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So I read an article a few months back about this guy Morgan Reynolds, Bush's chief economist for the Department of Labor from 2001-02, who was claiming that the twin towers' falling was more likely the result of controlled demolition than a collapse caused by airplanes. It was a small blurb and that was all that was to be revealed in the mainstream press (of course, after this his school quickly distanced himself from the Prof.)...but that was it...until this evening when i was turned on to a more in-depth article about this guy and the questions he raises. Check it out here. Keep in mind that the term "conspiracy theory" was created by the powers-that-be to prevent institutional analysis.

My most sincere regards to ladytwentysix for the referral.

This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, reexamine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.

-WW: from the preface to the 1855 ed. of 'Leaves of Grass'

This is just a really funny hoax, right? Check it out and decide for yourself.


thanx to huffleman for the heads up on this one.

Just heard the news that Bob Denver passed away. Best known to the world as Gilligan, Denver will always hold a soft spot in my heart as Dobie Gillis' beatnik sidekick--Maynard Krebs. No one could rock a goatee like Maynard.

Ok, so's with all the human tragedy and bad stuff that's-a-been going down this week, I officially take a break to announce my Top Ten Strong Bad email list. Here goes nuthin'...

10. Property of Ones

9. Bottom 10

8. 50 emails

7. Sibbie

6. Caffeine

5. Cheatday

4. Caper

3. Dragon

2. Techno

And coming in at Number 1 on jon's unofficial strongbad email top ten list is...Virus

My friend / activist / consumer advocate Gilby took to the streets in his hometown of Lawrenceville, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta) yesterday to strike back against the swine who were price gouging at the gas pumps. Nauseated from what he was seeing with the lines for gas and inflated prices, Gilby rushed to his house, grabbed his camera, and hit the road. He went to several gas stations, photographed the signs and prices at the pump, and showed the employees inside--warning them about the governor's stance against price gouging for Gasoline.

When he drove back by the two of the stations, a mere 10 minutes later, they had lowered their prices from $4 to $3.30. That's some admission of guilt, n'est-ce pas? And some good work by Gilby Schmeehausen--friend of the consumer. At least someone is putting his money where his mouth is and actually doing something besides just bitching about the status quo (like yours truly.)


FYI...Georgia's Agriculture Commissioner said consumers should make sure the price posted on the street matches the price listed at the pump. Price gouging complaints can be called into 404-651-8600 inside Atlanta and 1-800-869-1123 outside Atlanta. You can also send an email to tirvin@agr.state.ga.us.

With an utter health emergency taking place, hospitals without water, people without care...the only things we can do right now are donate to the red cross



and emailing or calling representatives in Congress and urging them to expediate the process of delivering aid to this region.
Another important thing I think everyone should do, is write to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who dropped a bombshell on flood-ravaged New Orleans on Thursday by suggesting that it isn’t sensible to rebuild the city.

"It doesn't make sense to me," heartless Conservative Hastert told the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago in editions published today. "And it's a question that certainly we should ask."


Shouldn't he be focused on the tasks at hand--before speculating whether the city is even worth saving?
INUNDATE HIM WITH ANGRY EMAILS!! PLEASE! This is Speaker of the House of Representatives for Christ's Sake!
Speaker@mail.house.gov or dhastert@mail.house.gov

D.C. Office
235 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-2976
Fax: 202-225-0697

It's called good ol' gas-o-line, or petrol depending on where you live, but on Wednesday in Atlanta, Georgia--it's called bullshit with a capital "B." Yesterday morning the Atlanta Journal published a bit mentioning a shortage on gas due to Katrina's damaging oil refineries in the Gulf. That was the beginning. By the afternoon, around 2pm, rumors were flying rampant across cell phones, PDAs and emails..."the state is going to stop selling gas at 4pm. At 6pm. There's no more gas, you better go and fill up if you want some for the holiday weekend." And all of a sudden, lines were forming outside of gas stations in the Metro Atlanta area.

That's called "a run" on gas. There can be a "run" on just about anything. Take for instance, in the holiday classic, "It's A Wonderful Life," by master craftsman and propagandist Frank Capra, the scene when there is a "run" on Jimmy Stewart's bank. The people get scared, rumors fly, and they all want their money at once. But Bill's money isn't there, it's in Fred's house, etc. That's what happened with the gas yesterday. Everyone wanted their gas at once and it just wasn't there. And I could almost bet that there is some sick, old Mr. Potter of oil orchestrating this fiasco...too sick and frail to do it hands on, so he sicks his minions over the internet to perpetuate the panic.

