Battle of the Bilge

“A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier.” – H. L. Mencken

Potential Disaster Averted

It can be assumed that if H. L. Mencken lived to see the modern invention of the internet, it would have undoubtedly taken the place of ‘newspaper’ in the above quote. And it would have been a perfect characterization of John Patrick Bedell, the man who attacked an entrance checkpoint at the Pentagon last Thursday evening. Excellent police vigilance and quick action stopped a possible mass casualty situation from happening, and ensuring that the only death from the incident was the shooter himself.

According to the Associated Press, John Patrick Bedell arrived at a Pentagon checkpoint on March 4th and opened fire on police officers with two handguns. A statement to the AP from J Richard Keevill, the chief of Pentagon police:

“He just reached in his pocket, pulled out a gun and started shooting… He walked up very cool. He had no real emotion on his face.”

While it would be easy to designate Bedell’s actions as an act of terrorism, and by definition, the use of violence to further a political or social message or goal, that appeared to be his intent, the legacy of his internet activity points more in the direction of a seriously deranged person detached from reality. Attempts by some elements of both traditional and alternative media outlets to paint him as a ‘right wing extremist’ just after the attack are not supported by his public (or at least virtual) persona. The original title of the Christian Science Monitor article linked in the previous sentence was ‘John Patrick Bedell: Did Right Wing Extremism Lead to Shooting?’

The cached and saved remnants of his online activity point more towards a left leaning ideology, if any of it can rationally be described as an ideology. Sometimes, crazy is just crazy. But crazy stupid is one thing. Until his act of violence, stupid is not a word that would aptly describe John Bedell, whom evidence indicates held a high IQ. And that is far more frightening.

Paranoia, Drugs and Conspiracies

Clearly, Bedell held strong distrust and anger towards the federal government and the military, and was a member of the ‘truther’ movement that believed the attacks of 9/11 were perpetrated by a criminal cabal within the U.S. He recorded a series of rantings on the subject in 2006 entitled ‘Directions to Freedom’ that can be found here. A snippet of the audio was transcribed by Patterico’s Pontifications and captures the essence of his message:

This criminal organization would use its powers to convert military, intelligence, and law enforcement bureaucracies into instruments for political control, and the domination and subjection of society, while discrediting, destroying, and murdering honest individuals within those services, that work to root out corruption, and faithfully serve their fellow citizens. This organization, like so many murderous governments throughout history, would see the sacrifice of thousands of its citizens in an event such as the September 11 attacks, as a small cost in order to perpetuate its barbaric control. This collection of gangsters would find it in their interest to foment conflict and initiate wars throughout the world, in order to divert attention from their misconduct and criminality. The true nature of such a regime would find its clearest expression in the satanic violence currently ongoing in Iraq.

You can see a full transcript of Bedell’s rant here. Although the questioning of the official explanation of 9/11 has been a continuing source of internet debate and speculation, the movement has been demonstrably non-violent, and very few of its members have ever advocated violence.

He was apparently obsessed with the monetary system of the world. From the same recording, he stated that “When the government can control how private property is used and especially when the government controls the monetary system that is use to exchange private property, the government has the mechanisms and the motivation to control individuals to the smallest detail.”

So what made Bedell cross the line? The answer may have more to do with his personal state of mind than a broader political battle. As reported by MSNBC:

Bedell was diagnosed as bipolar, or manic depressive, and had been in and out of treatment programs for years. His psychiatrist, J. Michael Nelson, said Bedell tried to self-medicate with marijuana, inadvertently making his symptoms more pronounced. “Without the stabilizing medication, the symptoms of his disinhibition, agitation and fearfullness complicated the lack of treatment,” Nelson said.

