I must confess I haven't seen the 'blame Western self-hatred AND lousy teaching' argument before. Bravo, Ed West, for your creative use of bastardized logic and random conjunction of unrelated concepts. This editorial has it all: cock-up theory, someone would have talked, 9/11 would have involved thousands of conspirators, the government is incompetent, anti-semitism, paranoia -- wow! Enjoy!

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/edwest/blog/2009/06/01/conspiracy_theories_blame_western_selfhatred_and_lousy_teaching

Conspiracy theories? Blame Western self-hatred and lousy teaching

Posted By: Ed West at Jun 1, 2009 at 21:20:10

I'm something of a fundamentalist non-believer of conspiracy theories, a follower of the cock-up theory of history (at least in free societies - conspiracies are easier in totalitarian countries where fellow conspirators can just be bumped off).

Examiner.com ranks 1384 on Alexa http://alexa.com/siteinfo/examiner.com and has 8904 sites linking in. They appear to be a news aggregator that also published original writing. This article points out the House Committee on Assassinations investigation found there was a conspiracy in the case of JFK's shooting, and that the term "conspiracy theorist" has been used to malign questioners and dismiss legitimate inquiry. Unfortunately, the 2 main points he brings up about the 9/11 attacks at the end of his article are strange-

1) The Pentagon; he says, "9-11 critics, for example, wonder why there was no significant wreckage at the Pentagon. The official version says that jet fuel fires evaporated the titanium engines, yet the passengers' bodies could be identified. Does it take a conspiratorial nutcase to see a discrepancy?". The official version does NOT say the engines evaporated; claiming that it does sets his article up to be discredited and dismissed. I posted more about the lack of "significant wreckage" in my comment at the Examiner; pasted here below his article, following the fair use notice.

Yesterday, as I was driving, STAR FM Gippsland/Melbourne Southeast was on cause that's what my little one listens to nowadays instead of Kids FM.

And there was a corner called "Lowie vs America." This Aussie guy reporting from the USA, and he was in NYC.

He interviewed a few people on street about that "9/11 conspiracy theory" especially focusing on WTC7. It was all right -- some expressing the doubt but then he had a firefighter chief coming on, saying all the firefighters he knows deny it.

And yet, Lowie ended that corner saying something like, "Well, you determine it yourself. Go and check wtc7.net!"

So, if listeners go and see what that site has to say, they could see through the lie all right!!

Thank you Lowie!!
And please express your "Thanks!" to him from here.

Posted Jan 20, 2009 By BEN FOX, Associated Press Writer Ben Fox, Associated Press Writer

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – Two alleged orchestrators of the 2001 attacks on America casually declared their guilt on Monday in a messy and perhaps final session of the Guantanamo war crimes court. This week's military hearings could be the last at Guantanamo — President-elect Barack Obama has said he would close the offshore prison and many expect him to suspend the military tribunals and order new trials in the U.S.

Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed architect of the terrorist attacks, were unapologetic about their roles during a series of outbursts as translators struggled to keep up and the judge repeatedly sought to regain control.

"We did what we did; we're proud of Sept. 11," announced Binalshibh, who has said he wants to plead guilty to charges that could put him to death. The judge must first determine if he is mentally competent to stand trial.

Mohammed shrugged off the potential death sentence for the murder of nearly 3,000 people in the Sept. 11 attacks.

What's Behind Internet Conspiracy Empires?
As Conspiracy Communities Grow, Mental Health Docs Are Left With Big Questions
By LAUREN COX
ABC News Medical Unit

Dec. 12, 2008—

A man standing on a street corner with a sign reading "the lizard people rule you all," or, "my neighbors are spying on me for the government" isn't likely to get many supporters.

But give that man a Web site template, or let him produce some slick videos on YouTube and, lo and behold, he may have thousands of people across the world supporting him.

Such is the story of several extraordinarily popular conspiracy theorists and theories online today.

Take the victims of gang stalking -- a subculture of people who think their friends and neighbors are all secret government spies ready to turn them over to the authorities. The movement has recently spawned gang stalking support groups, forums and advice Web sites.

Or take the former journalist and BBC sports announcer, David Icke, for example.

9/11 and the NEW WORLD ORDER: MEANS, MOTIVE, and OPPORTUNITY (in Quotes)

"There exists a shadowy government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself." — Senator Daniel K. Inouye at the Iran Contra Hearings
----------------------------
Combining the following quotes and reading them as a group does an excellent job of painting the big picture of what’s going on in the world. It tells an illuminating story effectively, efficiently, and convincingly. Many of the quotes will no doubt be known by some of you -- especially those of you who visit OpEdNews.com and 911blogger.com. I have simply gathered quotes from prominent people, current and past, and organized them to clearly show the three basic elements -- means, motive, and opportunity -- of a world conspiracy. Please don’t balk at the word “conspiracy”; conspiracies happen all of the time.

