Yang pertama, tentu saja buku andalan saya yang berjudul THE UNSEEN HAND: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CONSPIRATORIAL VIEW OF HISTORY, karya A. Ralph Epperson, yang dihadiahkan oleh Mr. Joe Jussac yang juga menjadi salah satu kontributor blog konspirasi ini. Buku ini mungkin bisa dikatakan paling komprehensif dalam mengulas Conspiratorial View, karena pengarangnya telah melakukan riset untuk Conspiratorial View of History ini selama 27 tahun lebih (umur saya sampai tulisan ini dipublish pun belum mencapai 24 tahun). Karena ini bukan biografi, maka data-data beliau – dan penulis-penulis lain – saya lewati dan langsung menuju ke bagian yang sejalan dengan judul tulisan ini saja.

Epperson mendefinisikan Conspiratorial View of History sebagai pandangan bahwa “historical events occur by design for reasons that are not generally made known to the people” (kejadian-kejadian historis terjadi karena sengaja direncanakan dengan alasan-alasan yang umumnya tidak untuk diketahui orang/publik), sebagai imbangan dari apa yang disebut sebagai Accidental View of History yang didefinisikan sebagai pandangan bahwa “historical events occur by accident, for no apparent reason. Rulers are powerless to intervene.” (kejadian-kejadian historis terjadi secara kebetulan, tanpa adanya alasan yang jelas. Para pemegang kekuasaan tidak berkuasa untuk terlibat didalamnya.)

Dari dikotomi tersebut jelas kita bisa langsung mendapat gambaran betapa “taklid”nya para konsumen Accidental View terhadap sejarah. Kita tak perlu mempertanyakan sebab-sebab suatu peristiwa bisa terjadi, bagaimana dampaknya terhadap kehidupan sekarang, apalagi kehidupan nanti. Dengan istilah yang mudah, pembelajaran sejarah menjadi tak lebih sebagai pelajaran hafalan nama, tempat, waktu, suatu kejadian berlangsung dalam sejarah. Inilah yang terjadi pada pembelajaran sejarah kita (pantes ngga ya saya ngomong gini, soalnya saya bukan orang sejarah secara Akademis. Kalau ada mahasiswa atau dosen sejarah yang merasa saya kurang ajar harap dimaafkan) di Indonesia. Dari SD sampai SMA (saya kuliah Diploma III Jurusan Bahasa Inggris di salah satu Akademi Bahasa Asing di Jogja yang tak terlalu terkenal), yang saya dapat dan catat hanyalah nama-nama pahlawan atau penjajah, tanggal dan tahun peperangan, atau tempat dimana suatu perjanjian diadakan. Ujiannya juga ngga jauh dari itu-itu juga. Saya malas membahas masalah ini panjang lebar karena siapapun yang sudah merasakan pendidikan dari SD sampai SMA di Indonesia sudah pernah merasakannya.

Lalu coba kita lihat Conspiratorial View, yah anda benar. Lebih rumit daripada Accidental View. Jika kita mau memakai Conspiratorial View, kita dituntut untuk menemukan rancangan, perancang, sebab-sebab dirancangnya, dan aspek-aspek lain dalam suatu kejadian historis. Kelihatan rumit, dan – sedikit keluar dari topik – saya pernah melakukan survey tak resmi ke sejumlah mahasiswa sejarah yang bisa saya temui di Jogjakarta. Semua yang pernah saya temui beberapa tahun ini kebanyakan baru mengetahui ada dua pendekatan sejarah itu dari saya. Tapi mereka bisa menceritakan kejadian atau pelaku sejarah dengan kualitas spelling nama tempat atau orang yang mengagumkan, serta akurasi tahun-tahun hidup seseorang maupun berlangsungnya suatu kejadian dengan tepat. Namun mereka harus terdiam ketika saya tanyakan, apakah tujuan mereka mempelajari sejarah? Rata-rata menjawab kurang lebih, “agar bisa belajar dari masa lampau demi kehidupan sekarang dan masa depan yang lebih baik.”

Saya tersenyum mendengar jawaban itu, lalu kembali saya tanyakan pada mereka, “apa yang bisa kita harapkan untuk kehidupan sekarang maupun mendatang dari hafalan nama, tempat, dan waktu saja?” Waktu mereka bingung disinilah peran saya sebagai pewarta (bagi para penginjil harap jangan tersinggung ya, karena saya memakai istilah ini sebagai euphemism terhadap kata propagandis yang konotasinya jelek) Conspiratorial View. Dimana-mana orang seperti saya ini selalu dikatakan paranoid, suka menghubung-hubungkan, bahkan orang yang sakit jiwa, capek deh (maaf malah jadi curhat). OK, kembali ke topik semula.

Dari definisi yang diberikan Ralph Epperson, saya melihat ada beberapa unsur (kalau ada yang mau nambah dipersilakan loh…) yang mendukung suatu kejadian dalam sejarah, diantaranya yaitu: 1. the conspirators alias para perancang konspirasi, 2. the reasons of a conspiracy alias sebab-sebab kenapa konspirasi itu dirancang, dan 3. the alibi alias cara-cara penghilangan jejak supaya konspirasi tidak dicurigai sebagai konspirasi. Keberhasilan unsur yang ketiga inilah yang membuat konspirasi sering menjadi misteri, spekulasi, bahkan terasi, eh salah, dianggap ba(ha)sa basi. Lalu, apakah konspirasi mustahil diungkap? O tunggu, jangan menyerah dulu.

