Mark Davis: The right to free speech taken too far - dallasnews.com

Mark Cuban is wrong to distribute 9/11 conspiracy film 'Loose Change'

06:53 AM CDT on Wednesday, March 28, 2007

A couple of months from now, I believe, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban will bathe in the well-deserved glow of adulation that comes with winning an NBA championship.

Hannity & Colmes Covers Sheen & 9/11 Truth - prisonplanet.com

Fox News' Hannity & Colmes delivers yet another hit piece on the 9/11 truth movement, this time denouncing Charlie Sheen, who is set to narrate Loose Change in association with billionaire Mark Cuban. Notice how they attack him on a personal level and then talk about the fact that they attacked him on a personal level, without actually discussing any of the issues he raises!

To be fair, Colmes presents a balanced counter-argument and mentions the fact that Alex Jones is a conservative, so this isn't a left/right issue.

Big hat tip to prisonplanet.com!

'LOOSE'-BRAIN CHARLIE SPEAKS

March 24, 2007 -- CHARLIE Sheen has confirmed our exclusive story that he'll narrate a feature version of the stupid YouTube video "Loose Change," which claims that shadowy U.S. government operatives used explosives to bring down the World Trade Center. "It's a story that needs to be told. It's a story about the truth, and the truth needs to be exposed," the "Two and a Half Men" star told "Extra." "It's not just me, not just the Hollywood community [who] is standing up saying what you have given us doesn't make sense. We just want better answers." The video pushes the widely debunked "controlled demolition" theory which claims that the Twin Towers and 7 World Trade Center were blown up from within. It alleges the jet-fuel fires inside the towers weren't hot enough to melt the buildings' steel beams. The video, written and directed by Dylan Avery, has been scoffed at by the makers of an opposing video, "Screw Loose Change." Its claims were also soundly refuted by Popular Mechanics magazine, which shot down every single assertion made by the conspiracy theorists.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03242007/gossip/pagesix/loose_brain_charlie_...

Source: http://www.nypress.com/blogx/display_blog.cfm?bid=81512963

Posted to Entertainment

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Charlie Sheen Says US Gov't. Behind 9/11

The Post’s Page Six reports that Charlie Sheen believes the United States government planned 9/11—literally, not just by running the country that managed to inspire such hatred. Apparently, Sheen is following up his prostitute charity work by narrating a version of the loonier-than-grandma-on-ecstasy YouTube documentary "Loose Change," which claims that a corrupt faction within the federal government orchestrated the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. According to The Post, Sheen is “in talks with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's Magnolia Pictures to distribute the film.” He has also requested a new independent investigation into the attacks, in case, you know, past probes missed the “How To Devastate A Country” manual by the White House.

Posted by Kari Milchman at 4:14 PM

tags: nypress, new york, 9/11, charlie sheen, youtube, loose change

That's right, Mr Sheen gonna be the narrator for LCFC.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=39311290...

This is gonna be MASSIVE.

This will push it out of the 'neiche' market and into everyone's faces. Yes he's been labelled a nut and tin hatter etc.. But this just gives it extra umph when it comes to being able to sell it round the world. Makes it very marketable.

I feel a tidal wave brewing ;-)

Coming to:

Brunswick Theatre
296 Brunswick Ave. Toronto ON
647-282-3627

MANUFACTURING TERROR: 9/11 and the Toronto 17
Friday, Mar 30, 9:30 PM

Loose Change Viewing
Saturday, Mar 31, 4:30 PM

MANUFACTURING TERROR: 9/11 and the Toronto 17
Saturday, Mar 31, 7:00 PM

Notice that on Saturday, Loose Change is followed by the Manufacturing Terror talk, so that is the day to go if you wanna see both. See ya there!

This message was just sent by the Loose Change crew:

03.12.2007
Anybody in Las Vegas? Wanna help us out?
As you may or may not be aware, the legendary Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada will be imploded at approximately 2:30 AM on Tuesday, March 13th. The nearby main road is being closed off between midnight and 4:00 A.M, and all signs nail the demolition at 2:30 AM.

The more steady, descriptive shots the better. We'll do whatever we can to compensate those that shoot footage. If you happen to get some coverage of it, please let us know.

Call our secretary Kristy at 607-267-4456 and square things away with her if you can send us a copy. We'd be there ourselves but we have simply way too much to do.

Also, Professor Steven Jones is requesting dust samples. Anyone who can help us both out will be thanked extensively. In fact, anyone who helps us will get a special credit in the Final Cut.

Irvine went great. Met a lot of great people, got to see April Gallop again. Catch you soon.

