Conspiracy Theories

It seems like every time a major event happens some group of kooks has to concoct a wild conspiracy theory and find any amount of flimsy, circumstantial, and questionable evidence it can to promote and support it. There are people who believe the following list of conspiracies: 1- Marilyn Monroe was murdered by the Secret Service on the orders of a jealous Jacqueline Kennedy. 2- JFK was killed by the CIA. 3- Alger Hiss was an innocent stooge that was set up as a fall guy by Joseph McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover to create the Red Scare. 4- Man never landed on the moon. 5- Man did land on the moon, and it turned out to be a giant alien observation post. 6- Intelligent life from other worlds has nothing better to do than shove probes up the behinds of every human they can possibly abduct before wiping their memories clean and returning them to Earth. 7- Marriage was invented to oppress women. 8- The Twin Towers were destroyed by the US government to boost President Bush’s poll numbers.

All of these are patently ridiculous, and all of them have been packaged and repackaged to create and maintain a cult following of people who have a natural distrust of the government. They are nothing more than manipulative exploits designed to make money for a specific few who are only to happy to profit from the gullibility and suspicion of their fellow man.

The one about the Twin Towers being destroyed by the US government is particularly appalling because it takes the worst act of terrorism in all of history, and redirects the blame form the Muslim Terrorists who have admitted to planning and carrying out this vile act to President George W. Bush in a transparent effort to make political gains at the expense of America as a whole. I have followed the logic the conspiracy theorists use, and every last bit of it is readily explainable by physics, chemistry, basic logic, and a little bit of examination of the rest of the facts.

One such theory is the Thermite was used to melt the iron structure of the World Trade Center. Thermite burns hot enough to melt iron and steel, and it would explain what appeared to be molten metal running from one of the towers. There are two other explanations though. 1: The molten metal could easily have been lead piping or tin, both of which are present in most large buildings. 2: Combine burning jet fuel, which burns so hot water actually feeds the fire, with iron and aluminum, and you could potentially have a chemical reaction he would create some amount of thermite. Other considerations when dealing with chemistry are the thousands of other chemical compounds that would be fueling the fire. In chemistry, and combustion is a chemical reaction, there are several types of reactions. I shall use unofficial terms for simplicity’s sake. There is the basic single compound reaction. This is always predictable. But there are several ways a multiple compound reaction could work. The first is that they do nothing to each other and react independently. The second is that they could interfere with each other and actually reduce the violence of the reaction. The third is that they can add a portion of their energy to the reaction up to each other’s full amount. In this situation 2+2 can equal anything from 2.1 to 4. The final is a multiplying effect. This is a particularly hazardous reaction type because 2+2 will generally equal 5, 6, 8, or even 10.
So, what are the odds that say . . Zinc and magnesium, both highly flammable metals with a low flash point compared to their burning temperature were present in large quantities in the WTC? The odds are 100% that they were present in alloy form, which could have been broken down by vigorous thermal reactions around them.

What about the explosions people heard before the WTC actually collapsed? Any large cracking sound coming from such a large structure would make a booming sound. So if any of the structural support was failing for any reason prior to the collapse, which absolutely HAD to happen or there would not have been any collapse, it would be heard as an explosion despite the lack of any explosive being used.

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The point is that every bit of evidence of “evidence” the wacko conspiracy theorists point to is entirely too easy to explain in non-conspiratorial thinking. I understand that not everyone actually paid attention in school, so not everyone has a grasp of the basic concepts that I have presented here, so I can excuse the ignorant for acting ignorantly. The people I have a real problem with are the ones who should know better and selfishly, irresponsibly, propagate a lie for self gain. These people are the ones the ignorant point to as experts in most cases, and this exploitation of the ignorant is inexcusable.

Papal Truth and the Muslims that Prove it

The Pope is being threatened with murder for quoting a 14th century text about Islam in an academic setting. The Text basically said that Islam is violent and relies on violence to spread, and that the teachings of Mohammad that created this violence are an abomination. The Muslim riots, murders, and threats of murder that followed this quote prove it to be true.

