A Hundred Firecrackers
Original is here.
There were numerous eyewitness reports of loud explosions right before the collapse of each of the Twin Towers.
Defenders of the official story argue that the explosions were actually floors "pancaking" on top of each other.
However, such a theory doesn't explain the reports from credible witnesses of a series of rapid-fire sounds like "gunshots" or "firecrackers". For example:
And a paramedic said "at first I thought it was -- do you ever see professional demolition where they set the charges on certain floors and then you hear pop pop pop pop pop -- thats exactly what I thought it was" (page 9)
Now, the guys who made the video Loose Change have found another witness. Specifically, the brand new trailer for the final cut of the video Loose Change includes a news interview with a witness who heard the following, right before the collapse of one of the towers:
"It sounded as if you had a hundred of those . . . firecrackers and you lit them all off at once . . . it sounded like the finale of the Fourth of July over the East River" (at 15:21)
How can pancaking floors sound like hundreds of firecrackers during the grand finale at a major fireworks show?
On the other hand, wouldn't hundreds of cutter charges going off at once make exactly that sound?"
- Login to post comments
To the official gatekeepers,
To the official gatekeepers, it does look like the antenna topped north tower falls right before the big explosion fireball, but I am very interested to see what conclusive tests come from the thermate possibilities.
Now then, I watched the Naudet 9/11 again. There were definately guys blow torching heavy column beams away, so that photo of "thermate cut columns" may just have been from the rescuers.
And to the no planers, PLEASE go watch the Naudet 9/11 again:
1. Everyone on the streets saw the second plane, and heard thunderous roars. You don't fake that with "cgi".
Hell it's obvious the firefighters heard a thunderous roar to MAKE them look up at the first tower being hit.
Tell us how you fake thunderous roars that everyone hears, and tell us how you fake planes in person.
2. The Naudet brothers DID NOT have foreknowlege...now who might have? The mystery person who calls in the "gas leak". I'm willing to bet on it.
3. People who espouse no planes, obviously have not seen the Naudet brothers documentary, as there are pretty distinguishable plane parts literring the streets of NYC.
Actually the whole "planting plane parts" theory on 9/11 just seems pretty farfetched to. I'm willing to believe duplicate remote control planes over "planted plane parts".
Excellent post as usual, GW.
Excellent post as usual, GW.
And for those interested in reading more WTC demolition quotes, here's a link to an extensive compilation documented by fellow 9-11 researcher & 911Blogger.com poster, CB:
9/11 WTC 'Controlled Demolition Theory' Analysis Thread
http://forums.bluelemur.com/viewtopic.php?t=4820
@ pockybot: It's still
@ pockybot: It's still impossible to cut the beams as we saw it.
You know, molten slag rest on both side of the cut, in a 45° angle, with steel beams thick as your body.
We cut heavy steel piles at our construction place these days with cutter torches, with a big cutter nose(?) and heavily oxygen support.
Every torch blows the slag to one side, there's no way slag can run down both sides of a cut!
First, there CAN BE a ROAR
First, there CAN BE a ROAR from a plane that DOES NOT FLY into the tower.
There was a THIRD plane around.
Grove was driving with his convertible MUCH CLOSER to the towers and DID NOT hear a plane.
Remeber.. it was a sophisticated deception operation!!
Also, here's a video clip
Also, here's a video clip from the BBC where you can actually hear the bombs going off before the North Tower falls down:
Click link for BBC video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJBEoThPUf8&search=BBC%20Footage%20Mentio...
Thunderous booms can be heard just after the "motorcycle" drives past the man being interviewed (Steven Evans) -- and then after the booms occur, you here bystanders say "Oh my GOD!" while looking and pointing toward the North Tower. A few seconds after that, there's another explosion -- the person being interviewed then covers his ears in a fright and turns around to see the tower begin to fall.
(FYI: The camera that recorded this audio evidence of explosions was obviously some distance away from the North Tower (my best guesstimate is about 3/4 of a mile away), so the explosions would have occurred a couple of seconds earlier than what is represented in the video)
Here's a partial transcript of the interview:
Steven Evans: "...someone said they saw an airliner go into one of those towers. Then... I don't know... an hour later than that, we heard that big explosion from much, much lower. I don't know what on earth caused that...
