16 Crazy Notions 'til Christmas: Egyptian History and Math Lesson

There's nothing I can say about this one that isn't painfully obvious, so just watch and cringe (and don't worry, Jones was not having a stroke).

Infowhat?

There's silliness to spare on Infowars right now. There are a few articles on important issues, like "Dollar Plunges After UN Call to Ditch Greenback", and a piece that questions neo-natal screening for schizophrenia. There's mention of possible HIV infection at a VA hospital in Missouri. There's stuff that is also saturating the mainstream media right now (job loss, allegations of police misconduct and brutality at the G20, Goldman Sachs links to the oil spill, etc.). But then there are these messes:

• "Scientists admit chemtrails are creating artificial clouds". As I've said before, Jones' idea of "admit" and mine are slightly different. In the Daily Mail article cited by Paul Joseph Watson, scientists are "admitting" only that jets leave contrails, and that the skies over areas with heavy flight traffic can be so full of contrails/moisture/clouds that the amount of sunlight reaching the ground is decreased. This is not a newsworthy story. It is a side effect of jet pollution, and maybe we should worry about that before we even get started on "chemtrails". First off, how much of today's hugely increased jet travel is actually necessary? Much of it is for business trips that don't accomplish anything that couldn't be done with Skype or even just an old school teleconference.
• The "art" of looking for occult symbolism in pop music videos, which has been taken to tragicomic lengths by the likes of Lenon Honor and "Vigilant Citizen", has caught the attention of the Guardian - a paper that just loves to walk the wobbly line between the Washington Post and Weekly World News. Dorian Lynskey's article "Lady Gaga and the New World Order" describes Vigilant Citizen's theories about Lady Gaga's links to the Illuminati, Satanism, and mind control. But Lynskey clearly doesn't put much stock in them. He even notes similarities between Vigilant Citizen's work and the anti-rock rantings of uberconservatives like David Noebel, which is not a flattering comparison. And at the end of the article, Lynskey concludes that such analysis is a textbook example of "the paranoid style". He writes, "To the Vigilant Citizen, a pop star appearing 'vacuous, incoherent and absent-minded' must be 'a tribute to mind control' rather than them actually being vacuous, incoherent and absent-minded." I have no idea why Jones & Co. think this article supports any of their contentions about the New World Order. It's just a fluff piece about a slick-but-weird American website and American right-wing paranoia in general. The Guardian is laughing at you, Mr. Jones. For the record, I don't believe Lady Gaga is actually vacuous, though her music might be. IMO, any chick who tattoos Rilke on her flesh has more than the usual shit going on upstairs. And let's face it, she's a hell of a lot more interesting than Madonna with her macrobiotic gruel and her abducted children. It's Paul Joseph Watson's commentary that's vacuous. His analysis of pop music trends boils down to "pop music sucks" and "robots are scary". He trashes Katy Perry for failing to become the next Amy Grant, but gives Eminen a green light for "pushing back" against the "Babylon system". Hey, never mind those tributes to rape and murder, or the blatant pharmaceutical product placement, or the same promiscuity that you revile in female popstars, or the overt occult references in his early work. Never mind that in his song "My Darling", Eminem says he "sold his soul" just like Katy Perry. I mean, he rapped a little about 9/11 Truth, so it's all cool, right? If inconsistency was a terminal disease, Watson would be in ICU right now.
  
• "Israel Suspected in Bogus Claim Iran Developing Nuclear Trigger", by Kurt Nimmo, has one hell of a misleading title (one that was echoed in the latest issue of Nexus magazine, BTW). Now I don't doubt for a second that the nuclear threat posed by Iran is trumped-up or even just fabricated, but exactly who suspects Israel of creating the claim that appeared in the Times of London last December? Reading Nimmo's title, you'd think some government officials or investigative reporters suspect Israel. But no. The only person who has named Israel as a suspect is long-retired CIA agent Philip Giraldi, and his "evidence" is thin indeed. The intelligence officials who are actually looking into the 2009 report haven't reached any such conclusions. So the question becomes, is Giraldi a reliable source? The Nexus article mentions that in 2005 Giraldi identfied Michael Ledeen as an author of the infamous "yellowcake document" that led to the Plame Affair. This turns out to be an empty claim, as no one has conclusively proven its authorship. Besides, the first such allegations against Ledeen were made by journalists in 2004. Something quite similiar happened with the "Habbush letter"; Giraldi declared that Dick Cheney was behind the forgery, but only after journalist Ron Suskind did the actual work. Are we seeing a pattern here? A journalist digs up some juicy intel info, and Giraldi pokes his head out of retirement to say, "Oh, yeah, I already knew about that, and here's what my former colleagues from two decades ago have to say about it." Then he gives the alt media a few scraps of info that don't really contribute any knowledge to the events in question.
  

