New butt-buddy to the 9/11 moonbats? Um, not yet, anyway...
It's been a while since I've heard from my ol' pal Sander Hicks, who has the distinction of being one of the more intelligent and (generally) reasonable 9/11 troofers that I met at the Chandler 9/11 Accountability Conference, though I still think he's full of shite, as the Brits say, when it comes to most of the chin-music the fella's playing on the subject of 9/11 conspiracy theories. Sander did come to my defense when wackier elements in the 9/11 movement tried to personally malign me, so I owe him one on that count. He also sent me a copy of ex-Lyndon LaRouche-ite Webster Tarpley's book 9/11 Synthetic Terror, because he wants me to see the light and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal savior. As of the moment, it's on the to-read list.
This Monday morning, I had just finished perusing a Sunday New York Times article "In Brooklyn, Hipsters Sip Fair Trade Brews," which references Sander's VoxPop bookstore/coffee shop in Brooklyn as an example of one which sells "fair-trade" coffee, ethical roasts made from beans the Juan Valdezes of the world are supposedly paid fairly to pick. While you're enjoying your more-moral- than-thou java at VoxPop, you can take in a one-man play about Karl Marx, listen to some open-mike spoken word, or discuss radical politics with a fellow beret-wearer. Sounds cool enough, I reckon. I bet they even sell postcards of Che Guevara and Leon Trotsky! Anyway, glad to see Sander made the local rag.
Then, of all the coinkydinks, I receive an e-mail from Sander with the following message, implying that the junior Senator from Massachusetts had gone as screwy as Rosie O'Donnell on The View: "Wow, this is pretty huge, because Kerry is a conservative Dem." Following it was a link to Alex Jones' Prisonplanet.com and the text of an article from same announcing that,
At a recent speaking engagement in Austin Texas, Senator John Kerry responded to a question about WTC Building 7 by concluding that according to his information, the building was brought down as a result of a controlled demolition, directly contradicting the official line that the structure fell as a result of fire and debris damage.
Now, even if I didn't find Sander's characterization of Kerry as a "conservative Dem" patently absurd (I guess maybe if Das Kapital is your favorite book, John Kerry might seem like Trent Lott), I would immediately disbelieve anything emerging from Alex Jones' multi-tentacled media entity. Jones is a stark-raving, moon-howling talk-radio freak who sells videos about how all of the leaders of the world are partying with Satan up at those all-male Bohemian Grove power getaways (I'm exaggerating, but not by much); how the Bushies have secret occult Nazi ties (ooooh); and how martial law's about to break out any darn sec (or has it already? hmmm). Anyone who buys this shit has likely taken one too many hits off the tail pipe, and prolly thinks The X Files was a documentary series.
So I Google it and whaddya know, there's a video up all over the Internet of Kerry and his ketchup-rich wifey at a booksigning in Austin, TX (aka, liberal wackjob heaven), fielding questions. He takes one from some globe-hugger who goes on this long, rambling speech about personal hygiene products, genetically-modified organisms, yadda-yadda-yadda, and, oh, about WTC Building 7, this Larry Silverstein guy (you know, the Jewish cat who made all that money off 9/11), why isn't he being, like, investigated, or something? As the kid drones on, Kerry looks like he's about to fall asleep. And when hacky-sack boy finally asks his troofer-nut question, I don't think Kerry understands what he's being asked. You can watch the video on YouTube and ScrewLooseChange, but this is Kerry's response:
I don't believe there's been a formal investigation. I haven't heard that. I don't know that. I do know that, uh, that wall I remember was in danger, and I think that they made a decision based on the danger that it had of destroying other things that they did it in a controlled fashion. Uh, you know, he's part of the construction/reconstruction effort for the memorial that used the land, etcetera. There's been a long tug of war going on in New York, I am not following every aspect of it because it's not in my jurisdiction, so to speak. But I'll check on what the story is. I'll take a look at it based on what you've said.You're the first people anywhere in the country who've called this to my attention.
Now you know the troofers were wetting their panties as soon as Kerry said the magic words "controlled fashion." But according to Pat Curley over at ScrewLooseChange, even Loose Change director Dylan Avery has commented, "Kerry was simply stammering and said what he could to sound like he knew what they were talking about." Pat's probably correct in his interpretation that,
"By wall I believe he is referring to the slurry wall, aka the Bathtub. I also think the building that he's commenting about is actually WTC 6, which was pulled (down) a couple weeks later."
I called Kerry's DC office and told them that the troofers think Kerry's the next Rosie, and that the Internet's full of talk about Kerry's "support" for moonbattiness. I got an answer later that day from Kerry's press secretary Amy Brundage via e-mail that, "The only comment we've got for you is that of course the Senator would never say that."
By this response, you can safely conclude that Kerry's minions don't take the 9/11 wackery very seriously, though I would argue that they should. If someone as smart (in some ways) as Sander Hicks looks at that video and thinks to himself, "Wow, now Kerry's on our side," then you should nip it in the bud. Not that clarifications matter much to the conspiracy set, because if people go back and correct or explain their remarks, they've obviously been gotten to by the men in black vans, and anything they say now is bogus. Right?
This is but one more example of the power of self-delusion. The 9/11 conspiracy movement is basically a religion, with folks looking for Christ's bearded mug in a taco shell. Ridicule is helpful, I think, in preventing others from going to sleep with the pod beside their beds. I don't know if it does any good, though, once the body snatchers have already replicated.