As more evidence emerged pointing towards a more left leaning philosophy by Bedell, the Christian Science Monitor backed off of its original speculation of his ‘Right Wing Conspiracy and put up an update: UPDATE Monday, March 8: As more information emerges about Mr. Bedell, the less it appears that any coherent ideology was behind his actions, except that he was deeply antigovernment. Much closer to the probable reality than their first iteration of the article, especially given the fact that he was a registered Democrat. But falling in to a right wing/left wing debate over his motivations would not be appropriate for this man or his actions. Sometimes, mental illness trumps politics and that seems to be the case here.

Discussion

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“Like recurring nightmares, conspiracy theories aren’t necessarily gone for good just because they disappear for a while” – David A Graham, Newsweek

Background – Newsweek’s Blunder

If you intend to take on a list of conspiracy theories as a member of one of the largest news outlets in the world, you have to assume that it will draw major attention. Knowing this it would be a good idea to do your research and come up with thorough lines of evidence to support your conclusions. If there is one cardinal rule about discussing conspiracy theories, is that you bring as much information to the table as possible. The true believers on the subject are going to deny your research and conclusions anyway, but at least you’ll have specific points of information to start the discussion.

In a web exclusive article posted on February 12th, Newsweek breaks this rule with gusto, providing one or two sentence rebuttals to conspiracy theories with very little in the way of supporting evidence for their conclusions. Called the ‘Guide to Conspiracy Theories’, the article is a shotgun listing of various active theories that have permeated the web, most of which we have reported on in the past. The result of the article’s lack of evidence, although the conclusions are for the most part dead on, has been a thrashing of the article via its comments section, and believers and non-believers alike have expressed their feelings about the article in a massive way. Instead of putting these issues to rest, Newsweek seems to have successfully contributed to their durability and in some cases will no doubt breathe new life into (thankfully) dying theories.

First let’s take a look at the thirteen theories highlighted by the article and their short conclusions.

Newsweek’s List and Conclusions

1. Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
Kernel of Truth? It’s fully debunked. Forged Kenyan birth certificates have been exposed, and—despite protestations to the contrary—Obama’s birth certificate has been certified by the state of Hawaii, and images have been shown on national television. And that’s leaving aside plenty of circumstantial proof, like birth announcements in both major Hawaiian papers from August 1961.

2. Anthropogenic global warming is a hoax.
Kernel of Truth? Deniers have long taken advantage of scientists’ cautious statements, and “Climategate” breathed new life into the movement, but the science stands: warming is real, and it’s caused by human actions.

3. Goldman Sachs intentionally created the economic crisis.
Kernel of Truth? Goldman undoubtedly did better than any competitor from the financial crisis, and CEO Lloyd Blankfein even admitted—albeit cryptically—that the company had “participated in things that were clearly wrong.” This theory is tougher than others to debunk fully, because there’s no empirical data available either way. Nonetheless, while Goldman may have profited, that alone doesn’t prove malice or conspiracy.

4. Democrats’ health plan will create death panels.
Kernel of Truth?[Sarah] Palin was apparently referring to a provision of draft legislation that would have funded consultation about end-of-life care. There was and is, however, no plan for rationing care as a cost-cutting measure, and fact-checking outlet PolitiFact named the theory the “Lie of the Year” in 2009.

5. Barack Obama is a secret Muslim.
Kernel of Truth? Nope. Obama belonged to a Christian church in Chicago (for which he ironically also caught flack) and has a record of unambiguous support for Israel and hawkish policies on eradicating Al Qaeda’s strongholds in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

6. Sarah Palin is not the mother of her 1-year-old son, Trig.
Kernel of Truth? No. Sullivan has couched the whole thing as just pointing out minor discrepancies and asking for reasons—not directly making accusations. Palin has understandably refused to dignify these questions with responses. No one else has picked up the theory publicly, although privately some liberals regard it as plausible.

7. ACORN is part of a liberal conspiracy to steal elections.
Kernel of Truth? The James O’Keefe videos showed questionable conduct at the very least, but neither they nor anything else proves a vast left-wing conspiracy between Democrats and ACORN to steal elections.