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Jackal?

One of the top stories at Infowars today is the erection of a statue of the ancient Egyptian jackal-god, Anubis, outside Denver International Airport. The DIA has been a focal point of conspiranoia since its construction in the early '90s, partly because it gobbled up a massive amount of taxpayers' money ($4.8 billion) and partly because....well, people are a little nuts sometimes. They point to Masonic plaques and a peace-themed mural as *evidence* the airport is a New World Order monument, and/or the site of a secret underground base, and/or home to thousands of interdimensional Reptoid space monsters. Or whatever. Needless to say, you can find a whack of videos about all this on YouTube.

Basically, though, Denver International is just a freaking airport. And the Anubis statue is just a promotional piece for the upcoming King Tut exhibit at the aiport. This is a traveling exhibit that has hit hundred of cities worldwide, and the statue will be taken down when the exhibit leaves. Think of it as being like one of those giant gorillas you see at used car lots. It's not a celebration of death (which for the ancient Egyptians was simply a passageway to eternal life, just as it is for today's religious people). It's not an idol designed for worship any more than huge Paul Bunyon statues are tributes to axe murderers. Are Western Canadians supposed to worship pryogies, sausages, and decorative eggs just because some nut figured they'd make good tourist postcards? Probably not.
Besides, if the Anubis statue is a sign that THEY still worship ancient gods, who really cares? Most gods are ancient, are they not? Timeless, in fact? If we have freedom of religion, why not this religion? (though I'm pretty sure there aren't any Anubis cults still around...)

Oh, never mind. As the comments at Infowars show, people are going to believe whatever they want to about this "idol" and the Reptilian Hellmouth known as Denver International Airport.

Of Molehills and Mermaids: The Very Screwed-up World of Mark Dice

Okay, I can understand why Alex Jones thinks Glenn Beck is working for Them: Beck decided that there might not be a FEMA gulag, after all. But why does fundamentalist Christian "culture jammer"/conspiracist/Truther Mark Dice oppose Dan Brown's Angels and Demons? I mean, the book deals with all the same retarded crap topics Dice talks about:

- Illuminati Satanists rule the world.
- Occult symbolism is everywhere, hidden in plain sight.
- Catholics suck. (this is a belief held by the Illuminati Satanists, but Dice concurs)
- Science is really, really scary and only crazy bastards who worship the Devil use it.

These are the reasons Dice gave on Jason Bermas' show The Infowarrior, on his website, and in his new book Illuminati: Facts and Fiction:

- Angels and Demons could be a "purposeful whitewash of the real Illuminati",
- It could "muddy the waters for real researchers of the Illuminati".
- Because it's a work of fiction, it could lead people to believe the Illuminati isn't real, or at least confuse them as to what's factual and what isn't. For instance, the Illuminati really did take over Freemasonry.
- Brown has "links to the Illuminati". Namely, he attended Exeter. Dice says the Illuminati has heavily funded this school and used it as a neo-Platonic training ground for their ungodly spawn.
- Brown's former publisher, Random House, belongs to a media group that published Nazi propaganda.

I have to admit, Dice's concerns about a Dan Brown novel and a Tom Hanks movie actually make more sense than most of his other concerns:

- Dice led a boycott of Starbucks not because of its mediocre, overpriced coffee, nor its obnoxiously self-conscious green-ness, nor because there are nearly as many Starbucks in the U.S. as there are universities, but because that mermaid chick appears to be topless and spreading her legs (even though she probably doesn't have any, being a mermaid and all). He wants boycotters to refer to the chain as Slutbucks. Which is a decent name for a peeler bar, but I digress.
Interestingly, earlier this year Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy also called for a boycott, claiming that the Starbucks mermaid is really the Jewish queen Esther (a hoax has some people believing that Starbucks donates vast sums of money to Israel, and Hegazy once issued a fatwa commanding Muslims to kill any Jews they encountered).
So which will it be, guys? Marine harlot or Biblical figure? You can't both be right, unless you want to argue that Esther was a fish.

- Jessica Simpson should be ashamed of herself for washing a car in a bikini, Fox News anchors should be ashamed of themselves for wearing short skirts, and Barbie should be ashamed of herself for wearing fishnets. Only mermaids would do something so depraved.