Epperson memberikan tiga alternatif untuk mengekspos konspirasi, yaitu: 1. Bagi seseorang yang terlibat dalam konspirasi tersebut agar memisah dari situ dan mengungkapkan keterlibatannya sendiri. Pengungkapan ini membutuhkan keberanian ekstrim dan tipe ini memang sangat jarang, namun mungkin orang-orang seperti Leo Zagami, atau Caroll Quigley bisa dimasukkan dalam kategori ini.; 2. Bagi mereka yang dengan ke”belum-tahuan”nya ikut berpartisipasi dalam perencanaan konspirasi, dan baru menyadarinya kemudian lalu melakukan pengungkapan seperti pada kelompok pertama sebelumnya. Tipe orang seperti ini juga sangat jarang dalam sejarah, tapi mampu mengekspos bagian tersembunyi dalam konspirasi, dengan resiko yang bisa membahayakan nyawanya. Orang-orang seperti John Robison penulis buku PROOFS OF A CONSPIRACY, William Morgan, atau Charles G. Finney mungkin bisa dimasukkan dalam kategori ini.; 3. Bagi mereka yang belum “dianugerahi” kesempatan untuk ditawari bergabung dan terlibat dalam konspirasi, yaitu dengan mengungkapkan design konspirasi pada kejadian-kejadian yang telah lalu. Epperson mengkategorikan dirinya sendiri dalam tipe ini, yang merupakan tipe ekspose yang paling banyak terjadi. Beberapa orang lain yang mungkin bisa saya masukkan dalam kategori ini diantaranya Gary Allen, Eustache Mullins, Jury Lina, Fritz Springmeier, Joe Jussac, Jim Marrs, Harun Yahya, Herry Nurdi, Rizki Ridyasmara, Firdaus A.N atau saya sendiri.

Yang kedua, buku berjudul SECRET SOCIETIES AND THEIR POWER IN THE 20TH CENTURY karya seseorang dengan nama samaran Jan Van Helsing yang aslinya ditulis dalam bahasa Jerman dengan judul GEHEIMGESELLSCHAFTEN UND IHRE MACHT IM 20 JAHRHUNDERT, yang merupakan hadiah dari bang Indra Adil penulis novel THE “LADY DI” CONSPIRACY terbitan Pustaka Al-Kautsar. Van Helsing menyebutkan dua dikotomi sejarah dengan istilah yang berbeda dari Ralph Epperson, yaitu “two levels of historical reality” (dua tingkatan realita sejarah). Tingkatan pertama adalah yang disebut sebagai so-called public opinion (opini publik) yang didefinisikan “that is served to the average citizen by the mass media and will later, because of persons writing it down, become history” (diperuntukan bagi masyarakat pada umumnya oleh media massa dan nantinya, karena sebagian orang meyakini kebenaran itu lalu menulisnya, berubah menjadi sejarah). Lalu “the second one though is made up of the happenings that are not revealed to the public.” (yang kedua, meski terbentuk dari hasil berbagai peristiwa yang tidak (pernah) dibeberkan ke publik). Ini merupakan world of machinations oleh loge-loge rahasia dan secret-societies yang menghubungkan modal, politik, ekonomi, dan agama. Pada tingkat ini negara didirikan, perang direncanakan, para presiden dan pemimpin ditugaskan di kantor, dan ketika mereka tidak “berfungsi”, dihabisi.

Meski dengan terminologi yang berbeda, namun van Helsing rupanya setuju dengan Epperson mengenai masalah konspirasi. Bahkan dalam mendefinisikan Accidental View, yang oleh van Helsing disebut sebagai public opinion, dia langsung mengarahkan telunjuknya pada media massa (koran, TV, Radio, Film, literatur umum dll) sebagai pihak yang bertanggung jawab atas pembentukan ke”awam”an (ketidaktauan dan ketidakpedulian) publik terhadap masalah konspirasi. Pada tingkatan kedua, meskipun tidak memberikan teminologinya, namun dia memberi contoh yang sangat bagus (lihat kalimat terakhir paragraph sebelumnya). Buku ini sangat sulit didapatkan, bahkan di internet sekalipun. Salah satu edisi full online buku ini yang saya temukan di situs bibliotecapleyades (maaf kalau salah spellingnya) tidak menyertakan gambar-gambar pesawat mirip UFO yang dipakai Hitler. Membaca buku ini agak ngeri karena terkesan penulisnya merupakan salah satu partisipan konspirasi yang berkhianat, sehingga segala isinya hampir meyakinkan.

Yang ketiga, buku berjudul NONE DARE CALL IT CONSPIRACY karya Gary Allen, yang bisa dibilang hampir menjadi salah satu buku wajib bagi pembelajar konspirasi, dan menjadi salah satu referensi dalam Daftar Pustaka kedua buku yang disebut sebelumnya. Gary Allen memakai terminologi yang sangat mirip dengan Epperson (atau malah mungkin Epperson-lah yang terilhami untuk mengistilahkan Conspiratorial dan Accidental View dari buku Gary Allen ini) yaitu Conspiracy Theory of History dan Accidental Theory of History.