8. FEMA is establishing detention camps.
Kernel of Truth? Too silly to discuss.

9. The Council on American-Islamic Relations is trying to infiltrate Capitol Hill and spread jihad.
Kernel of Truth? CAIR has tried to place interns on Capitol Hill, but as it points out, that’s standard practice for advocacy groups of all types and allegiances. There’s no proof of sinister motives or an effort to encourage international jihad.

10. Obama wants to conscript Americans into a civilian defense corps.
Kernel of Truth? Liberal press watchdog Media Matters says the theory stems from a speech Obama made in which he argued for the importance of the Foreign Service, AmeriCorps, and the Peace Corps. That’s a far cry from an American Gestapo—a claim for which there’s no support.

11. Time magazine wants to restrict the Internet to licensed users.
Kernel of Truth? Time published a story reporting on a Microsoft executive who’d like to see licensing to combat anonymity. Broadcasting such a controversial proposal—regardless of its merits—is quite the opposite of censorship, as Time’s Michael Scherer rightly explained.

12. 9/11 was an inside job.
Kernel of Truth? Not even the staunchest mainstream George W. Bush bashers believe this one. Enough said.

13. The Omnibus One-World Government, Unified Currency, Dollar-Abolishing, Free Trade–Advocating Theory of Everything:
Kernel of Truth? Eh, sounds plausible to us.

For the full background on each conspiracy theory in the article, go to: http://www.newsweek.com/id/233518/

Comments on, Attacks and Denials Incoming

The article itself, by its very nature, is going to get a lot of heated comments and the usual rhetoric of believers on both sides. But the way it was written, in an apparent vacuum where supporting documentation and evidence, assumes there are no dissenting beliefs or outstanding questions for most of the issues. Instead of spelling out the evidence and creating a clear rebuttal of each, Newsweek basically painted a big target on their site for the attack of the legions of believers of these theories. Thus not only emboldening the spread of false information but also given their readers a chance to attack Newsweek as the often cited ‘part of the machine’ and demonizing their report as misinformation fed to them by the nation’s elite.

Let’s take a quick look at a few of the more out there comments:

Hahaha, wow newsweek has now hit a new low in my book. This is clearly a liberal article. Was there even one conservative “conspiracy theory” that this so called author even talked about?
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Newsweek is such an intelligent publication. This one ranks up there with when they said the Internet would never catch on.
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This article isnt worth even wiping my A$$ with!
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Wow! This article truly is a joke…whoever wrote this should punch themselfs in the face because its been proven that “global warming” is natural…its the earth’s way of reaching equalibrium.
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Propaganda from the New World Order… this “article” is laughable. 9/11 was indeed an inside job.
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Fodder for the masses, Newsweek strikes again! WOW! 11 for 13. And that’s only because Goldman-Sachs was just the catalyst for the “crisis”to occur. And who gives a rodents back-side about Palin’s reproductive and family problems? The only people who would believe this drivel are children and fools! The facts prove every one of these to valid.
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I admit to only skimming the comments on this ridiculous Newsweek fluff but I didn’t see ONE that supported the article.
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Newsweek. Your lies perpetuate myths which cause us to focus on the wrong problems while actual problems threaten our very existence. You really stink.
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This article is a complete joke. Complete subjective journalism without any revelation or examination of facts and evidence. I will never read Newsweek again. Hear that advertisers?
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Newsweek is pure propaganda. This pathetic excuse for an article is proof, and I am complimenting you by calling it an article!

Almost all of the comments are like this, with some groups attacking Newsweek about specific issues like 9/11, birthers, global warming and ACORN. It seems that everyone still has very strong feelings about these issues, and Newsweek poured oil on a large stack of wood just waiting to find a spark. Birthers are sick of being called racists and anyone that believes 9/11 was an inside job is an idiot, if you read the comments.