Islam calls itself a religion of peace, and yet it is by far the most violent religion on the planet today. Muslims the world over are actively engaging in mass intimidation by riots, threats of violence, terrorism, and oppression, all while claiming to be seeking peaceful resolutions to their own violence. Pardon me if this strikes me as nothing but hypocrisy and lies.

A classic example of this is Yasser Arafat’s famous speech in which he stated “We want peace! We want peace! We want peace!” and followed it up with violent acts against Israel. Some talk of peace while they actively engage in violence. Some talk of violence and act on it. Some are not personally violent, but praise violence and incite others to be violent. A minority are genuinely peaceful from all that I can see.

Governments across the globe are allowing Muslims to violate their laws with impunity because they fear that if they enforce the same regulations on them that they enforce on everyone else that the local Muslim population will rise up and murder people, assault people, and destroy property. This fear is, in my opinion, exactly why they should be dealt with MORE harshly than normal people.

The current battle cry of Islam is “death to all who insult Islam and the Prophet!” Okay then, try this on for size:

Islam is the Devil’s religion and all Muslims will join their prophet in Hell for eternal torture along with their master, Satan. Mohammad was nothing more than a demon possessed madman bent on military conquest and the murder of those who insulted him in his lifetime. All of his followers are following Satan and they will be justly punished.

And here is the best part: If you kill, or attempt to kill me you are proving me right. I dare you to prove me wrong.

But, if you do attempt to prove me right you should know that I am armed and I am a crack shot. Also, my bullets and knife are coated with pig’s blood. Come on and get it.

Heavy Questions

What do you do when the world is against you?
When all you do is wrong no matter how right it is?
When every lie told about you is seen as true?
When your enemies increase despite your best intentions?

Do you capitulate and seek to appease them all?
Do you do your best to make the whole world happy?
Giving in to demand after demand no matter how unreasonable?
And ignore the effects on your home as it turns rundown and shabby?

Do you fight everyone everywhere they hide?
With words and weapons, making war on them all?
Justifying yourself saying “This we cannot abide”?
While really justifying your enemies one and all?

Maybe you can seek a middle ground?
Ignoring some, working with others, and making war on the last?
Working with the grim knowledge that there will always be enemies around?
Hoping that the world fins a new enemy fast?

But when the world is against you is any answer right?
Can any course set the matter straight?
Or will all you do be a simple and futile fight?
Any hope of peace being nothing more than a lure or bait?

5 Years Later

It has been five years since the United States came under attack on our home soil for the first time World War Two, and the first time we have been attacked on the mainland since Mexican American War. On this day most people are giving tributes to the people who died on that fateful day, and for those who have sacrificed themselves in the cause of justice and freedom since then. Therefore, I am going to give a tribute to something else.

On this day, the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, I am mourning the loss of unity.

For a brief shining moment after we were attacked where we live, work, play, love, and die, we forgot about power. We stopped caring about who ran what where. We were one in nation and spirit. We truly were the UNITED States of America.

The partisanship that has always disgusted me in politics vanished. For the first time in my lifetime our political leaders stopped playing with the nation, they stopped jerking the American people around, and they actually did their sworn duty. Their duty is not to fight with each other, sabotage the opposing party by any means necessary to gain power, and to serve the interests of small groups of donors. Their duty is to uphold and defend the Constitution, and this Nation as a whole. Their job is to look to the people who elected them for guidance, listen to experts, and carefully guide this country down a path that is neither liberal nor conservative, but rather, one that is good, wholesome, and serves the greater good in spite of personal prejudices.

Many people are fond of pointing out how our founders fought for years over the form this nation should take. They point out that this dissent was essential to building our nation into what it is today. Unfortunately, they ignore the most vital aspect of this prolonged debate: it was not a debate designed to garner power for any political party. This debate was motivated entirely by the unified desire and purpose of our forefathers to create a free, stable, and unified nation. They shared a common cause, and it was selflessness that drove them to spend years working without pay to exchange ideas, discuss the merits and drawbacks of the ideas, and ultimately reach a compromise that formed the basis of a nation and government that has become the envy of the world, and the one they seek to either copy, or rival.