Gary Allen tidak memberikan penjelasan yang eksplisit mengenai dikotomi tersebut, namun dia menjelaskannya dalam satu paragraph yang bagus sebagai berikut: (Maaf, saya malas menerjemahkannya, panjang sih…)
Those who believe that major world events result from planning are laughed at for believing in the "conspiracy theory of history." Of course, no one in this modern day and age really believes in the conspiracy theory of history — except those who have taken the time to study the subject. When you think about it, there are really only two theories of history. Either things happen by accident neither planned nor caused by anybody, or they happen because they are planned and somebody causes them to happen. In reality, it is the accidental theory of history preached in the unhallowed Halls of Ivy which should be ridiculed. Otherwise, why does every recent administration make the same mistakes as the previous ones? Why do they repeat the errors of the past which produce inflation, depressions and war? Why does our State Department "stumble" from one Communist aiding "blunder" to another? If you believe it is all an accident or the result of mysterious and unexplainable tides of history, you will be regarded as an "intellectual" who understands that we live in a complex world. If you believe that something like 32,496 consecutive coincidences over the past forty years stretches the law of averages a bit, you are a kook!

Jadi sekarang sudah mulai masuk akal bahwa kami* memberi judul artikel ini Conspiratorial View Bukanlah Alternatif, Melainkan Kebutuhan. Yah, kita sudah terlalu lama dicekoki hafalan-hafalan yang saya yakin tak akan berpengaruh banyak bagi kehidupan sekarang, apalagi yang akan datang. Apa yang sudah kita dapatkan dari sekedar hafal bahwa 17 Agustus 1945 kemerdekaan Indonesia diproklamirkan bagi kehidupan kita yang tak juga semakin baik sekarang ini, dan entah mau sampai kapan?
(Cerita) Sejarah standar [his story] kita tak pernah mengajari bahwa negeri ini hancur karena kemerdekaan yang diperjuangkan sebagian besar kaum muslimin tidak diproklamirkan dengan Bismillah. Sejarah standar tak pernah mengajarkan Freemasonry sudah masuk Indonesia tahun 1700an, sesuatu yang sangat parah sehingga sebagian besar kita saat ini masih menganggap Freemasonry hanya ada dalam novel atau dongeng. Sejarah standar tak pernah memberitahu atau menerangkan sudah menjadi Freemason berapa derajatkah Thomas Stanford Raffles, Snouck Hurgronje, dan penjajah lainnya. Sejarah standar tak pernah memberitahu bahwa Kapolri Pertama kita adalah seorang Grand Master. Sejarah standar mengabaikan peran tempat-tempat maupun bangunan-bangunan bernama Loji, dan jarang mengetahui apa yang dimaksud dengan Loji tersebut. Sejarah standar hanya mencekoki kita dengan segala hafalan yang tidak ada gunanya untuk kehidupan sekarang, apalagi nanti di akhirat. Di kuburan kita tak akan ditanyai siapa itu Snouck Hurgronje, kapan SUPERSEMAR dikeluarkan, atau di mana perjanjian Renville diadakan.

Sudah saatnya kita buka mata masing-masing kita yang ingin melihat kehidupan yang lebih baik bagi anak cucu kita semua. Sudah saatnya kita desak departemen pendidikan nasional untuk memasukkan Conspiratorial View ke dalam kurikulum sejarah kita sebagai suatu keharusan, supaya anak-anak kita bisa menikmati dunia yang lebih baik dari kita sekarang. Sudah saatnya Indonesia bangkit dari keterpurukan akibat pemahaman sejarah standar cekokan tanpa bisa dikritisi seperti yang selama ini kita telan. Ingat, dengan memahami dan mengerti bagaimana konspirasi bekerja adalah modal terbesar dan ampuh (kemungkinan besar ditakuti para konspirator) untuk memulai agar tidak terjebak ke dalam lubang yang sama untuk kesekian kalinya. Saatnya membangun kecerdasan, emosi, dan moral masyarakat Indonesia yang katanya negeri berpenduduk Muslim dengan jumlah terbesar di dunia ini agar tidak dibodohi terus, karena bagi orang Islam perintah pertama baginya adalah membaca.

Mohon tanggapannya kalau masih ada hal-hal yang belum jelas. Terimakasih, semoga berguna.

Pustaka Pilihan:

A. Ralph Epperson, THE UNSEEN HAND
Caroll Quigley, TRAGEDY AND HOPE (A)
Gary Allen, NONE DARE CALL IT CONSPIRACY (A)
Herry Nurdi, JEJAK FREEMASON & ZIONIS
Herry Nurdi, KEBANGKITAN FREEMASON & ZIONIS
John Robison, PROOFS OF A CONSPIRACY (A)
Jan van Helsing, SECRET SOCIETIES IN THE 20TH CENTURY
Paul W. van der Veur, FREEMASONRY IN INDONESIA (A)
Th. Stevens, TAREKAT MASON BEBAS

* Terimakasih untuk seorang Gadis Manis Mungil yang “memaksa” saya untuk menulis lagi tentang Conspiratorial View ini sedikit lebih luas dan mengusulkan judulnya.

(A) AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD FROM THIS BLOG. Silakan menuju halaman E-books kalau mau mendownloadnya tanpa dipungut biaya.

