Thursday, August 30, 2007

One Good Thing Leads To Another

One of the best but most time-consuming aspects of the net is the way one good thing can lead to another, and another, and so on, until ... what was I talking about?

Oh yes! Last weekend, Robert Fisk and his 9/11 column inspired quite a few bloggers including my frozen self, and I tried to read as many of them as I could find. I quite enjoyed a post from RedPill8, a site I hadn't seen before, so I checked in via the comments and checked out the archives and in a matter of just a few minutes I found I had spent several hours there, reading and reading and reading... I've since added a link to the site on my sidebar, so it will be easy to get back to! (Hint, hint!)

The discussion in the comments thread has been interesting and I've been following it (and throwing in my two cents, of course). The highlight of the thread so far, not likely to be topped -- or even approached -- is a link to damien's hilarious and factual blog, OsamaBinBolt. Here's the background:
Andrew Bolt is a columnist at the Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne, Australia. He works mostly in domestic social commentary and occasionally confronts international issues. He is right wing and hostile to left wing influences such as unions and the Australian television outlets SBS and the publicly funded ABC whose standards are high but whose staff are philosophically left wing. Bolt's general style is dismissive of those who don't agree with him
...

Normally this would be of no consequence. But recently Bolt has published an article denigrating 9/11 critics - those persons we normally call 'conspiracy' theorists. Laced with his denigration is a systematic program of misrepresentation of what these people say and a refusal to even consider the ideas they present.

We need to be clear: Bolt can hold whatever views he likes on 9/11, but he rejects the views of others in dishonest ways and he claims a higher moral ground. This invites unmasking.

Andrew Bolt regards himself as an authority on all things 9/11 and uncritically mouths the official version.
So damien gave him a series of short tests, all of which Bolt failed:
I wrote to him under my own name last year following his hatchet job on Fisk. The response was abusive. So I then wrote as --

Stephen Hadley - Pres. Bush's National Security Advisor (asking for Bolt's thoughts on Iraq)

Michael Ledeen - neocon (warning Bolt not to take Hadley's letter too seriously)

Col. Thomas Pappus - found guilty of offenses at Abu Ghraib (agreeing with Bolt that the torture was isolated)

Sibel Edmonds - an FBI translator and leading 9/11 conspiracy theorist (bemoaning 9/11 conspiracies)

Mike Feghali - Sibel's boss (sympathizing with correspondent Sibel Edmonds)

Douglas and Can Dickerson - Turkish spies identified by Sibel Edmonds (on holidaying in Turkey)

Sahtam Al Suqamis -- 9/11 hijacker who's passport was found in the street (it's hard for Muslims to get passports)

Amanda Keller -- Mohammed Atta's girlfriend (terrorists need girlfriends)

Wally Hilliard - owner of Huffman Aviation, home of the 9/11 terrorists

Bolt recognized none of these names. Absolutely NONE. Having styled himself as a 9/11 expert he was unable to recognize any of these historical persons from the events of 9/11. Bolt knows nothing. He is a fraud.
I'm sure Bolt is not the only fraud, but his unmasking is stunningly effective. You'll laugh -- or cry -- or both! -- as Andrew Bolt responds to the concerns of "Sibel Edmonds", "Michael Ledeen", "David Hicks", "Thomas Pappas", and the others, without ever giving any hint of any knowledge of any kind.

It's perfect: it reminded me of Don Novello as Lazlo Toth sending fan mail to Richard Nixon!

... speaking of which, and speaking of time-consuming, and speaking of one thing leading to another ...

At LV's blog the other day I clicked a link to an essay on 9/11 by an author using the pen name "Lazlo Toth", and once again only a few minutes elapsed while I spent hours reading "Wired for Terror: On the Trail of the “Men” Who Brought Down the Towers"

It's an excellent piece. Hint, hint. And speaking of one good thing leading to another, this is the first of a planned four-part series -- it's only the introduction! When the new parts are ready, I'm sure it won't take but another few minutes to spend a few hours soaking in them, too! Wow!

And all this is happening at Lazlo Toth's blog and that's at WTC Demolition dot com. Hint, hint!

These links are not all on my sidebar yet, but they will be soon.

Great stuff, guys! Why didn't you find me earlier??

Oh well, better late than never.

Many thanks all around, and tips of the frozen cap to Sean O'Neil as LV and Lazlo Toth and (Don Novello too) and damien and RedPill8.

Please check out some of these pages, and if you get the urge leave me a comment and let me know what you think.