(Motorcycle drives past Steven Evans)
(BOOOOOOOOM)
Bystanders: "Oh my GOD! (pointing and looking in the direction of the North Tower)
(BOOOOOOOOM)
Steven Evans: "...People were just talking to each other, nodding their heads... (stops talking and raises hands up to ears in a fright)
(Screams are heard from the people standing in the street as another explosion occurs and then the North Tower begins to fall.)
I recommend wearing headphones when watching/listening to this video clip.
MSNBC: 10 years after TWA
MSNBC: 10 years after TWA Flight 800, conspiracy theories abound:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13773369/
Funny, it'd be nice if they could reconstruct Flight 93 like that
Most of you don't have any
Most of you don't have any reference from which to judge the general audio signature existant around the WTC complex. I had lived there for almost a year before going atop some of the adjacent buildings to take photographs. I then observed some of the weirdest acoustical phenomena of my career.
Essentially, we are limited to comprehend these waveforms from the standpoint of a street-vector, where we can assume that all things are relatively consistent with everyday life in any city. These patterns are called vertical waves, as they radiate at 90° to the source directon. Naturally, some of the streets are 'canyon-like' while other, angled intersections and open terraces serve to create a doubling/trippling -echo effect. That said, most of the tracks available do make sense, and you can use the speed of sound as a timing reference.
Two live witnesses I spoke to both reported a different story from the same building, so I could only postulate: The first hit was "accompanied" by the sound of a "LOUD high-pitched regular jet," directly above their 5th floor apartment. So, the Naudet probably does show some kind of jet plane. The hit itself was heard as a direct, explosive wave, consistent with the 22° back-firing angle they had. This caused them to rush to the rooftop to see what the plane had hit. There was no confusion between them about that. Soon, there was an increasing roar of peoples voices and finally panic at the street. Generally, directly up Hudson, no sound can ever be heard from more than 5 blocks south, (approximately 1/2 way to the towers) This is also true for 80% of the entire Tribecca/WallSt. area. The Exceptions are Church St. and Lower Broadway, which do have a pronounced 'canyon'-effect. All of the E-W streets have a diverse 'comb' quality, each with a unique harmonic & unique range of reflections, which drown out aircraft almost completely.
Either way, the wind was NE, very unique conditions indeed, and the open-sky provided a good direct-wave for most everyone to the North. But, at St Marks Church you would hear a non-linear collective range of tones, and mostly cabs. Anyway, all they heard on Hudson of the second hit was a "Massive Explosion" which reverberated through the sand-bed that supports the brick-base of their neighborhood streets. She fell over, yet had enough time to right the camera and take one more frame of #1 before the fireball came. It too was an explosion, but this was natural as seen from their view.
No report of 'pop,pop,pop' was reported from them, because, like I said, nothing coming from above (say the 50th-floor level) is likely heard over the street-roar, with Hudson flooded in hysterical people by that point. Assuming these 'pops' were very loud, the implosion-process would have forced them to travel horizontally, now up-and down, or 90° out-of phase to my friends position, roughly diminishing it to a motor-like roar.
correction: "Trinity Church"
correction: "Trinity Church" ...it's been 15 years since I've fully "done" NYC.
There is a report of 911
There is a report of 911 inside jobs in Norway.
"11. September ？ en innsidejobb?"
Page One. http://diplo.no/pdf/0607/01.pdf
Page Four. http://diplo.no/pdf/0607/04.pdf
Page Five. http://diplo.no/pdf/0607/05.pdf
Le Monde diplomatique
http://mondediplo.com/
Norge 'Le Monde' puts 9/11 on Front Page.
http://www.gnn.tv/blogs/16458/Norge_Le_Monde_puts_9_11_on_Front_Page
NORWAY STRIKES AGAIN!
http://www.gnn.tv/blogs/16544/NORWAY_STRIKES_AGAIN?r=2
Also, here's a video clip
Also, here's a video clip from the BBC where you can actually hear the bombs going off before the North Tower falls down:
Click link for BBC video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I...ons% 20Explosion
Thunderous booms can be heard just after the "motorcycle" drives past the man being interviewed (Steven Evans) -- and then after the booms occur, you here bystanders say "Oh my GOD!" while looking and pointing toward the North Tower. A few seconds after that, there's another explosion -- the person being interviewed then covers his ears in a fright and turns around to see the tower begin to fall.