Next we'll ban sunscreen at the beach and at swimming pools. Terrorists will definitely want to blow up a beach. But after I thought about this for a while I realized what might really be going on. It's the terrorists who are behind the sunscreen ban. There's a secret plot to expose millions of Americans to UV radiation and cause a rampant outbreak of skin cancer--a hideous blow to the homeland.

But then I thought about the "911 Truthers." Maybe this is deeper than it seems. There's plenty of evidence that it's an inside job. The orders, after all, came down from the powers that control Yankee Stadium. Our own government is trying to make it look like a terrorist plot to spread skin cancer. They'll use that as an excuse to put sunscreen in your hair mousse, your acne medicine, and your breakfast cereal. That is what lies in Dick Cheney's darkest thoughts. Daily application of SPF #300, rigorously enforced; and the price of Coppertone will go sky high.

I've seen the future, and it's pale skinned (for caucasians anyway), poor, and free of melanoma.

According to Prisonplanet.com there is a huge 9/11, anti-war event/concernt being planned. [1]  My guess is that there will not be many recording artists lining up to participate.  Even the more provative, political progressive artists have been ominously silent over the last eight years.  It is shocking when you think about it.    In one poll only 16 percent of Americans believe that the Bush Administration is telling the truth about 9/11. [2]  If those number hold true, you would certainly think there would be more recording artists would be stepping up to the plate.

My guess is that after Obama is officially coronated they will be coming out of the woodwork to talk about how outspoken they were during the dark days of the Bush Administration.   It is all about the climate of fear and everyone wanting to protect their paychecks. 

You have to applaud Willie Nelson for his courage.  But, really you get the impression, Willie don't give a damn what anyone thinks.  So, I hope the event is a success, but I am doubtful about the ability to bring in the supporting cast to unsure it gets maximum exposure.

1. http://www.prisonplanet.com/huge-anti-war-event-with-willie-ventura-and-others-in-the-works.html
2. http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/October2006/141006poll.htm

I have spent numerous hours investigating this case, and I am no closer to understanding what happened.  Between the mainstream media and the alternative media, this case has become a house of mirrors.  The mainstream media would have us believe that Carnaby was a kook, while the alternative media would try to paint him as a crusader against an evil Zionist plot to detonate nukes on American soil as a false flag operation. 

So where is the truth?  Sometimes you have to throw you hands up and say I just don't know.  Yet, we do know that Carnaby was gunned down reaching for his cell phone and then crucified by the Houston media.  We were told Carnaby was nut who ran around on his wife, he got what he deserved.  It is just another one of those cases where you know they are lying, you know the whole thing stinks to high heaven, but there isn't a thing you can do about it.

I guess I could swallow all of it better if there was some kind of hue and cry, but these things have become so commonplace, they hardly get a yawn.  We have become so accustomed to consuming their lies that we don't even question them anymore.  People are getting tasered to death every week.  It is getting to the point it doesn't even make the news.  It would seem that the whole world has gone crazy.  A real sense of right and wrong has dissipated into nothingness. 

I guess for Carnaby it was an ending to a strange movie that we will never see.  As this dark police state continues to descend upon all of us, we will continue to see cases that defy logic.  We will continue to see the public opinion herded away from logic and critical thinking.  This case is intriguing because it involved a guy who was obviously an intelligence operative of some sort, but it is not unique.  When you begin to looking at the news critically, you will see this is a pattern.  Unfortunately, we are reaching a point where neither the media or the police are on our side.   It is very ominous.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1fd_1216911065&p=1

So I'm restarting. At one point I thought of giving up. But my will is too strong. I cannot stop  spreading the truth to the world. With the power of word and knowledge, I can get to the giant mob of sheep we call American citizens. All I ask you, is to stay open minded. 

9/11 was an inside job. The president is a puppet. A web of secret organizations called the illuminati are running the world. There will be global enslavement very soon. You will have chips implanted into your skin, so the government can track you. Freedom of expression will be virtually extinct. Our leaders are hand picked for us.  The world will be living in a global dictatorship controlled by martial law in the near future. 

Do I sound crazy? If you keep reading, you'll sound just as crazy as me. If you stay open minded, and use common sense, the truth will come out for you too. I'll be posting three times a week. Maybe more, maybe less. If you stay in touch and read at least half of my posts, you will be amazed at how your life will change. 

And of course, every once and a while, I'll feel like having a little fun. I'll post about UFO's, big-foot, and other mystical things. They fit into the, "conspiracy theorist" genre, but really exist for fascination and speculation. 

Please stay in touch! I want to help change the world and stop the New World Order. Support the truth movement.

To my friends: I drank the water. If I don't blog for a week or more please call a doctor or something. Don't believe the hype, coca-cola runs the water industry. It tastes good. Bush knocked down the towers.

www.larryssearch.com

There's an intriguing article over at Xenophilia.com that reveals supposed conversations between Capcom and the astronauts of the Apollo missions. None of it is verifiable, of course. Some is purported to have been heard by hundreds of ham radio operators scanning Nasa radio chatter during a mysterious two-minute blackout of the historic first moon landings.

As ever, I am remaining mute on my opinions. Make of it what you will.

Amazing.

Aliens have contacted humans several times but governments have hidden the truth for 60 years, the sixth man to walk on the moon has claimed.

