AAAmeeericaaaaaan Top Fooorty!

This is not the Kasey Kaseem variety of Top 40.
While rational and normal people have been dwelling over how the world has changed over the past five years, a group of complete nutcases are sifting over the wreckage of their fractured imaginations and telling lies to themselves and other people.
The attacks of September 11 2001 were a calculated plan carried out by a group of International gangsters. (Osama and his gang.) Gangsters is the word I prefer to use.
These gangsters were predisposed to destabilize the world and bring the US into war.
They admit this themselves.

But why for the life of me are so called educated people, constructing such an outrageous conspiracy theory that suggests the US government planned the whole shebang?
My first thought is an extension of Bush bashing. Bush bashing, of course, is the fasting growing sport in the world. It started the day he was inaugurated, gained more competitors after S11 and grew even more when Bush was re-elected.
A vast majority of Bush bashers know nothing about domestic or International politics. They just join in because it is cool to bash any Republican President. Reagan was bashed from pillar to post in his first term, once again by people who had no idea about politics.

The S11 conspiracy theories seems to be more than bush bashing though.
The conspiracy theorists remind me more of a hysteria that took place in the mid-nineties.
I refer to those people who believed in Aliens.
Yep, you know the types.
Smoked too much pot, watched the "X-files" and were convinced that the "Truth is out there!".
These were the same people who were convinced about Y2K and the coming Global calamity.

I cannot definitively explain WTF is going on with these people, but it does appear to be some sort of Mass Hysteria.
Maybe Mass Hysteria is unavoidable.
When Orson Welles did his radio play version of H.G.Wells "War of the Worlds", Mass Hysteria broke out in many parts of the USA.
When the Beatles toured the world, Mass Hysteria broke out in cities throughout the world.
When the Danish "Prophet" cartoons were seen, Mass Hysteria broke out in many cities.

If Mass Hysteria is cyclical, how do we stop it?
Is Mass Hysteria unavoidable?
Is Mass Hysteria ingrained into the Human Psyche?

I'm not sure what the answer is to these questions, but I do know a couple of things.
Here are some tips to dealing with conspiracy theorists.

September 11 conspiracy theorists need to be talked to sternly and without compromise.

They must be reminded they are wrong and living in a fantasy world.

They must be reminded that believing S11 conspiracy theories, is akin to denying the holocaust.

Engaging them in arguments about the details of their conspiracy should be completely avoided, as it only encourages them more.

If you have a friend who is a "believer", don't tolerate their opinion. You are not doing them or the world a favor.

Tell them facts about Domestic and International politics, and try to explain the background of what Terrorists had been planning to do and have done.

If these actions cause more trouble, avoid that person.

LEST WE FORGET

Osama won't be popping down the shops quite yet.

The news item touring the world at the moment, is the so called truce between Pakistan forces and pro Al-Qaeda/Taliban militia groups.
The mainstream media has swooped on it, put 2 and 2 together and as usual get 5. They are claiming that Osama is being left off the hook, can now cash in his Superannuation and retire from terrorism at a rest home in North Waziristan.
I have been on the web trail for a while now and the big picture is a bit different.
The Pakistani government have been making deals since 2001 to get their hands on Al-Qaeda and Osama. The tactic they have been using is to play one mountain tribe against another in order to slowly isolate pro Osama groups. Pakistani forces at times would threaten to use force against one tribe, unless that tribe attacks another tribe who harbor pro-Osama forces.

A strange twist on the Domino theory indeed. Push one an the rest will go.

Obviously Pakistan are sick of fighting a war against tribal groups that are merely caught in-between. A 25 Million dollar reward is still on Osama's head. The Pakistani government has not given Osama amnesty and will continue to fight militias that do not put down their arms. (Click Link).

Tribes in Waziristan may well be talked around to getting the reward money, now they don't have to worry about government forces.

This may well be the move that snares Osama,but the mainstream media have already made up their minds that Pakistan and the US have given up.
Don't believe them, they have no idea!
Should you trust me? Yes!
Ask a question and find out.

Note: Odds of 10-1 are available for Osama to be caught before the year ends.
Good odds and worth a small punt.

Googly may turn out to be a wrong 'un.

I don't like the term "hate crime" or "hate speech". It can be interpreted in so many ways and can be used at the discretion of those that wield the power of the word.
Sure, their are some things that are said that I find terrible. When people of any side of the political spectrum start spouting words of a threatening nature, I get offended. I particularly dislike words encouraging slaughter of innocent people.
Many times in the early days of live chat discussion on the web, I would hear people who expressed a wish to "wipe out the Jews" or "bomb all Arabs back to the stone age". I would be one of the first to challenge these people, usually asking why they would say such a thing and then bury myself in the argument at the root of the problem.
While shocked at times, I would never censor what anybody says. I of course hold the right to challenge them.
In the real world, so called "hate speech" is everywhere.
The President of Iran for one,with his opinions on Jews, is a prime example of what I find offensive.
When I traveled in Israel, I heard things said about Arabs that shocked me.