(FYI: The camera that recorded this audio evidence of explosions was obviously some distance away from the North Tower (my best guesstimate is about 3/4 of a mile away), so the explosions would have occurred a couple of seconds earlier than what is represented in the video)
Here's a partial transcript of the interview:
Steven Evans: "...someone said they saw an airliner go into one of those towers. Then... I don't know... an hour later than that, we heard that big explosion from much, much lower. I don't know what on earth caused that...
(Motorcycle drives past Steven Evans)
(BOOOOOOOOM)
Bystanders: "Oh my GOD! (pointing and looking in the direction of the North Tower)
(BOOOOOOOOM)
Steven Evans: "...People were just talking to each other, nodding their heads... (stops talking and raises hands up to ears in a fright)
(Screams are heard from the people standing in the street as another explosion occurs and then the North Tower begins to fall.)
I recommend wearing headphones when watching/listening to this video clip.
stallion4 | 07.09.06 - 5:10 am | #
^ Holy shit your right, its much better then "911eyewitness", just after that bike goes by you hear "BOOM BOOM", two distinct blasts, and then a few seconds later the Tower comes down. Which is exactly what you'd expect in a controlled demolition sequence of explosives.
I remember talking to
I remember talking to someone on here a while ago (pockybot, maybe?) about anarchist/anti-capitalist/anti-globalist activists and their interest (or lack thereof) in 9/11 Truth. Well Infoshop.org appears to be a major site for that type and there is remarkably little on it about 9/11 (search their Wiki for September 11th and the only thing there is whatever Noam Chomsky had to say about it [surprise surprise]). Anyway I think it's worth an effort (at least they're more open minded than "Kossacks")
Interview with Lisa Guliani
Interview with Lisa Guliani of WingTV:
Part one:
http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/signs/dl.php?link=pentagonstrike,co,uk...
part two:
http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/signs/dl.php?link=pentagonstrike,co,uk...
There is lots of disinfo in the 9/11 truth movement and its hard to know who to trust, so its best to get your info from all sides, and use your own discernment. The unfortunate fact is that cointelpro is alive and well in our 'movement' and we need to be cognizant of that, and 'by their fruits' we shall know them.
more interesting audio about cointelpro in the 9/11 truth movement here:
part 1: http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/signs/dl.php?link=pentagonstrike,co,uk...
part 2: http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/signs/dl.php?link=pentagonstrike,co,uk...
part 3 on the playing of john kaminski by people close to him in order to marginalize him and to effectively silence one of the most eloquent voices in the U.S. today.: http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/signs/dl.php?link=pentagonstrike,co,uk...
Part 4, links between different alleged disinfo sites and see how they serve to reinforce each other, even when they appear to be antagonistic http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/signs/dl.php?link=pentagonstrike,co,uk...
For streaming versions and more from the signs of the times podcast crew, go to http://signs-of-the-times.org/podcast/index.php
What was interesting to me
What was interesting to me on the BBC vid clip was the white smokiness or haze in the background and the woman who walked by with the cloth over her face at some distance to the tower. Strange for a bright clear and fairly windy day.
re: anarchists getting on
re: anarchists getting on board
there's a couple problems here, first, most of these folks back chomsky and churchill's thesis that 's11' (as they call it) is merely blowback which bolsters their long standing resistance to western imperialism. doing a brief search of sites, i noticed one article about bin ladin being funded by cia, but most were about western imperialism, etc. so i agree, there's lots of room for education in this area. i have a good friend who's an active anarchist, he'd josh me about my 9/11 turh activism until he recently watched loose change and then said 'wow, those guys blew up the towers!' like it was a big revelation to him.
anyway check out some of the lit they're producing like this flyer http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/s11/s11flyer.pdf
its described as 'radical perspectives on sept. 11' not radical enough, imo!
and the corresponding webpage:
http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/s11.html
altho there are lots of 911 truth on the indymedia pages around the world, so its a mixed bag, with cointelpro infiltration to the max in the anarchist movement.
Stallion 4 - that youtube
Stallion 4 - that youtube link is dead. Has the video been removed?