So back to the story, I had filled up just before all this started, paying $2.79 a gallon at a QuickTrip in Lilburn. Three hours later at 5pm in Sandy Springs, Roswell Road was plugged up with people queuing out onto the road, backing traffic up even more than usual. And they didn't even have prices up anymore!

By the time my friend and I got back from dinner, there were reports of gas in Atlanta going as high as $6/gallon (yes, the pic above is from Atl.) Therefore, with the great spike in demand, gas stations actually began SELLING OUT of gas...feeding to frenzy. People were still queued up at filling stations at 11pm when I drove back home.

I've seen the unforgetable photos from the 70's during the "oil shortage" with endless amounts of cars lined up for a bit of gas. But I've never seen such a thing as this with my own eyes. I think it's pathetic that fear and panic can take over people common senses and other the other side of the spectrum--that there are assholes who will gouge the consumers when they smell said fear. It actually sickens me. I hope that the state of Georgia will do something about this foul breed of opportunists who jacked up the prices of petrol unduly, but considering our governor, one Sonny Perdue (the great champion and main pawn of Atlanta Gas Light's deregulation of the natural gas market in Georgia), that seems like an unlikely scenario.

I won't go into any in-depth tyrade on the intracacies of Supply and Demand--but what I will say is one word, and it's a hard one for human beings in general, and Americans in particular to grasp...and that is "Moderation." Now to some Europeans reading this, they might find that Americans drive their autos too much anyway. True, but the automotive, gas and insurance lobbies work very hard to secure the status quo and keep New York and San Francisco as pretty much the two main cities you can live comfortably in without a car. So it's not our fault. The huge cars and Sports Utility Vehicles, Ok, that's our fault. But moderation, folks...especially in times of crisis. It's called rationing, and to me it seems rational. Because, dig this...


"There is a supply problem; there's been a reduction in the amount of gasoline available. People still want to drive, so the price is going to go up," Bernanke, chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, said on C-SPAN television.

And it doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon.

For a time in the 19th century, New Orleans was the most cosmopolitan city in the world. People from Africa, the Carribean, Europe, Asia and elsewhere were crammed in to compact neighborhoods to live next to one another. There wasn't even room for widespread self-segregation. (This was before New York became the quintessential melting pot of the US.) There was such an abrupt fusion of culture and custom in the Big Easy-- the likes of which had never been seen before.

The Mississippi Delta was the birthplace of the blues, which is the mother of all contemporary music. The Creoles in New Orleans, of African and French origin, were considered equal to the whites, and therefore privy to instruction in the classical European music tradition. But something happened along the way and suddenly anyone with any skin tone other than white became black. So when these musicians took their classical styles and mixed with the Black blues players...ragtime, and then Jazz were born. And it was born in this city between Lake Ponchartrain and the Mississippi river. Something beautiful spawned from from Intolerance--and it was here, in this port city, in the Great State of Louisiana...with it's Napoleonic Code and Parishes. The home of Culture for a burgeoning America.

True, the New Orleans of the 21st century was never perfect, hell it was always dangerous (and coincidentally exciting) but never perfect at any time. But what city is? But as a Native Louisianian, it sorrows me beyond words regard the destruction this city has faced in the last few days, and the suffering it's inhabitants (as well as those who live along the Gulf Coast) have had to endure. I spent much time from New Orleans to Slidell to Gulfport and Biloxi, and all along the Gulf Coast to Mississippi and Alabama, and was awestruck to see places I had known so well inihilated by the unprecedented destructive whims of Mother Nature.

This year started off with yet another example of Mother Nature's fury, an unforseen tsunami. Wiping away businesses and homes and lives in the hundreds of thousands (if not millions). This time the menace had a name, and that name was Katrina. No words can be of any solace at a time such as this and perhaps the only thing that can be of any comfort is the eternal nature of the Human Will to triumph over catastrophe. To have enough hope and faith to perservere, to overcome the painful obstacles that lie ahead. To band together as brothers and sisters and take refuge in the fact that above all, through trials and tribulations--the interminable Human Spirit will carry on.

With 80 per cent or so of the city of New Orleans underwater, a full evacuation called for, and virtually endless destruction...I simply hope that the loss of life will be minimized, and suffering ended as quickly as possible. The Army Corps of Engineers failed to plug breaches in the levies, and there wasn't enough National Guardsmen to go around since most of them are in Iraq. Let's just hope priorities will be realized in a timely manner, and the survivors can be aided with food and shelter.