Apollo 14 astronaut Dr Edgar Mitchell, said he was aware of many UFO visits to Earth during his career with NASA but each one was covered up.

Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.'

He said supposedly real-life ET's were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head.

Chillingly, he claimed our technology is 'not nearly as sophisticated' as theirs and "had they been hostile", he warned 'we would be been gone by now'.

I would agree if there were true ET visitations during the past 60 years, our attempts to shoot them down probably would've made them angry to say the least.

But I'm not so sure they're alien visitations in the classical sense.

Apollo 14 astronaut claims aliens HAVE made contact - but it has been covered up for 60 years

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

To further elaborate that I don't think these are classical alien visitations, pioneering UFO researcher Jacques Vallee did a July 1st, 2008 interview with Tim Binnall at his Binnall of America site. Tim specializes in interviewing persons highly regarded in the fields of UFOlogy, cryptozoology, spirituality and other Fortean esoterica. His interview with Vallee is this season's finale ( which was the third ) and they covered extensive ground, mainly Vallee's books that were written in the late 1970s, early 1980s. If you are a beginning UFO researcher, I would recommend listening to this podcast, Binnall does an excellent job and much more I'm sure could've been covered had he the time.

BOA Jacques Vallee Interview Podcast

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Aliens monkeying around with our nuclear missiles? According to a recent interview by Larry King, this happened not too long ago: 

Did UFO Cause Missile Misfires?

I really doubt the seriousness of what corpo-media Chicken Noodle News drone King has to say about the UFO phenomenon. This is all control the sheeple theater with them and he adds nothing of value to the conversation.

She’s had to deal with conflict from Commander Taylor, chief of detectives, since she was promoted over him from the outside to her current position. Her team are seasoned veterans, some close to retiring like Lt Provenza, others like Sgt Gabriel just a few years into their police careers.

Her personal life wasn’t always as stable as it is right now. She’s currently engaged to an FBI Agent named Fritz Howard, who helps her from time to time on some cases. They’ve just sold Brenda’s bungalow and moved into a temporary space as they search for a new house to buy.

Brenda is a severe workaholic, to the sacrifice of her personal relationships. She tends to micro-manage her investigations and take a close look at details. She loves junk food and sweets but is currently trying to lay off them. She usually hides all types of junk food in drawers, purses, and other places. She is also known to be a “bit of a slob”, commenting that she does not often get around to housework every day in one episode, and in another, during a small argument between her and Fritz over where her mail was, Fritz comments that “if she looked at her mail daily instead of once a week, she would know where they keep it”.

From wiki’s page.

The Closer is one of the best police dramas on television right now and is in its fourth season on TNT. Each summer sees 13 episodes. A feature length episode is shown over the holidays.

* * * * *

This was a great episode. The chief has to investigate the death of a man who was convicted of manslaughter. Things don't go as planned as the investigation turns to the people whose daughter was murdered. The culprits are surprising, but the leads are evident.

I'm surprised that stuff like this doesn't happen more in the world. Insurance scams are all over the place.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

* * * * *

Brenda and Fritzi are in bed. They fool around a bit. They make love. While he carries Brenda to another room, his back has spasms.

The deputy chief is called away on another case. She is uncharacteristically in a good mood, which surprises Gabriel and Taylor. Rory Wilkinson is the vic. He lives in a halfway house. He's been dead since 2AM. Taylor says that Wilkinson was convicted in 1992 for killing a girl named Carli. It was Flynn's case. He only got 8 years.

They go to the halfway house. The chief has to tell Flynn to quit being sarcastic. The woman working there says that someone on the outside was hassling him.

Tao and Provenza are recreating the hit and run. The killer drove around the block and drove over Wilkinson a second time.

Pope tells Johnson that she can only question the Mayans in his office. The Mayans are the ones who lost their daughter Carli to Wilkinson. They aren't very receptive to the chief's inquiries, especially when they realize that they are suspects. They leave without giving out much information.

Brenda arrives home late and finds that Fritzi hasn't moved since she left this morning. He's still lying on the floor. His back is out. He doesn't want any drugs. He's an ex-alcoholic. He doesn't want to see a doctor. He wants a big bag of cookies and the remote to the TV.

Daniels gives Brenda a call. Wilkinson has got a life insurance of 80K$. The beneficiary is Patricia Simmons. She works at the halfway house. She was helping him with his GED. She didn't know that she was the beneficiary. Patricia says that someone sent flowers. They didn't make him happy, he just threw them away. She took them out of the trash and brought them home.

Provenza doesn't want them investigating the flowers. He knows something. Flynn confesses that he sent the flowers. He sent a card saying happy death day.

The parole officer arrives. It turns out that Laura Mayan turned out at the places that Rory was working, and passed out newspaper clippings about what he to her daughter. The parole officer says that Mayan wasn't the kind of person to stop.

Chief Johnson takes off the velvet gloves and confronts Laura for harassing Rory. Laura admits that she followed him in his car. She remembers an old junker that he drives. She even remembers the license plate number. She's cleary going insane.

Jerry Nimic is the owner of the car. His last known arrest is the halfway house. The car isn't anywhere. Jerry Nimic was killed in a hit and run. He also had a life insurance policy. The chief wants to know who else has a policy.