MSNBC: 10 years after TWA
MSNBC: 10 years after TWA Flight 800, conspiracy theories abound:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13773369/
Funny, it'd be nice if they could reconstruct Flight 93 like that
pockybot | 07.09.06 - 5:19 am | #
it happened on Clintons watch,so the conservative MSM has no problem asking questions about that one.
Lisa Guliani of WingTV IS
Lisa Guliani of WingTV IS cointelpro. dont trust that bitch.
here is a clip from Alex
here is a clip from Alex Jones website.
http://www.prisonplanet.tv/articles/march2005/100305strategicexplosives.htm
scroll halfway down the page and click on
"Click here for the clip."
this video shows hundreds of flashes as the tower is falling, looks like what could be video of what the eyewitness heard. ?
Perhaps I've missed
Perhaps I've missed something, but it seems that news from or about Prof. Steven Jones, and his thermite/thermate experiments have been non-existant the last week or two.
Anyone heard anything recently?
Was there a goal established for an announcement date for a final determination of his experiments?
i dont know Alex, that whole
i dont know Alex, that whole story seems to have died. ive been asking around about and nobody seems to know when hes going to be making an official announcement about it.also, does anyone here know about C-Span shafting the 9/11 L.A. conference? it seems pretty clear by now that either Alex Jones or C-Span was full of shit.my guess is C-Span decided not to air it.
I have a new "9/11 Truth
I have a new "9/11 Truth Door To Door" 911blogger.com people... :)
I'm finding that it's NOT
I'm finding that it's NOT f-ing hard to find someone who thinks the Government lied.
All I did was drive around looking for people, and I brought my camera into 7-11. I was 3 for 3.
Chris: All I know is a
Chris: All I know is a article a PrisonPlanet.com, posted on June 26th, claimed C-Span was showing segements that week. If they did, I sure didn't hear about it.
Everyone: Has anyone heard any DEFINITIVE ways of proving the WTC "squibs" were the result of explosives as opposed the pressurized air? I'm aware of the article at:
http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/analysis/collapses/squibs.html
which lays out a pretty good argument for the squibs NOT being caused by air pressure. However, is there a way to demonstrate without question they were explosive squibs? It seems to me this would be THE "smoking gun" both figuratively and actually.
is the video coming jon? by
is the video coming jon? by the way, you've inspired me to do the same thing. thanks man.
It will be here as soon as I
It will be here as soon as I get a hold of dz or sbg, which I'm not having any luck. I have nowhere to host it. I'm having problems getting access to my site.
I look forward to seeing
I look forward to seeing your takes Ian.
This one is a little
This one is a little different. Not "door to door" persay, but all around the neighborhood.
Also, here's a video clip
Also, here's a video clip from the BBC where you can actually hear the bombs going off before the North Tower falls down:
Click link for BBC video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I...ons% 20Explosion
Hey Bruce Lee Styles, LINK NO WORKING^
John, In a bit of a
John,
In a bit of a coincidence, I asked a question at our discussion forum about going door to door, the same day that you reported having done this. I'm very interested in this method of promotion. And another similar measure. Flyering to every mailbox in whole neighborhoods.
I recently had a promotion job in which I distributed full color 5x7 promo cards to nearly every mailbox in gentrified Brooklyn. I probably distributed about 60,000 flyers in a month right to peoples mailbox, or under their door. Statistics demonstrate that less than 10% of people respond, but in this case, that's 6000 people!
Both of these methods happen to be particularly inexpensive. Those cards don't cost much, and the real investment in either case is simply labor.
If some organization sponsored these strategies, we could hit all of new york, people flyering their own neighborhoods, and then follow that with a door to door campaign that attempts to answer some of the questions posed by the flyer.
Jon, you and I, among other people, should continue promoting exactly this kind of personal approach that hasn't really taken hold in the movement. This is certainly the manner in which elections are won, when fairly executed. Many chruches are built on this activity. And as you suggest, people are receptive.
Stallion: You're link to the
Stallion: You're link to the BBC clip is incomplete. Can you please re-post?
"Lisa Guliani of WingTV IS
"Lisa Guliani of WingTV IS cointelpro. dont trust that bitch"
What evidence do you have to support your statement?
Jon, I really like your
Jon, I really like your door-to-door video.
It is a very nice compliment to, and 180 different from, movies like Loose Change and Alex Jones films.
Are you going to try to compile 'em and get 'em on public access tv :)
?