Posted by Dylan.

Speaking in Burlington, Vermont this past Friday evening, March 2nd, 2007, grieving mother, anti-war activist and author Cindy Sheehan extended her hand in support of researchers and activists skeptical of the official line on the 9/11 terror attacks and publicly questioned several key features in the establishment mythos surrounding the event.

When asked the question, “Do you buy into the government's account of events on 9/11 and if not, which part or parts do you suspect or have you proven to be false,” Sheehan:

1) called attention to the relevance of 9/11 by linking it to the claims used to justify the war in Iraq and her son's death there;
2) lent verbal support to a new, democratically-led 9/11 investigation;
3) lent verbal support and urged others to lend their support to 9/11 Truth researchers and activists;
4) referenced the video, “Loose Change” (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7866929448192753501); and
5) referenced David Ray Griffin's book, The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11 (http://physics911.ca/pdf/2004/griffin_pearl_harbor.pdf)

A video clip of the event is posted at the following URLs:

As advertised in the New York Times:

92ND STREET Y 1395 Lexington Avenue. Sunday at 6:30 p.m., a screening of “Loose Change,” a documentary about the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, followed by a discussion with its filmmakers, Dylan Avery, Jason Bermas and Korey Rowe: $25.

Rosie O'Donnell advocates watching Loose Change
http://www.rosie.com/blog/sections/ask-ro/

(scroll down about halfway)

on Rosie.com in the ask rosie section of her blog someone asked....

gabrielle writes:

Hi Rosie
just 2 ? have u read F.Rich book greatest story ever SOLD abt the LIES GWB an the spin drs+r/w power crunches that put him into office.
If so what did u think have u seen loose change LUV GA

Rosie: i think it is a great book and i think loose change should be viewed by all

well there you have it folks, Rosie O'Donnell, not surprising, but is a confessed 9/11 truther.

Response: Don't believe the official 'conspiracy' theory - guardian.co.uk

We have to ask who stood to gain the most from the appalling events of 9/11, says Tim Sparke

Tuesday February 13, 2007
The Guardian

George Monbiot's explicit attack on the film Loose Change (A 9/11 conspiracy virus is sweeping the world ..., February 6) has no basis in fact. While we accept that there are flaws in the current version of the film, we stand by its overarching theme that the official "conspiracy" theory of 9/11, constructed in the hours, days, weeks and months after 9/11, is false.

In uncritically endorsing the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report, Monbiot neglects to say that the collapse mechanism for the entire World Trade Centre building was never documented by NIST - it didn't see it as its job. Additionally, in accepting that the towers collapsed at virtually free-fall speed ("the weight of the collapsing top storeys generated a momentum the rest of the building could not arrest"), Monbiot shows no awareness that this explanation violates the law of conservation of momentum.

Monbiot also appears oblivious to NIST's failure to explain that, although fire could not have melted any steel, there were pools of molten metal under the rubble, and these pools remained molten for weeks after the collapse; that dozens of people, including firefighters, news reporters and fleeing victims, all reported massive explosions; the clear video evidence of explosions taking place; that virtually all the concrete was pulverised into tiny particles; the apparent disintegration of the central steel core; and the destruction of all the evidence from America's biggest crime scene, which was covertly transported to Asian and African shores before any forensic examination could take place.

Monbiot then endorses the idea that Building 7 collapsed because "thousands of gallons of diesel [were poured] on to the fire" - oblivious to the fact that, even if an enormous fire could have caused a symmetrical collapse (which required all 81 steel columns to miraculously fail simultaneously), there was, as photographs and eyewitnesses reveal, no enormous fire. Monbiot also appears unaware that several engineers and demolition experts, after studying videos, have declared that this collapse can only have been caused by explosives.

Yesterday the Daily Mail a mainstream UK newspaper had a 4 page article on Loose Change. Unlike The Guardian, another mainstream newspaper which completely ridiculed the film earlier this week the Daily Mail gave the film a fair review. The well known writer Sue Reid even admitted that there are a lot of facts that are undisputable. Unfortunately today their internet comments page has published mainly biased debunking remarks submitted from their readers. I and a few friends in the UK have sent in our remarks which were perfectly polite remarks stating our thoughts, however these favourable Loose Change comments have not been shown.
If some US citizens could send their comments maybe one or two just might get through. This is important as the majority of the UK is entirely unaware of the 911 movement and its aims and will tend to believe what they read in these mainstream sites and papers. Below are a few of the published comments-

"How many people do you know personally who smelled the flesh of burnt people from a nearby concentration camp? I know dozens. Because I come from a place not so distance from Bergen-Belsen (ever heared of it?)."