They question Francis. He doesn't know about the life insurance policy in his name. It's not his signature. The two women from the halfway house are in an interview room. The chief leaves them to stew. She uses a ploy to check up on them through the CCTV cameras. One of them tells the other that they have nothing to worry about.

She wanted them to see that they are talking to Francis. She lets them stew for a minute or so. Rory had a second policy for 150K$. The beneficiary was Karen. They made the same arrangements for Jerry Nimic. They wait until the policies are vested before killing them. It turns out that only Karen is the beneficiary of the policy on Jim Francis. The women start cat fighting. The chief reads them the rights.

The chief says that she's going to write one of them up for murder in the 1^st. The other one will be an accessory to murder. Patty starts talking first. She tells them what happened. Karen drove him over twice to make sure that he was dead.

Brenda comes home and finds that Fritzi hasn't moved at all. She's about to make herself a drink, but then looks at Fritzi and thinks that it's not a good idea. She sleeps with Fritzi on the floor.

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Check out some more facts about the movie, and about electric cars, at the Sony Pictures website for the film. You can also watch the film on Youtube.

The film implicates many in trying to answer the title question, including Big Oil, the car companies, even the consumer.

But the good news is, with $4 a gallon gas and dwindling oil inventories, all of the above are generating renewed interest in the electric car.

Fortune magazine has a good article on the Tesla, though it focuses on the personalities, trials and tribulations of bringing the car to market more than the spiffy electric car itself.

Check out 5 Electric Cars You Can Buy Now as well as the not-quite-ready-for-mass-market Venturi Fetish, a beautiful car. You'll need as much cash as the average resident in Monaco, the Fetish's country of production, to buy one, and some sway with the owner, who plans only a limited production run. Why is he doing it, you ask? "Just to prove that it's possible."

Anyway, all of this has me a bit excited after the last six months of gas prices reaching new highs every day. A bit vexed as well, after watching the film and wondering why all the electric cars built less than a decade ago were taken back by their manufacturers and crushed into oblivion.

Conspiracy theory, anyone?

           The American people were sold a false war in Iraq by the Bush administration. Propaganda, patriotism, and the utilization of fear were all harnessed together after Sept 11 to form an irresistible urge from both democrats and republicans to march an army on foreign soil to protect the future of freedom and liberty. According to the Bush administration Sadaam Hussein had ties to AlQuida, terrorism, and weapons of mass. Therefore Iraq posed an imminent danger to the entire world during dire times. These false pretenses for war were all found to be false, and now America is more vulnerable and weaker than ever before.

            We have invaded, pillaged, and destroyed an entire nation based on false accusations and lies. The Mission Accomplished banner flew high above Bush’s head many years ago, and today American troops continue to die and victory has never seemed so bleak. I am not a Bush basher, or left wing radical. I am simply an observant American citizen worried about the fragile future of our country. There is no party to pledge my allegiance to for they both have failed the people of this country so much. Over four thousand American soldiers have died, and I pray to God not in vain. However, why are we in Iraq right now? It cannot be solely for gas, because it is almost five dollars a gallon. However, it does not take a special government investigation to reveal Halliburton’s large contract in rebuilding Iraq. An old investment of our great vice president, Dick Cheney. Billions of dollars being poured into Iraq are going to weapon companies, government funds, and into the pockets of the rich. The poor die, and the rich indulge. Nothing new in political science or history for that manner. Iran also seems to be getting a little to aggressive, and there is no coincidence that we have over a hundred thousand troops right on Iran’s western border.

            The government has its own agenda, and how easily it can sway the American people with lies we have all witnessed in Iraq. The West is  an occupier in Iraq, and that is how the local residents, the Iraqis, see the army presence. A largely Christian army based in their nation for no apparent reason other than the liquid assumption that they are there to genuinely help and bring democracy to the people of Iraq. The American military does not disclose the civilian death toll for they learned that lesson in Vietnam. The number is estimated at 400,000 to one million Iraqi civilians dead. Is that almost proportional to a genocide? I am sure the Iraqis believe so when they see entire families in villages accidentally blown up in bombs, raids, and shoot outs. Young men out of rage, anger, and despair are forced to pick up weapons and announce America their enemy. We are raising the next generation of terrorism out of Iraq’s ashes. These people have lived without democracy for centuries, and America will and cannot change that fact. Islam is an extremely independent religion, and its beliefs when attacked open the door for Jihad. They feel oppressed, devastated, saddened, and outraged by America’s forceful presence, and all they see is destruction. Some will stand against it for they see a conspiracy against Islam brewing, and then Jihad becomes a necessity to these simple folks. Americans then die in a vicious circle of revenge and avenge.

            The West now understands that Iraq was greatly mishandled and a fraudulent war. How do we leave now? The consequences will forever rattle in our history and future diplomacy with the Middle East and Islam itself. The damage is done and the hate risen hard to dampen even with an inevitable surrender. The war has almost reached a trillion dollars, and God knows how much more in the future. The people of Iraq and more particularly Islam now see the West as an aggressor, and their media does favor that viewpoint too. This creates a deadly toxic atmosphere against the West. Will Terrorism and anti-American sentiments float to the surface when America finally leaves, and the smoke still billows out of a beaten Iraq? The answer is simple, yes.