Stallion: Please please
Stallion: Please please please email me with the full BBC video link. I am salavating waiting for it (I've been looking for this kind of thing for a while).
Please just post it as a comment here -- http://georgewashington.blogspot.com/2006/07/hundred-firecrackers.html -- and I'll get it.
Oops, that last one was me
Oops, that last one was me (darn thing erased my info).
Stallion: Please please
Stallion: Please please please email me with the full BBC video link. I am salavating waiting for it (I've been looking for this kind of thing for a while).
Please just post it as a comment here -- http:// georgewashington.blogspot...recrackers.html -- and I'll get it.
Anonymous | 07.09.06 - 1:40 pm | #
Dude do you mean this?;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJBEoThPUf8&search=BBC%20Footage%20Mentio...
George Washington, 19 meg
George Washington,
19 meg avi file of the BBC clip:
http://www.911blogger.com/2006/06/new-bbc-footage-mentions-low-explosion...
I'm sure at some point, I'll
I'm sure at some point, I'll make a compilation of all of them into one movie... as to whether or not I'll release them to public access, I don't know...
Dem and Frank: Thanks, I
Dem and Frank: Thanks, I didn't realize that was the clip you were talking about. I'll listen carefully.
GW... I read your article.
GW... I read your article. The thing about all of these witnesses, to me, is the fact that they weren't part of the investigation. The "investigation" was given the solution prior to its' beginnings... The floors pancaked, now prove it to us. Don't look anywhere else, just look at how those buildings pancaked. That's not an investigation. The best analogy I can come up with is... a producer has an idea for a movie, and the sceenplay writes the dialogue for it. Something like that.
WingTV
WingTV Exposed:
http://wingtv-poll.cjb.net/
What happened to the (Wing-TV) poll?
http://wingtv.wordpress.com/2006/07/02/hello-world/
Read Comments about WING TV left by people who voted in the poll:
http://www.ballot-box.net/service/poll.comment.php?poll=70440&start=125
View the results of the poll before it was posted on SOTT:
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8017/poll8yi.gif
WingTV - Connecting the imaginary dots once again:
http://wingtv.wordpress.com/2006/07/02/wingtv-connecting-the-imaginary-d...
WingTV vs. Jack Blood, a personal vendetta?
http://wingtv.wordpress.com/2006/07/03/wingtv-vs-jack-blood-a-personal-v...
The Pentagon attack - WingTV vs. Alex Jones:
http://wingtv.wordpress.com/2006/07/04/the-pentagon-attack-alex-jones-vs...
Banned from Signs of the Times for WingTV article:
http://wingtv.wordpress.com/2006/07/05/banned-from-signs-of-the-times-fo...
Liberty Forum response to WingTV article:
http://wingtv.wordpress.com/2006/07/07/liberty-forum-response-to-wingtv-...
WING-TV HIT PIECE RESPONSE FROM SONNY CRACK:
http://www.revereradio.net/e107/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?202
From now on when you visit
From now on when you visit STING TV's website, use this url:
http://wearenarcs.com/
Jon, yes exactly. If you
Jon, yes exactly. If you look at the interview of Kevin Ryan from the new trailer for Loose Change: Final Cut -- it is clear that they started with the conclusion, then worked backward to justify it.
I know Kevin -- he is a really good guy with no axe to grind as far as what brought down the Twin Towers.
Dem and Frank - my
Dem and Frank - my headphones are somewhere else right now. I've listened to the clip about 5 times on my laptop with the sound turned way up.
I don't hear anything.
Can someone who knows how to manipulate sound boost the sound you want us to focus on, so we can hear it?
re: that clip with the guy
re: that clip with the guy on the motorcycle
I watched this clip awhile back and that sound did catch my attention, I heard the "boom boom" (or..vroom vroom) after he passes
I listened to it a bunch of times and really it just seems like he had to slow down or come to a stop and did a couple revs of the engine
LOL, Hufsmind and WingTV I
LOL, Hufsmind and WingTV I believe coined the term "crypto jew". WingTV uses the most hate filled rhetoric toward Jewish folks, 9/11 Truthers, etc and they are spose to be on "our side"?
I don't think so. I LOVED what Alex Jones said on his show Thursday. He made a hillarious but poignant statement about the people who attack him for 'not going after the Jews'.