Our current leaders do not have the spirit of our forefathers. Look to either side of the aisle and you will see that most of them are consumed in the power struggle and have lost sight of the greater good. Each side is so hell-bent on getting its own specific agenda passed with as few concessions as possible that just a few short years after we briefly found our unity that we had lost . . .we now find ourselves more divided than ever.

Each side is constantly spinning everything to make itself look good and make the other side look bad in comparison. As politicians vie for both personal and party power they are ripping our nation apart in a firestorm of deceit that has become so muddled that each and every piece of information we receive must be carefully sifted for the truth lest we ourselves become the unwitting pawns in a struggle that contrary to our own best interests.

I long for those days, brief as they were when our politicians were able to set aside their personal and party agendas and guide our country down the path they knew to be necessary. I long for the days when we were allowed to be proud of our country rather than being forced to make excuses for it due to our leader’s ineptitude and lust for power on both sides of the aisle.

February 20th 2003, or a day extremely close to that was the day I became a Republican. Until that day I was a registered independent. I was an independent because I believed then as I believe now. I believe that partisanship is destroying this country more surely than any external force could ever hope to. I also believe that this partisanship has become so out of control and destructive that I am force to choose sides, and therefore I must choose the side that most closely resembles what I believe to be right and true. I do this in the hopes that somehow, someday, by working within the broken system I may one day be able to mend it. I hope to one day be able to shatter the partisanship and remind America of what I means to be united in purpose while differing in ideas of how to accomplish that purpose. I hope to remind politicians of what it means to serve others and not to serve themselves by serving donors and prominent individuals.

For a brief moment in time we remember what it was to be just this way. The true tragedy of this is not that it took the murder of thousands of our countrymen to remind of this, but rather that we forgot it again so soon. This is the true lesson of 9/11, not that there are people out there that are determined to destroy us, we already knew that. The true lesson is what it means to be unified, and that unity is easy to lose when selfish men and women are in control.

God help us f we do not find this unity again.

The Winds of Change in Alaska

This is going to be a VERY bad year for Republicans in Alaska.

As if Frank Murkowski's own botched term as governor, a term executed so badly that as the incumbent he came in THIRD in the Republican primaries, defeated by a one term small town mayor who garnered over 50% of the vote, and by a little known businessman from Fairbanks who garnered around 35% of the vote. As if this wasn't bad enough, widespread corruption among Republicans in the state senate, a thing long suspected, has been confirmed as several top Republicans had thier offices raided by the FBI on charges of accepting bribes and corruption.

Alaskans are nothing if not independent, and trust trumps all party loyalties. This year the Republicans have come out dirty, and it is unlikely that the Republicans will recover this election. I expect a sweeping victory by the Democrats in both the State House and Senate, and fromer (Democrat) Governor Tony Knowles, who is the Democrat's candidate for Governor, is poised to retake the Governorship.

Among the casualties is the now former heir apparrent to Senator Ted Stevens in the US Senate, his son Ben Stevens. Long known to be at least slightly shady, he is the most prominent Republican to come under investigation, and the one everyone beleves is most likely to go to prison for corruption. In my own personal analysis, the most likely man to replace Ted Stevens in the Senate is now Tony Knowles, and I do not like it one bit. While he may have a reputation for social conservatism and fiscal liberalism, I do not believe that any Democrat can be a social conservative and succeed on the national scene. This is why the Democrats have turned so wildly to the left, and why those who do not go that far are being defeated in the primaries, like soon to be former Senator Joe Lieberman.

Alaska will be fine, this state is so conservative that many of us say the difference between a liberal and a conservative is the size of his concealed firearm. But having a Democrat poised to enter the national scene, with a Republican senator (Lisa Murkowski) who is admittedly working from a weak position in this state due to her father poised to be the next senior Senator for Alaska, well . . . it does not bode well for America at all.