So where does that leave the internet?
I suppose it's important not to upset people so much they resort to violence.
But where do you draw the line?
The film "Clockwork Orange" was banned in England for many years, fearing it might encourage young "lads" to get into ritual violence for fun.
The "Mohammed Cartoons", were censored around the world, to stop escalating violence.

I have seen both of the above examples and I didn't hurt a mouse.
Personally I think "anything goes". But I, very conceitedly I must add, am smarter than some fools out there. ( Except after my second bottle of Vodka).

So.

Do you think google had a right to suspend the "new media journal", from it's search engine?
I don't think so.
Let me know your opinion.

And I thought I was a lazy blogger....

National TV, National Radio, National Press.
The next step is to get into action.
Yep. Take the gloves off and get stuck into em'.

Waiting.

Still waiting.

Hey, didn't you say you were getting paid for this?
Oh well, back in the Dreamworld ranch for you Timmy Boy!

Bolt v Manne. The Duel in the School.

This was the one everyone's been waiting for.
Forget Howard v Costello.
The whisper around town for a long time was the confrontation on the contentious issue of "the Stolen Generation".
Apparently the event was called a draw.
In reality a draw was not good enough for Manne. He had to beat Bolt on points and ,by failing to do so, has conceded a great deal of ground in the debate.
It seems Manne has conceded that the concept of "the Stolen Generation", is more of a metaphor.
Not good enough as an argument in my book.

I can't wait for the big re-match, hopefully at the town hall.

Then I can use the Headline, "The Brawl in the Hall".

This, goes with that, in Sudan.

It's a shame that recognition of an atrocity requires an effective PR campaign before action is taken.
Depending on the location, the politics, the timing and other unrelated factors, a reaction to a human right abuse can be acted on swiftly or not at all.
Take for instance East Timor.
It took 24 years for action to be taken on East Timor. It took elements of the Australian left and right of Politics to agree to taking action. Well publicized images of atrocities after the East Timor Independence Referendum, was the trigger that brought an immediate response. ( Immediate in terms of Post-Independence, their are 24 years of appeasement that went on previously when nothing happened). No protests against Australian troops going to East Timor took place.

Afghanistan.
Under the rule of the evil Taliban for many years. It took S 11 for the world to take notice of Afghanistan's' plight. Some protests against military intervention took place, but an International force eventually liberated Afghans from the Taliban. (The fight is continuing though in some areas).

Iraq.
Saddam Hussein was a mass-murderer and spread war throughout the region. He used chemical weapons on the Kurds, went to war against Iran and Invaded Kuwait. His military was defeated in 1991 but he remained in power. After 12 years of sanctions, Saddam Hussein continued to murder his own citizens and finally he was ousted in 2003. The excuse to finally oust Saddam, was that he was harboring Weapons of Mass Destruction. A huge wave of protest went on around the world saying WMD's did not exist. Protests exist today.
Protesters ignored the fact that Saddam Hussein was a Mass-Murderer and that guns ARE WMD's!!

Sudan.
Attempted Genocide has been taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan for decades. Currently Islamic gangs are riding around in the back of Pick-up trucks carrying out atrocities. Slowly the world is becoming aware of the crisis there. Unfortunately, it is unclear what turn of events will make intervention possible.
As it stands the people of the Darfur region will need luck for something to happen.

Their seems to be a complicated form of world political correctness, in regards to militants under the Islamic banner. While it is plainly obvious that groups like, The Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas, Jemal Islameah and so on, are gangs of murderers, a strange defense of them has cropped up around the world.
I think it's called appeasement, in some cases it's just plain, bloody minded, Anti-American, ignorance. Whatever you call it, groups of thugs from all corners of the earth are getting away with anything they put their minds to, knowing full well that no political impetus exists to stop them.
Western leftist opposition, takes the angle that war is bad. Therefore, nothing should happen. Maybe send a harsh letter or get the UN to waggle a finger, but that's it.
Well the fact is appeasement does not work. The Taliban and Saddam Hussein would still be around if force was not used to oust them. The same goes with Hitler.

So do we have to wait for another S 11, Pearl harbor, Invasion of Poland to react?
Maybe, if the apologists and appeasers don't wake up to themselves.