- The sports teams at Duke must stop using the name Blue Devils. I assume devil's food cake is also an abomination, perpetrated by that Illuminati whore known as Little Debbie.



Other Sources:
- The Resistance Manifesto (Mark Dice's website)
- "The link between Israeli troops and a double decaf non-fat moccachino" by Michael Coren. The National Post online. January 16/09.

Was Alex Jones REALLY watching the Watchmen?

Or did he just eat a lot of popcorn, run to the john numerous times, then make up a bunch of s*** when he got home? Here's Part I of his analysis of the film...






Watchmen is a lot like Rorschach's blots: You see what you want to see.


In all fairness, I should point out that Jones's interpretation of the film isn't unique. I've come to the disappointing conclusion that many moviegoers are not getting Watchmen, a superhero movie without any superheroes in it. Alan Moore just doesn't translate well to Hollywoodese, I guess.

Jones: "Let's be clear, here. I'm not a big comic fan..."

That will become obvious.

Jones: "Art mimics life, life mimics...uh...of course, mimics...art itself, so that goes vice-versa."

With you so far.

Jones: "I've done some basic research on the creator of Watchmen, Alan Moore, who is a Mason and into all this Illuminati-type stuff." Later he says Moore "writes other comics, like Sandmen [sic] and others".

If paying homage to a snake-god of ancient Rome is "Illuminati-type stuff", then fine. But Moore is not a Mason. Even if he had been a Mason, they would have booted him in the '90s, when From Hell came out. Numerous websites maintained by Masons contain rebuttals of From Hell and Masonic Ripper theories.

Moore is deeply anti-Establishment. He's an anarchist, a hater of fascism, and most of his work incorporates conspiracy theories about the elite, usually involving horrific crimes. He's a bit like Jones, only brilliant.

Sandman is Neil Gaiman. Also not a Mason.

Jones: "I've skimmed the book."

I know. Try reading it next time.

Jones: In the novel, Ozymandias has the Eye of Horus, or Lucifer, on his breastplate.

If anyone is, Set is Lucifer.

Jones: "It is an Illuminati New World Order threat to all of humanity...the psychopaths love to let the public know what they're planning and what they're doing, and they believes it gives them magical powers, they call it 'lesser magic', to advertise what they're doing and how they operate."

Straight from the mouth of Jordan Maxwell.

Jones: "It's all about false-flag terrorism and how good it is." He thinks Ozymandias (whom he refers to as "Ozymandamus" all but one time) is the hero of the film.

Just the opposite. Please watch again and pay attention this time. Notice that Ozymandias, who barely has any screentime, is portrayed from the git-go as a haughty, preening sellout. Notice that in the end, the cycle of confrontation that created the global nuclear standoff begins to build up again, because "nothing ever ends." Ozy's final solution was anything but final.
This would be clearer if the sub-story, Tales of the Black Freighter, was included in the film. Or if Jones bothered to read the book.

Jones: Rorschach is the most sympathetic character and the only one who knows what's going on, yet the other characters make fun of him. You know, like Jones.

Um. Did you notice that when Rorschach wondered why everyone isn't as well-adjusted as he is, the whole audience laughed?
Yeah, Rorschach killed some baddies, but he also killed people for looking at him funny. He's got a serious case of Bickle Syndrome.
If you resemble any character in the novel, Jones, it would be the New Frontiersman editor. The ranting, raging, self-righteous Commie-hater who consistently gets things very wrong.

Jones: Spiritually, Dr. Manhattan is Lucifer's (Ozymandias's) twin brother.

??????

Jones: "Most of these big national serial killer operations are done by cults, and that's come out."

Only according to Maury Terry, Dave McGowan, and a few others who promote conspiracy theories as thin as the paper on which they're written. And of course the killers themselves.

Thoughts on ZZZZZ Day

Yesterday was Z Day, the day on which Zeitgeist fans all over the world congregate to be paranoid, self-righteous, and misinformed together.

I have to give Peter Joseph a small amount of credit for at least trying to make the world a better place, but there is just no way that such simplistic conspiranoia is going to transform our lives and right all the wrongs of modern society. Watching Zeitgeist for the first time, I was reminded a little of Scientology propaganda films.