             Michael Scheuer in his book, Imperial Hubris, does a phenomenal job explaining the depth in which the war against terror is an inevitable loss, because terrorism stems from bad diplomacy and hurt sentiment.

              Mistakes have consequences, and every action a reaction. The action against Iraq was wrong and fatal, so the reaction will be the same. I fear that America has opened a new chapter in history that includes a huge clash between cultures, religion, and life in the Middle East which may drag America to its demise. The situation between the USA and the charged Middle East may begin resembling the Palestinian - Isreali conflict. In the face of destruction, America may also become a stranger to freedom and democracy in the future as fear begins to dissolve the constitution and a big brother regime emerges to keep us all "safe". These steps are already evident in the Patriot Act, Guantamano Bay, and the suspension of Habeas Corpus.

            We must break our dependence on the Middle East oil, and that will be the only way to get ourselves out of the sinking sand we have thrown ourselves in as a nation led by a devious leader.

I took pieces of an discussion I was invited to participate in. I found it too aggravating however, and decided  to post some texts from this conversation, so that you can see what I am talking about. It is the inspiration for this post. 

These people don't know what they are talking about, and are ignorant. 

"And by the way, positions on tax is not the only information important in the upcoming election. Lets be honest, our next President is going to have to "fix" a few "problems" left behind by the Bush Administration. There are many topics to be disscussed and anylized that Americans must pay attention too. Civil rights, Defense, Disabilities, Education, Economy, Energy and Environment, Iraq, Homeland Security, Foreign Policy, Veterans, Health Care, Immigration, Poverty and Family to name a few."

"In January on 2006, Congress passed two tax cuts that soley promote high-income households. 97% of the tax cuts went to households with over a $200,000 income. That left more or less, 20% of US households with 3% of the tax cuts. Now think, who needs more tax breaks? The wealthy? Absolutley not. America must come together and realize that in order for our economy to improve, we cannot forget about the 20% of our population that suffers when we give tax breaks to the wealthy. None of us, not even 20% can be left behind if we want to bring wealth back to the US. The US cannot gain economic prosperity if we continue making the wealthy wealthier, and the less fortunate even more less fourtunate. 
The legeslation also made noteworthy cuts to programs that support low-moderate income families such as child support enforcement, Medicaid, and student loans."

"Taxes are really far from what should be the deciding factor of who to vote for, but honestly whether or not these tax proposals are correct, it should still make you rethink who you support. I find that a lot of people are blindly following Obama."

According to a worker who was there, the U.S. Army attempted to retrieve four of the nation's Founding Fathers from the late 18th century: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.

"On July 4th, the four of them were successfully brought forward through time," said the worker, who asked that he be referred to as "Tom" because the information he provided is highly classified. "They were understandably stunned by the experience at first, but soon became eager to find out what had happened to the country they founded over 200 years earlier. That's when the trouble began."

According to Tom, the four historical figures became very alarmed after learning the federal government had assumed so many powers not granted to it under the U.S. Constitution. They were disturbed by the news that the private "Federal Reserve" banks were printing and issuing the nation's currency and backing it up with no gold or silver. The final straw, however, occurred when they were told about the USA PATRIOT Act.

"They all flipped out after being told about the anti-terrorism laws," Tom revealed. "Washington, Franklin and Adams were upset, but Jefferson was so pissed off his hair caught on fire. That's when everyone realized that the four of them had acquired superpowers as a side effect of the time travel."

The situation deteriorated quickly after military officials refused to grant the men a visit with the president of the United States.

"They wanted to see what idiot was presiding over the nation, and bitch him out," Tom said. "When they were told no, Jefferson's entire body caught on fire and he began to fly around the room, attacking military personnel as he went. Washington was using a hatchet when he was brought forward through time, and he quickly discovered he could throw both the hatchet and his teeth and they would return to him after striking an opponent. Franklin found out that he could summon lightning to strike the military police guarding the lab. Adams apparently has an unlimited supply of writing quills, and he threw them into the bodies of the guards to disable them."

According to Tom, the "Fantastic Forefathers" then escaped from the lab and have not been seen since. Military officials are continuing to look for the four men, and are concerned that they may be plotting some sort of revolution.

Impeachment articles charge Bush with election fraud

When future historians sit down to study this era, archived media stories will be of little use to them, unless the Brad Pitt-Angela Jolie baby grows up to rule the world. Probably the biggest history-making story to be ignored by the corporate media this month is the introduction in the US Congress of Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush. The 35 Articles of Impeachment filed by Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich document hundreds of crimes committed by George W. Bush and “co-conspirators” under his direction.

Wolves and henhouses

The general feeling among Democratic Party leaders is that Bush is just a few months away from being history himself, so there’s no sense in stirring up the coals. I suppose that would be fine, if, say, he were the highway commissioner. We could probably weather a few months of potholes or sloppy plowing. But we need to go back and look at our history here. The Iraq War was started by George H. W. Bush (whose ambassador to Iraq gave Saddam Hussein the green light to invade Kuwait) in the middle of his presidency and strung out to its end, so that Clinton inherited what would become, at last count, a 17-year war.

Bushes can make sloppy exits, and by all accounts our current Bush is a bit nuts.