A clip from the Nov. 14 episode of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.
Related: http://www.shockdoctrine.com

Don't let anyone silence you simply by calling you a name like "Conspiracy Theorist."

Let's put an end to these conspiracy theories once and for all: a full investigation with persons of interest like Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld, and whistleblowers like Sibel Edmonds and the NSWBC.org testifying in public under Oath
http://www.justacitizen.com

9/11 Commission Records:
http://www.archives.gov/research/9-11-commission/
In accordance with the Federal Records Act, the Commission has established a general restriction from public access on these records until 2009. Because the Commission was part of the legislative branch, its records are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

HOW TO PREVENT A CONSPIRACY THEORY by Michael Burgwin
http://www.helium.com/items/189541-911-pentagon-theories-there-is-no-conspiracy

"Sometimes paranoia's just having all the facts." - William S. Burroughs

Found this posted on opednews, thought it might be interesting. It appears Attorney General Michael Mukasey has been subpoenaed by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Hard to say what will actually come of it, seeing the effectiveness of previous subpoenas such as to Karl Rove etc.. Of course, there's also executive privilege to get around. I see that in the first statement, it is requested that all documents be unredacted. The hearing is to take place November 18, 2008 at 10:00 am. Hopefully there will be some CSPAN coverage that can be posted. We'll see if there is any MSM coverage but I'm not holding my breath for any. Here is the list of documents being requested according to the subpoena:

1. To provide the Committee with all documents constituting the legal analysis and advice the
Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel ("OLC") provided to any agency, office, entity,
or officer of the Executive Branch from September 11,2001 to the present, concerning the
Administration's national security practices and policies related to terrorism, and any related
document: including complete and unredacted versions of the following:

On Campus, On-Campus Developing - Written by Isha Dandavate on Saturday, October 18, 2008 22:13 - 2 Comments
NYU Employee Spits on 9/11 Conspiracy Theorist for Harassing Dan Rather

The panel discussion “The First Amendment, Freedom of the Press, and the Future of Journalism” got a little more interesting when an NYU facilities employee lashed out at conspiracy theorists questioning Dan Rather and Jill Abramson as they were leaving the event.

As reported on NYC the Blog and Mazza FHS the night began with the question “whether [Dan] Rather believes World Trade Center was taken down by bombs inside.” The conspiracy theorists followed Rather and Abramson out of the building after the panel discussion to continue questioning.

According to a NYU grad student, Aaron Howell, who was twittering at the event, “A NYU building facility guy got mad at the conspiracy guys for harassing the NY Times person so he spit in the dudes face/slapped his camera. Facility guy violated the poor conspiracy theorists I think NYU might be in trouble for that one.”

This just came out from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas.

Research shows that when people perceive they have no control over a given situation, they are more likely to see illusions, patterns where none exist and even believe in conspiracy theories. The study suggests that people impose imaginary order when no real order can be perceived.

"People see false patterns in all types of data," says Jennifer Whitson, one of the authors of the report, "...This suggests that lacking control leads to a visceral need for order — even imaginary order."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95345337

Here's a little more detail from a site called news-medical.net/?id=41844

Medical Research News

New research suggests that the reason why people carry out rituals such as touching wood or wearing a 'lucky' item or some other behavior, is because they are experiencing a loss of control in their lives.

Click Here To Listen -- http://noliesradio.org
Saturday & Sunday, Sept 13-14th at 6am Pacific - 9am Eastern - 13:00 GMT
Will be archived HERE after the broadcast.
LIVE 2 DAY CONFERENCE direct from Andover, Mass.

A two-day conference on obtaining prosecutions of high level American war criminals will open September 13th, in Andover, Mass. The conference will explore the legal grounds for, and plan for, obtaining prosecutions of President Bush and top officials of his Administration for war crimes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znnRONNMDMQ

Slavery is defined as the act of keeping a person as a piece of property. If you ask the average American if slavery still exists in America, their answer is likely to be no. After watching this video, many will change their minds.

The Forged Iraqi Letter: What Just Happened?

By Ron Suskind

07/08/08 "Huffington Post" -- - -What just happened? Evidence. A secret that has been judiciously kept for five years just spilled out. All of what follows is new, never reported in any way:

The Iraq Intelligence Chief, Tahir Jalil Habbush — a man still carrying with $1 million reward for capture, the Jack of Diamonds in Bush’s famous deck of wanted men — has been America’s secret source on Iraq. Starting in January of 2003, with Blair and Bush watching, his secret reports began to flow to officials on both sides of the Atlantic, saying that there were no WMD and that Hussein was acting so odd because of fear that the Iranians would find out he was a toothless tiger. The U.S. deep-sixed the intelligence report in February, “resettled” Habbush to a safe house in Jordan during the invasion and then paid him $5 million in what could only be considered hush money.