Feb. 10:

The "Loose Change" crew have announced they are dropping out of Arizona due to Eric Williams's involvement. I'm not sure I would have done this if I were going in the first place, since Williams's sessions according to Arizona 9/11 Truth have been cancelled, and he was downgraded to a vendor. But maybe they know something about his continuing influence that I do not.

Not that I've made a public issue of it, but I wasn't too impressed with the way the conference was conceived as another "big tent" festival of tolerance for any idea associated with inside-job theory, even if it's been falsified or was ridiculous to begin with (like, unfortunately, much of Loose Change 1 and 2).

Nonetheless, the LC boys took a principled stance on the contemptible (and damaging) beliefs of certain people who seek to exploit 9/11 skepticism to advance their own perpetual agenda. Good for them.

A 9/11 conspiracy virus is sweeping the world, but it has no basis in fact - guardian.co.uk

There is a virus sweeping the world. It infects opponents of the Bush government, sucks their brains out through their eyes and turns them into gibbering idiots. First cultivated in a laboratory in the US, the strain reached these shores a few months ago. In the past fortnight, it has become an epidemic. Scarcely a day now passes without someone possessed by this sickness, eyes rolling, lips flecked with foam, trying to infect me.

The disease is called Loose Change. It is a film made by three young men that airs most of the standard conspiracy theories about the attacks of September 11 2001. Unlike the other 9/11 conspiracy films, Loose Change is sharp and swift, with a thumping soundtrack, slick graphics and a calm and authoritative voiceover. Its makers claim that it has now been watched by 100 million people.
..
The film's greatest flaw is this: the men who made it are still alive. If the US government is running an all-knowing, all-encompassing conspiracy, why did it not snuff them out long ago? There is only one possible explanation. They are in fact agents of the Bush regime, employed to distract people from its real abuses of power. This, if you are inclined to believe such stories, is surely a more plausible theory than the one proposed in Loose Change.

Follow the link above for the full article and to post comments in response. Likewise you can find the contact information for the author via his website here.

Thanks Jon for the heads up.

A short preview of things to come...

This is a preview of the highly anticipated 9/11 truth documentary Loose Change: Final Cut. Due to be released in Spring 2007.

I've just read 2 recent posts on Daily Kos about 911. It appears they've been left standing as an example of what will happen to anyone who tries to raise the subject : ridicule, venom and tinfoil hat construction tips.

At the same time, this does show that 911 truth movement tactics now need to be overhauled if further progress is to be made.

I read in the Guardian recently that Loose Change is to be upgraded for cinema release. If this happens, it will sink the 911 truth movement. I'm not saying that it's deliberate disinformation and I'm not saying that anyone who disagrees with me is necessarily of that ilk either. However, whilst it may be commercially successful, it won't gain any converts and it will serve the same purpose for 911 deniers, that the dKos diaries have.

There is a big piece in the Guardian today on Loose Change. You can find it here:

http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,1998430,00.html

It is not a hit piece, but of the three or four points the article mentions, most people here would probably only agree with 1 of them: explosive demolition.

It is very disappointing to me that the other two, no-plane at the Pentagon and no-plane in Shanksville, get a mention, but many of our better arguments get ignored. What about Saeed Sheikh, Able Danger, the "hunt" for Osama, Sibel Edmonds, the fact the NSA was tapping one of the hijacker's phones for 3 years before 9/11, the dust, the visas, the fact that the hijackers thought they were being followed, the Malaysia meeting, all the warnings, war games on 9/11, bojinka, "3 individuals have been followed since Millenium and Cole", Jarrah in Dubai, David Schippers, etc., etc.?

You can find part 1 here
And a bit of off camera discussion here.

Dylan Avery and Jason Bermas debate Mark Roberts on government complicity in the events of September 11, 2001 here.

Interestingly Dylan admits that his movie contains serious flaws and even goes so far as to say LC is not a fair representation of the 9/11 Truth Movement. Instead he endorses 9/11 Press for Truth.

Worth a watch.

September 11, 2001

I was sitting at my desk watching the news and working on math (for I was home schooled at the time). The next thing I know I hear my mom gasp and I look up asking what is it? She simply stared at the television and said, an air plane just crashed into the World Trade Center. Only being eleven years of age at the time, I didn't know what the World Trade Centers were. I got up from the desk and sat next to her while she explained everything to me. Of course everyone knows how the rest went. We sat and watched the news all day. My mom was making breakfast when I cried out that one of the towers fell. Even at that young age, something like that scared me. I feared for all my friends back and the private school I had been attending just the year before. Within a week after 9/11 I was back at school because I felt that's where I needed to be.