If you look closely at Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment, however, there’s another pressing issue at hand. George W. Bush doesn’t just threaten world peace, the global environment, our civil liberties, and the American economy every moment he stays in office. According to the impeachment documents, he has committed, orchestrated, or ordered crimes that undermine our ability to have fair elections. Hence, having him remain at the helm of the federal government during a presidential election year—especially this year where we have the rare opportunity to choose between two radically different candidates, and where Democrats have an opportunity to lock up control of Congress—puts the whole future of the country and possibly the world at stake.

Let’s cut to the specifics. According to the Articles of Impeachment, George W. Bush, “acting through his agents and subordinates, willfully corrupted and manipulated the electoral process of the United States for his personal gain and the personal gain of his co-conspirators and allies…and impeded the right of the people to vote and have their vote properly and accurately counted.”

This isn’t the 2000 Florida election theft that we’re talking about here. That might be how Bush got into office, but he wasn’t in office at the time, hence whatever he might have been involved in there is not part of the current impeachment documentation. Kucinich’s Article of Impeachment number 28 (Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice) and 29 (Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965) deal with post-2000 elections, with a focus on what appears to be the theft of the 2004 presidential election in the tie-breaking state of Ohio.

With regards to the Ohio presidential contest, the documents cite a House Judiciary Committee investigation documenting “widespread instances of intimidation and misinformation” designed to suppress the minority vote, which would have gone overwhelmingly to Bush’s opponent, John Kerry.

The 2004 election theft

Article 28 specifically charges that “John Kenneth Blackwell, then serving as the Secretary of State for the State of Ohio and also serving simultaneously as Co-Chairman of the Committee to Re-Elect George W. Bush in the State of Ohio, did at the direction of the White House under the administration of George W. Bush…disenfranchise African American voters.” The document goes on to specifically charge that the Bush/Blackwell team purposely limited the number of voting machines and paper ballots in African-American sections of Ohio cities.

For example, Article 28 documents the “withholding” of 125 voting machines in the city of Columbus and how 42 predominantly African-American precincts in Columbus all were “missing” one voting machine that was present during the 2004 primary. The result, according to the documents, is that “African-American voters in the city of Columbus were forced to wait three to seven hours to vote in the 2004 presidential election.” With the election taking place on a work day, this act disenfranchised potentially thousands of black voters.

Article 28 also documents how Blackwell purposefully stymied voter registration by arbitrarily declaring that only voter registration forms filled out on one specific type of paper, 80 bond weight, would be legally acceptable in 2004. The documentation points out that Blackwell’s office itself used an illegal 60 bond weight paper. The only apparent purpose of the paper weight declaration was to derail active voter registration drives that were in progress and reject the registration of new, predominantly young and minority voters just before the election, in effect purposely disenfranchising them.

The Articles of Impeachment document how the Bush/Blackwell team conducted “a massive partisan purge of registered voter rolls, eventually expunging more than 300,000 voters, many of whom were duly registered voters, and who were deprived of their constitutional right to vote.” As a result, “24.93 percent of the voters in the city of Cleveland, a city with a majority of African American citizens, were purged from the voting roles.” Another 10,000 Cleveland voters, according to the Article 28, were disenfranchised by a “computer error” committed by the private Diebold Election Systems, which was under contract to Blackwell’s office.

Cleveland is Kucinich’s district, hence the theft of his constituents’ right to vote hit close to home. In Toledo, another city with a large African-American population, 28,000 voters were purged just before the presidential election of 2004. By contrast, in the 98 percent white Ohio county of Miami, no voters were purged. The impeachment documentation goes on to document uncounted provisional ballots, also in African-American communities.

The Injustice Department

All of this should have been investigated by the US Justice Department, which is charged with enforcing federal laws such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which guarantees and actively protects minority voters from disenfranchisement. Article 28, however, charges that the Justice Department, “under the direction and Administration of George W. Bush, did willfully and purposefully obstruct and stonewall legitimate criminal investigations into myriad cases of reported electoral fraud and suppression in the state of Ohio.” For example, the impeachment documents charge that Bush cronies [my word] “did, for partisan reasons, illegally and with malice aforethought block career attorneys and other officials in the Department of Justice from filing three lawsuits charging local and county governments with violating the voting rights of African-Americans and other minorities…”

This is just Article 28 that I’ve been quoting here. There are 34 more such detailed Articles of Impeachment that deal with crimes other than election theft. I know Democrats don’t want to open up the impeachment can of worms for fear that it would give Bush, and by association, John McCain, a sympathy vote, making it look like the Bush/McCain team is being unfairly picked on. That’s what happened with the Clinton impeachment, which Republicans initiated after the president lied about an extramarital sexual affair. But this isn’t just semen stains on a dress. Clinton’s sloppy orgasm didn’t change the direction of world history by stealing an election or starting a war.

Democrats are also fearful that the Bush/McCain team would get sympathy because so many of the documented charges appear to be outrageous. They can’t possibly be true. It must be partisan bickering—and we’re sick of politicians bickering when the country is going to hell. But the charges are well documented. And now they’ve been written into the nation’s history. It is unbelievable—unbelievable that we gave a free ride to these criminals for eight years, shamelessly allowing them to shred our constitution and trash our country.

Dr. Michael I. Niman is a professor of journalism and media studies at Buffalo State College. His previous columns are available at artvoice.com, archived at mediastudy.com, and distributed globally though syndication.