollow shell supported by a skeleton of steel beams, whose strength was compromised by explosions and their resultant fires.

Much of the video’s supporting evidence is from eyewitnesses and ‘earwitnesses.’ Defense attorneys make a living destroying the testimonies of eyewitnesses. The internal explosions that interviewees said they heard could have been the sound of steel collapsing, or perhaps other pressure-based explosions resulting from the structures’ internal collapses.

What about the hijacked planes and the cell phone calls made from them? This is one issue that really bugs me. Can cell phone calls be made from planes? I don’t know, but the video does present some compelling evidence that it’s nearly impossible to do. Were these cell phone calls between the hijack victims and their families bogus? Why would the family members lie? Could they have been bought off or intimidated into silence? That doesn’t ring true.

And what about Flight 93, the one that allegedly crashed in Pennsylvania, whose passengers tried to overtake the hijackers and ruin their mission? The video suggests that Flight 93 landed in Cleveland, its passengers evacuated. If that’s true, then where are all these people today? Are the conspirators holding them in Guantanamo? In some Eastern European CIA prison? Have the culprits set them up with new identities, given them million dollar pensions and have them living in Brazil? Or did our conspirators kill them all?

Finally, there are the identities of the hijackers. The video claims that there are reports of some of them alive and well, living in Moslem countries. I’m assuming that there can be more than one person having the same name. For instance, there are probably hundreds of thousands of guys here in the U.S.A. running around with my name, William Davis. Couldn’t that be so with some of the hijackers?

When I first watched 911 Loose Change, I thought, ‘Boy, have these guys really got something.’ But in that initial viewing, I heard one glaring error that careful researchers would have never made.

In was in a simple background segment, explaining how an aircraft had collided with the Empire State Building back in 1945. The filmmakers’ point was that the Empire State Building didn’t collapse like the WTC. Nothing was mentioned about the construction differences between the Empire State Building and the WTC.

But their glaring error was in reporting the type of aircraft that hit the Empire State Building. They reported that it was a B-52. Anyone who had done careful research would know that the B-52 wasn’t even the Air Force inventory until the early 1950’s. What did hit the Empire State Building was a B-25. Called the Mitchell, it was a medium bomber, the same type of plane that was used by Jimmy Doolittle in his raid on Tokyo in 1942.

(I’ve been familiar with this incident since I was a child. My mother was visiting New York and had just left the Empire State Building when the B-25 hit it. She was in a bus several blocks away.)

So my question is, if the filmmakers’ couldn’t get that simple fact right, what else did they get absolutely wrong? As much as I believe some of their assertions should be investigated further, I’ve got to ask myself who could have manipulated such a complex conspiracy?

From what we’ve seen of the Bush administration, their failure to have a winning strategy in Iraq, their ineptness in responding to Hurricane Katrina, their failure to be able to reign in a spending-drunk Congress, how could they have managed such a complex deception of the American people? How could they keep so many people silent, when they can’t even seal off leaks from their own intelligence bureaucracy?

Though I believe we should remain skeptical about anything the government tells us, we must also be skeptical of those fanning the fire around an American tragedy.

MIddle Class Comments - Reactions to Posts

Thanks to my friend and co-worker Lee for the following comments:

“…I agree with what you are saying, but I don't see what we can do about it. I do believe this administration had something to do with 9/11 and I don't understand why no one, especially a Democrat with aspirations of being the next president, is demanding answers. I believe, between taxes and health care, this country is heading for a civil uprising. I just hope it's not after we lose our status as the world super power. For every one item we export we import four. That's just bad economics. Soon China will be the super power and where will we be then? Anyway, just got off work and wanted to share my opinion…”

Lee

You can post your comments on this page at the 'Comments' section, but you have to register as a 'blogger.'

If you'd rather not do that, just e-mail me, and with your permission, I'll post your comments as I did with Lee's.

My next post will be about the 911 Loose Change video. To those who haven't seen it the html is as follows:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8260059923762628848&q=loose+change

(Simply copy and paste on your browser)

Thanks again to Lee for his comments ...

Presidential Election Strategy - 2008

To potential Presidential Candidates in the 2008:

This is a common man’s simple political advice.