September 11, 2006

Now, five years later on September 11, my dad showed me the Loose Change Video. I refused to watch it at first fearing that it was just the headline news showing everything over again, but he assured me that it was more than what it seemed. So I watched it. Before this video, I was a Bush supporter, I was angry at the so-called "terrorists". After this video, I'm just happy that Bush is almost done with his second term. I'm not a Kerry supporter but I'm no longer for Bush either

I was searching around on MSNBC.COM so that I could find an email address where i could reach Olbermann's staff. I simply wanted to commend them on their coverage of the Military Commissions Act. After doing so, I checked the MSNBC blog link hoping to find some more discussion on the topic. What I found was even better, at the top of the MSNBC's blog page, is a staffer blog called "Clicked, Sneaky Links." When I visited this blog, which is run by MSNBC, I scrolled down to Oct. 16th and saw that they had created a blog entry called "Loose Change and Making Sense." Here's the text of the blog, along with a link to it.

http://clicked.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/10/16/7315.aspx

"The Loose Change guys versus the Popular Mechanics guys. In case you're not familiar, Loose Change is a video that argues that 9/11 did not happen the way the story is told in popular media. Popular Mechanics published a debunking of many of the points of the 9/11 conspiracy theorists. It's really fascinating to see them debate in person. The reasoning style of the 9/11 guys is pretty fascinating in itself. They don't seem as interested in answering questions as they are about making sense of questions. They ask a lot of "If A is true, then why B?" questions. A and B don't necessarily answer each other, but when put together they imply an answer. Speaking of arguing with 9/11 doubters here's South Park's take."

The Hopeless Stupidity of 9/11 Conspiracy “Theories” - rollingstone.com

A few weeks ago I wrote a column on the anniversary of 9/11 that offhandedly dismissed 9/11 conspiracy theorists as "clinically insane." I expected a little bit of heat in response, but nothing could have prepared me for the deluge of fuck-you mail that I actually got. Apparently every third person in the United States thinks George Bush was behind the 9/11 attacks.
..
I have two basic gripes with the 9/11 Truth movement. The first is that it gives supporters of Bush an excuse to dismiss critics of this administration. I have no doubt that every time one of those Loose Change dickwads opens his mouth, a Republican somewhere picks up five votes. In fact, if there were any conspiracy here, I'd be far more inclined to believe that this whole movement was cooked up by Karl Rove as a kind of mass cyber-provocation, along the lines of Gordon Liddy hiring hippie peace protesters to piss in the lobbies of hotels where campaign reporters were staying.

Secondly, it's bad enough that people in this country think Tim LaHaye is a prophet and Sean Hannity is an objective newsman. But if large numbers of people in this country can swallow 9/11 conspiracy theory without puking, all hope is lost. Our best hope is that the Japanese take pity on us and allow us to serve as industrial slaves in their future empire, farming sushi rice and assembling robot toys.
..
Whenever anyone chooses to dismiss 9/11 conspiracy theorists, accusations fly; the Internet screams that you've aided and abetted George Bush. I disagree. To me, the 9/11 Truth movement is, itself, a classic example of the pathology of George Bush's America. Bush has presided over a country that has become hopelessly divided into insoluble, paranoid tribes, one of which happens to be Bush's own government. All of these tribes have things in common; they're insular movements that construct their own reality by cherry-picking the evidence they like from the vast information marketplace, violently disbelieve in the humanity of those outside their ranks, and lavishly praise their own movement mediocrities as great thinkers and achievers. There are as many Thomas Paines in the 9/11 Truth movement as there are Isaac Newtons among the Intelligent Design crowd.

There's not a whole lot of difference, psychologically, between Sean Hannity's followers believing liberals to be the same as terrorists, and 9/11 Truthers believing even the lowest soldier or rank-and-file FAA or NORAD official to be a cold-blooded mass murderer. In both cases you have to be far gone enough into your private world of silly tribal bullshit that the concept of "your fellow citizen" has ceased to have any meaning whatsoever. It may be that America has become too big and complicated for most people to deal with being part of. People are longing for a smaller, stupider reality. Some, like Bush, sell a prepackaged version. Others just make theirs up out of thin air. God help us.

Please note that the 4 page column is linked from the page linked above, and that comments can be posted in reply.

Thanks Kevin for the heads up.

Free Film! Loose Change 2nd Edition in Bordeaux!

The details: When: Sunday Oct. 8th 2006 - 16:30h

Where: The Golden Apple - 46 rue Borie, 33000 Bordeaux, FRANCE

(Flyer at link.)