Alex Jones dislikes the film and distrusts the filmmaker primarily because there's too much New Agey "occult" stuff involved, because Christianity is attacked, and because there's too much "science" behind Zeitgeist: Addendum. Other than that, as I noted yesterday, he agrees with 90% of what's in the film. And why wouldn't he? It's the same stuff he talks about. I would like to point out Jones's self-contradiction (call it hypocrisy if you like) in criticizing the religious portion of Zeitgeist; virtually all of that information came from Jordan Maxwell, and Maxwell has been a guest on Jones's show, spouting very similar stuff. Only on Jones's show, he's careful to criticize and slander only Judaism.
Incidentally, it's interesting that Jones rants against Theosophy and the New Age beliefs derived from it all the time (not because they're a crock, but because it's all occultic), yet he hosts Michael Tsarion (a fervent fan of HPB) and Jordan Maxwell (whose name might actually be derived from HPB's work, though he denies it).

I was going to do a slew of posts on how derivative, simplistic, naive, and fact-free (not to mention boring) Zeitgeist is, but I really don't feel like it at the moment. Let's face it, the folks who really, really dig Zeitgeist are pretty much beyond hope, anyway. So I'll just summarize my thoughts on the *film*.

Part I: In which Peter Joseph alienates the majority of his viewers by trying to convince them that Judaism and Christianity are just a retooling of ancient solar cults and astrotheological concepts. Basically Brian Flemming's documentary The God Who Wasn't There blended with the "research" of Jordan Maxwell, the guy who says, "'Christ' means 'oil'. That's why we have Crisco", "98% of Judaism is worship of the planet Saturn", and "Zionism is a Teutonic/Germanic death cult."

Part II: This part promises to explore myth as sacred narrative. Maybe things are looking up for this film! But no. It's all about 9/11. Loose Change, only looser. Includes audio by Ted Gunderson, fer crying out loud. The guy who told Geraldo that 50,000 Americans are sacrificed by Satanists every year. The guy who says Osama bin Laden is really "Tim Osman". The guy who subscribes to the Sonny Bono assassination-by-tree theory.

Part III: Mangled information about central banking and the Federal Reserve, which Joseph expands on in Zeitgeist: Addendum. Nothing you can't get from Birchers or Ron Paul. If the Fed deliberately implodes the economy for the hell of it, would someone please explain to me why Bernanke was sweating bullets on 60 Minutes last night? He looked awfully twitchy for a guy who knows exactly what he's doing.
The banking stuff is capped off with some Aaron Russo footage about the illegality of income tax. I assume it's merely coincidence that the people who say income tax is unconstitutional are the same people who just happen to owe millions in back taxes...
Next up is a relatively sensible overview of false flag operations, war profiteering, divide and conquer strategies, etc. I'm not saying this part makes sense; I'm just saying it makes more sense than Ted Gunderson and Jordan Maxwell.

Zeitgeist: Addendum features the total b.s. of John Perkins, conman/author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, as well as lots more ill-informed bitching about fractional reserve banking. But Addendum also features the point of Zeitgeist, the whole reason Joseph created this hot mess in the first place...

The Venus Project

What does the Venus Project want us to do, exactly?

It was dreamed into existence in the mid '70s by a resident of Venus, Florida, inventor and futurist Jacque Fresco. He envisioned an end to poverty via the development of technology that will make more resources available to more people, as well as the replacement of our money-based economy with a resource-based economy.
It's quite similar to Buckminster Fuller's "ephemeralization", which won't work either.
Both Venus and ephemeralization seem to be based on the Smurf model of society. Baker Smurf will bake because he likes to bake, and will share his muffins with everyone freely. Papa Smurf will dispense wisdom because he's older and smarter than the other Smurfs. And Vanity Smurf will do everybody's hair because he's... well, I'll leave that one up to you to decide.

This will not work. Few farmers are going to produce free food for thousands of people out of the goodness of their hearts. In the Bible, farming was the very first curse that God placed upon man as punishment for his disobedience. I'm not saying this literally happened, but it does seem to embody an ancient and essential truth: Farming is really freaking hard.

What we would end up with under Venus would be an agrarian society in which everyone would have to do their own subsistence farming, build their own homes, and barter frantically for all other essentials. Hardly "freedom from economic slavery".
Also, you can eliminate money, but you can never eliminate greed. The unscrupulous among us will find ways to exploit any non-monetary system we create.

The Bottom Line

Zeitgeist concludes with the words, "A choice right now between love and fear."

Hmm. What does that leave out?

Oh, right. As Donnie Darko would say, "THE ENTIRE SPECTRUM OF HUMAN EMOTION!!"