America is in trouble. Its middle class threatened.

FORGET ‘Blue States’ and ‘Red States’. FORGET religion. FORGET the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots.’

THINK those in power versus those who feel they have none.

THINK of those who are living on the financial edge; over-mortgaged, tuition poor, in hock up to their eyeballs and only one healthcare crisis away from financial ruin. THINK of those who are borrowing just to meet their monthly obligations.

FORGET ‘far left’ and ‘far right’ causes. It is the great discontented middle that will win the election. The extremes of each party will come along. They have no other place to go.

THINK ‘National Security’ and ‘Patriotism.’ Middle America will not back a candidate who is perceived to be whimpy on these issues. Middle America is patriotic. Its sons, daughters, husbands and wives are serving in harm’s way. The Joe Lieberman approach will sell, but it will need a charismatic candidate.

Middle America is looking for a leader , one who can appeal to the electorate on an emotional level. Think of the communicative power of a John F. Kennedy or a Ronald Reagan. Americans want and need to be inspired. They need to be assured.

Speak to the electorate about those things that worry them daily, those things that swirl around in their minds as they desperately try to sleep. Is that ‘terrorism’—or how to pay the mortgage? Is it abortion—or whether one’s family will still have healthcare coverage next year? Is it ‘global warming’—or how to pay this month’s heating bill?

2008 will be a campaign against Washington and all it stands for—an indifferent Congress, fat cat lobbyists, an ineffective bureaucracy, and an arrogant presidency. That’s how Jimmy Carter won in 1976, by playing on the country’s discontent with a failed Viet Nam War, Watergate and Congressional scandals. A similar situation exists today, but America is in greater danger.

• Healthcare is becoming unaffordable. Its excessive costs are forcing American corporations to ship American jobs overseas. Inadequate coverage is forcing many Americans into bankruptcy.
• Energy costs are skyrocketing, squeezing middle class incomes and small business profits.
• Illegal immigrants are placing an enormous burden on our social structure. They are taking American jobs. They are forcing border state hospitals out of business since they must be treated whether or not they can pay. And many of these illegal aliens are overcrowding our already filled-to-capacity jails.

These are the issues that concern the middle class. If they are not solved, the great American middle class will cease to exist. Who will buy the goods? Who will pay the taxes? All of America will suffer if the middle class continues to take it in the ear.

The middle class needs champion. That’s the person who be elected President in 2008.

Visit my web site www.authorsden.com/williamgdavis

"The Big Club"

CNN’s Lou Dobbs calls what’s happening to us ‘The War on the Middle Class.’

That’s not hard to believe.

Since the year 2000 charges for physicians’ services have increased 17%. Drug costs and medical supplies have gone up 23%, and hospitals are charging 39% more for their services.

It’s no wonder that General Motors is close to bankruptcy. Healthcare obligations it made for its employees and retirees are pushing them to the financial brink. And I’ll bet your employer is asking you to contribute more to your healthcare. Or perhaps your health coverage has been cancelled all together. If you are a small businessperson, you understand the problem all too well. Can you afford healthcare for you and your family? For your employees?

As I see it, a major contributor to this ‘War on the Middle Class’ is this one out-of-control segment of our economy. Why isn’t Congress taking the healthcare industry and all its components to task? I’m betting The American Hospital Association, The American Medical Association, and the Pharmaceutical Industry Association are paying our elected representatives to look the other way.

It’s no wonder so many American jobs are being ‘outsourced’ to foreign countries and their workers. Healthcare costs are making us too expensive to keep employed. It’s not surprising that many employers are turning to illegal immigrants to power their enterprises. They can pay them less than the normal American worker, and when they get injured or sick, they can simply dump them at a local hospital and let the taxpayers foot the bill.

Many hospitals in border states have been forced out of business due to the of treating uninsured illegal aliens. That’s one excuse for hospitals charging more; their numbers are fewer and those still operating are treating more of the uninsured.

What’s Congress doing? They passed Medicare Part D, the prescription benefit plan for seniors, but that legislation was written and pushed by the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. They certainly didn’t author that legislation to curb their profits.