I wouldn't be surprised if WingTV starts linking to StormFront soon.
so Signs Of The Times is a
so Signs Of The Times is a spook hangout?
"Lisa Guliani of WingTV IS
"Lisa Guliani of WingTV IS cointelpro. dont trust that bitch"
What evidence do you have to support your statement?
Al | Homepage | 07.09.06 - 1:02 pm | #
the fact that you even have to ask that shows me you havent been following 9/11 truth for very long.
re: that clip with the guy
re: that clip with the guy on the motorcycle
I watched this clip awhile back and that sound did catch my attention, I heard the "boom boom" (or..vroom vroom) after he passes
I listened to it a bunch of times and really it just seems like he had to slow down or come to a stop and did a couple revs of the engine
Andrew | 07.09.06 - 5:06 pm | #
__________-
The sound of the "BOOMS" IS NOT coming from the motorcycle! It is clearly coming from the North Tower. My statement is corroborated by the bystanders reaction in the street who say "Oh my GOD!" while looking and pointing in the direction of the tower after the first "BOOM" is heard. My statement is also corroborated by Steven Evans' reaction when he raises his hands to his ears in a fright after hearing more explosions, which occurred before the tower began to fall (the distance between the North Tower and the camera that recorded the audio of the explosions was approximately 3/4 of a mile away -- meaning that there was a sound delay and the explosion that Steven Evans reacted to occurred a couple of seconds before he reacted to it and before the tower began to fall).
Here's the clip again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJBEoThPUf8&search=BBC%20Footage%20Mentio...
Use headphones when listening to it and you will clearly pick up what the bystanders are saying and the sound of the "BOOMS".
great to see you all still
great to see you all still trying hard to proove that the towers were downed with explosives.. how cute.
You with your shitty capabilities, taking ever-so-slight evidence from low-quality videos and eye-witnesses.
If JUST ONE D.A. would subpoena the junta so that they have to provide the high-Rez videos and perps witnesses.. you'd have classy proof.
So why is there no D.A. doing it?
Because USA citizens are cowards.
Q.E.D.
(no criticism without offering a solution:)
phone that belgium lawyer that indicted Sharon to submit a case to THE HAGUE.
It will stand because THE HAGUE can take action in case the country concerned WILL NOT PROSECUTE.
^WTF is he going on
^WTF is he going on about???
Anyway, I ask you all of you (who aren't shills) to listen to the video clip I posted (with headphones) and post an analysis of what you heard. Thanks.
Here's the clip again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJBEoThPUf8&search=BBC%20Footage%20Mentio...
^Whoops that was me. So
^Whoops that was me.
So please give your honest opinion of the video clip after you've listened to it a few times with headphones. Thanks again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJBEoThPUf8&search=BBC%20Footage%20Mentio...
Government schools,
Government schools, Government-owned trains, government BANKS, paper-voting MMP-system, high wages, long holidays.. three years PAID parental leave, 12 government-owend TV channels without ads (imagine what THAT ALONE does for sequitur thinking)
sure, there is also lots of mind-fuck ... much of it due to the USA commercialism influence.. the lowest common denominator urgh!
Imagine, they have 50 seats in 600 seat parliament occupied by elected LEFT WING people... no doubt helping to keep the others honest. Imagine that in the USA!!! Bush41 once sat through a debate there.. and he said he wished he could bottle the educated spirit in that room and release it in congress.
I don't know how many of you have visited (quasi-socialist) central europe countries... but you should.
great piss-ups and drugs until late at night... and no fear, no violence!!
Its so liberating!!
Even the germany-wairy british can not hold back their praise...
Efficient transport. Modern cities. An independent foreign policy. Germans have lots to smile about. Picture / Reuters.
Who'd have thought? Germany's quite nice
Thursday June 29, 2006
By Steve Richards
And the winner of the World Cup is ... Germany. Yes, I know they face Argentina in the quarter-finals on Friday and could be out of the competition by the weekend. But it does not matter. They have already won.
The army of British journalists and English fans pay daily homage to the Germany they have discovered during the World Cup. This is Germany's historic victory. The reporting of the football is interspersed with spontaneous praise from fans and journalists about the ease of travel from city to city, the cleanliness of the towns, the class of the accommodation, the cycle-friendly paths that compete with the best in Holland, and the ability of cities to stage late-night festivals without them ending in a drunken brawl.