Your pursuit is rather reactionary. This certainly could be a reputable effort considering that Loose Change has its ambigous moments, and runs with a couple of hypotheses that many in the movement do not favor. Personally, I'm really looking forward to seeing the next version. While I respect the pursuit of truth and which ever direction it may lead, I think this effort to debunk Loose Change is a bit misguided for the following reasons.

First of all, while the movie is our most popular, it is far from the only 9/11 movie that gets peoples attention. After many see the movie they are curious, and seek out other sources for further information. For this reason, attacking Loose Change is not likely to dubunk the whole movement. What do you guys have to say about Press for Truth? This action seems to be the work of people who don't really understand the movement as they respond to it.

Second, debunking Loose Change is easy. Debunking 9/11 is easy. For that matter, debunking just about anything is easy. There is an ever growing mainstream response to the movement attempting to debunk our claims. This in itself signals the rise of the movement. In other words, an anti-Loose Change crew may actually help promote the significance of 9/11 truth. The very premise of your actions may be faulty. Two kinds of people will go to your debunking site. People who happen upon it and then watch the movie as a result, and people who want to find fault with the movie and seek you out. Guess what? The 9/11 truth movement isn't presently trying to convince the people likely to find your arguments entirely compelling. 42% question the offical story, but don't have all the facts. Personally, I don't think this effort will draw many of our target audience away from exporing the issue for themselves.

I agree with the Village Voice who described Loose Change as a "slick, witty documentary featuring a hip soundtrack and a rapid-fire assault on nearly every aspect of the "official" story of 9-11"

I also very much agree with the review on Loosechange911.com by someone called Glen who said:

"I don't think i can type out in such an expression that would come across to let you know how impressed and floored I am by everything. The opening 5 minutes was so impressive factually that it was almost like a Jerry Maguire "you had me at hello" moment"

And well, you know how it goes. Fans of any film or TV show will all have opinions about what they want to see in it, while artists of all kinds are often accused of being too close to their own works to see what they are doing so well. It's a situation we have all been in before.

My feeling is that Loose Change, in laudably ever-seeking to refine its quality, is at some risk of reprocessing itself and its message to a point of over-dilution. Powerful nuances are being lost between different edits of LC which could undermine the spirit and message of the production that made it such a runaway success to begin with.

Dylan Avery, Korey Rowe, and Jason Bermas were featured tonight in a 4 minute segment on Paula Zahn, click the image above to grab it. Big ups to Neil for the hookup! Thanks TT for the google video link!

Just got a first hand report from JR Guerra as to the activities this morning in NYC.

First off, he said that the protests at Ground Zero this morning went well. He approximated 2,000 activists at Ground Zero and said there was no provocation and that everyone behaved well. He said that Korey Rowe had handed out 800 copies of LC2E, and 200+ t-shirts. He said that once they had left Ground Zero they went to the financial district to protest in front of Spitzer's office and Silverstein's office, and that the police were very nice and had blocked off all of Broadway street for them. He said that they were currently on the way to city hall and were still running strong with a very large group of protesters.

So, since I can't find anyone at all reporting on it I think this is the first report, please post other reports in the comments as you come across them.

Big thanks to JR Guerra for the first hand info!

Commentary: Democrats screen movie questioning 9/11 story - PalmBeachPost.com

Five years later, the suggestion that a shadowy domestic cabal and not Osama bin Laden was behind the 9/11 attacks has gone from tin-hat chatter to an officially sanctioned way to recruit grass-roots workers and drum up a few bucks for the Palm Beach County Democratic Party.

The local party's Volunteer Outreach, Information, Coordination and Education (VOICE) Committee is sponsoring a screening of the 9/11 conspiracy pic Loose Change later this month (suggested donation: $5) with a special appearance by Space Coast Democratic congressional long shot Bob Bowman, a prominent doubter of the official 9/11 narrative.

The VOICE Committee's Rick Neuhoff handed out Exposing the Myth of 9/11 fliers at Thursday's Democratic Executive Committee powwow. Neuhoff says he's convinced that President Bush had "foreknowledge" of the attacks and that the World Trade Center "didn't come down because of the planes."

The local Democratic Party isn't endorsing any 9/11 theory, Chairman Wahid Mahmood says, just trying to present "an educational process for all of us."

Thanks to u2r2h for the submission!

Hi everyone, my first entry in this blog is just to say that here in Portugal there was ONLY one media to question the 911 story, it was the public television, RTP , they showed us the famous documentary, Loose Change.