Did anyone in Congress ask why pharmaceutical costs increased 9% last year? These companies claim they need more money to spend on R&D. The fact is they spend as much money on advertising as they do on research and development. Why not outlaw the advertising of prescription drugs on TV and have the savings can be passed on to the consumer?

We of the average middle class are getting screwed. We’re being out-lobbied by greedy corporations and industry associations whose only interest is increasing the bottom line. To hell with what’s happening to the average person and his or her family. They are destroying the very backbone of this country, the American Middle Class. They don’t seem to care.

Perhaps George Carlin said it best in his recent HBO Special.

“You and I are not in ‘The Big Club.’ By the way, it’s the same big club they use to beat you over the head all day long where they tell you what to believe, all day long, beating you over the head in their media, telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy.

The table is tilted folks. The game is rigged and nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. Good, honest, hardworking people in white or blue collar—it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on—good, honest, hardworking people continue to elect these sick ---------s who don’t give a ---- about you. They don’t care about you at all, at all, at all.

And nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. That’s what the owners (of this country) count on, the fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue ---- being jammed up their -------s everyday.

Because the owners of this country know that the truth is called The American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.”

Visit my web site www.authorsden.com/williamgdavis

War on the Middle Class

We’ve got some serious problems in this country, problems that affect us all.

These are not problems that can be solved by any one political party. They affect you whether you are a Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian or have no political leanings at all. No political party or political philosophy is necessarily to blame. Unfortunately, we don’t hear these problems debated in the media. Why? Simply because the interests that perpetuate these problems are powerful. Their influence over the media is subtle, but real. Their advertising dollars have significant impact on the electronic media’s bottom line. Our so-called ‘news’ networks won’t challenge these subjects for fear of losing revenue.

You might ask, if these issues are so important, why are they not being debated in Congress?

Politicians are influenced by only two things; self-preservation and money. They don’t necessarily represent us, but those who contribute heavily to their campaigns. These powerful economic forces are heavy contributors to their political coffers. They retain battalions of lobbyists who stalk the corridors of power. Their influence peddling has Congress in their hip pockets.

Consequently, our political leaders have become adept at distracting with issues that divide us. The political game played out in Washington and in the electronic media is a Kabuki dance of smoke and mirrors.

Remember the Wizard of Oz? Dorothy and her friends have finally made to the great City of Oz and to the Wizard’s palace. Once inside, smoke, fireworks and a threatening voice try to intimidate the intrepid adventurers. Then Toto the dog sniffs out the truth, but the booming voice cautions them to “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

Who is this man behind the curtain? It’s actually a group of men (and a few women too)who are increasingly in our pockets, making us poorer, and by doing so, threatening you and your family’s economic well being, the very heart of our country’s strength and security.

If you are a typical American, these forces are taking more out of your disposable income each year. The rate of increase of their doing so far exceeds any raises or cost of living adjustments.

Let’s face it, most of us live from paycheck to paycheck, in other words—on the financial edge. Many of us are over-mortgaged, tuition poor, in hock up to our eyeballs, and are only one natural disaster or healthcare crisis away from financial ruin. Sixty percent of us who should retire in ten years have less than $50,000 in liquid assets.

We are in trouble, people!

Who are these villains? One is the healthcare industry, a group comprised of insurance and pharmaceutical companies, healthcare delivery systems. And let’s not forget our system of malpractice litigation.

In future entries I’d like to explore the challenges we as Middle Class Americans all face. But in the meantime, I’d like to ask you one simple question. Are you paying more and more for your healthcare but receiving less and less? Where will it end?

If what I’ve said strikes home, let a friend know about his blog. I’m also interested in your opinion and/or suggestions.

But before signing off, I’d like to leave you with one final thought. It’s a quote from Mike Adams of NewsTarget:

“Defenders of organized medicine are fond of saying that the United States has the best healthcare in he world, but I challenge that. I don’t think we have the best healthcare in the world, I think we have the most expensive healthcare in the world. In fact, in terms of results for dollars spent, I think the United States ranks very near the bottom of the list of all industrialized nations. We get less actual healthcare than anyone else for each dollar that we spend.”

If you’d like to comment, feel free to e-mail me at WGDavis46@aol.com.

Visit my web site; www.authorsden.com/williamgdavis