The German team is also playing quite well, of course.
Neither the British journalists nor the fans can entirely believe what they are experiencing. For two decades at least they have been brainwashed into thinking that Europe in general and Germany in particular is not working while Britain is thriving.
In Britain, the Eurosceptic media is powerful enough to change minds on its own. But in this case the newspapers fight their cause in alliance with politicians who also spread poison about a mythical "Europe".
Those visiting Germany from Britain are therefore the equivalent of Soviet travellers in the 1960s and 1970s, discovering to their bewilderment that there were attractive alternatives in the West. As they leave the football stadia with efficient ease, sit on the cheap trains that take them to their next venue, the English wonder whether Europe is so bad after all.
For more than two decades, British leaders have lectured Europe on the best ways of governing. With an insular arrogance, they have insisted that the continent would be much better off if it obeyed their modernising crusade.
Admittedly, in the message has been confused. British leaders tell France how to govern. Then they send British patients to French hospitals because the decrepit NHS cannot cope.
Still, the confusion is lost in the stridency of the message: only the Anglo-Saxon model works! Britain follows US foreign policy and is similarly influenced in economic policy.
As a result, Britain stands proud and the likes of poor old Germany lag behind. Keep clear of Europe!
Yet on a range of policy areas Germany is vindicated. Productivity is high. Across a range of indicators the economic performance of the old West Germany is as impressive as that of Britain. Germany has sustained a high level of public spending over a long period. Its infrastructure does not creak precariously.
All of this has been achieved in spite of the stress caused by reunification. If Britain had been faced with a similar challenge it would have lapsed into recession for decades.
And then there's Germany's political system, which, as New Zealanders know, ensures that no one faction can monopolise Government policy.
In advance of the war against Iraq there was much patronising talk within Downing Street about weak old Gerhard Schroeder who would like to be a world player by supporting the conflict but had to keep a pathetic eye on his precarious coalition.
The deluded view from Downing Street was that Schroeder could not govern strongly.
This compared with our mighty Prime Minister, who was allowed to decide for himself that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that Britain would stand proudly shoulder to shoulder with the US.
Indeed, it has been Blair's presidential freedom to declare war on a regular basis that turned him finally against electoral reform.
He felt he needed the space to act as he saw fit and would not support a voting system that might restrict him.
What a shame there was no counter-pressure to block his determination to support George W. Bush, and to be seen supporting the US President, as there was in Germany.
If there had been a different voting system in Britain, Blair would not have been allowed to invade Iraq.
There are lessons to be learnt, and it seems that even the US is again warming to European ways. On a recent trip to Washington, former British minister Denis MacShane said that to his surprise the overwhelming message from the State Department was, "We are all Europeans now."
Yet most of the time it is the fantastical nightmare of "Europe" that traps British politicians.
No doubt, too, when the England fans and the journalists return from Germany their memories will fade. Britons who holiday in France rave about the availability of GPs at weekends, the efficiency of trains and the overall quality of life.
Then they come home and become convinced within a week or two about the perils of "Europe".
So next time a deluded British leader lectures about the failings of "Europe", the British should think of the modern trains running on time and compare them to Britain's privatised monstrosities and their 200 ticket options, nearly all absurdly expensive.
They should consider Germany's sustained investment in public services compared with their own, starved of cash for three decades, showered with money for three years, and about to be starved again.
They should reflect on a German foreign policy that saw through the dangers of forming a subservient relationship with the divided Bush Administration as it bombed Iraq.
When Britain is told that its primary duty is to follow the United States in its foreign adventures and adopt its economic liberalism in all manifestations, it should remember what happened when Germany staged the World Cup and won.
- INDEPENDENT
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/print.cfm?c_id=524&objectid=10388825
^^^ * Do not flood the
^^^
* Do not flood the comments with large posts, especially unrelated material
The BBC clip confirms 100%
The BBC clip confirms 100% the accuracy of Rick Siegel's 911 Eyewitness recording of a deep explosive rumble exactly nine seconds BEFORE the fall of the North Tower.
It's there, as the woman says ''oh my God''.
This is shit-hot proof if we need it of CD, not on one video now but on two.
AWESOME web page....Everyone
AWESOME web page....Everyone needs to check out....st911.org