My absolute favorite comment came from an exchange between “grossmutter” and “MNPatriot79″:

Posted By: grossmutter @ 02/19/2010 7:33:42 PM
No one gives a rat’s ass anymore. People are sick of hearing the whole Muslim thing. Find something else to spout off about.

Posted By: MNpatriot79 @ 02/19/2010 8:29:01 PM
Obviously, a LOT of people care, soooo… you’re dumb…

Commenting on the Internet

As a very smart man once told me, to paraphrase ‘the great part about the internet is that it gives people a release that they would normally internalize and let it burn until they took real world action. Better to have them angry sitting behind a computer than angry on a rooftop with a weapon’. Very true, and this article and the hundreds of comments it has produced illustrates that. I’m not going to go over each theory and debunk or support them, I’ve touched on many here before. I just want to point out how much distrust there is in the government and the media to illicit this sort of response. I’ve held back most of the more virulent attacks in the comments of the article, but take a look and think about what this tells us about our country.

As for Newsweek, hopefully a lesson learned. While you can’t reason people out of anything that they didn’t reason themselves into, you can’t just dismiss what people believe in without a good amount of information to back it up. Something I’ve learned the hard way. Anyway, thank you Newsweek for giving me material for the 100th article of Battle of the Bilge.

Discussion

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BotB Verdict

Summary

Although the words attributed to President Obama in the chain email below are completely false and have already been debunked here, there has been a new iteration with additional packaging that has gained some traction. While the commentary is new, the quotes are still just a fabrication, originally written in a satirical column.

The Current Iteration

THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE MOST OUTRAGEOUS STATEMENT EVER MADE BY A PUBLIC OFFICIAL LET ALONE BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. AND THIS GUY IS OUR “COMMANDER IN CHIEF”. HE IS A DISGRACE.

UNBELIEVABLE PRESIDENT??? HERE IS HIS RESPONSE WHEN HE BACKED OFF FROM HIS DECISION TO REQUIRE THE MILITARY PAY FOR THEIR WAR INJURIES.

WHAT AN EMPTY HEADED PERSON HE MUST BE….

Bad press, including major mockery of the plan by comedian Jon Stewart, led to President Obama abandoning his proposal to require veterans carry private health insurance to cover the estimated $540 million annual cost to the federal government of treatment for injuries to military personnel received during their tours on active duty. The President admitted that he was puzzled by the magnitude of the opposition to his proposal.



“Look, it’s an all volunteer force,” Obama complained. “Nobody made these guys go to war. They had to have known and accepted the risks. Now they whine about bearing the costs of their choice? It doesn’t compute..” “I thought these were people who were proud to sacrifice for their country, “Obama continued “I wasn’t asking for blood, just money. With the country facing the worst financial crisis in its history, I’d have thought that the patriotic thing to do would be to try to help reduce the nation’s deficit. I guess I underestimated the selfishness of some of my fellow Americans.”

Please pass this on to every one including every vet and their families whom you know. How in the world did a person with this mindset become our leader? I didn’t vote for him!!!

REMEMBER THIS STATEMENT… “Nobody made these guys go to war. They had to have known and accepted the risks. Now they whine about bearing the costs of their choice?”



If he thinks he will ever get another vote from an Active Duty,Reserve, National Guard service member or veteran of a military service he ought to think it over.. If you or a family member is or has served
their country please pass this to them.

Please pass this to everyone. I’m guessing that other than the 20-25 percent hardcore liberals in the US will agree that this is just another example why this is the worst president in American history. remind everyone over and over how this man thinks, while he bows to the Saudi Arabian king.

Origins

As previously reported, the quotes attributed to President Obama are directly from a 28 March blog post from John Semmons, whose column Semi-News — A Satirical Look at Recent News appears in the Arizona Conservative, a web community of bloggers. The quotes in question were made up, of course, and the writing is nothing but satire. Here is the direct link

Alterations from Original Email

Besides the fake quotes, the only thing piece that remains from the original email is the paragraph that starts with ‘Bad press, including major…’. Everything else, from the ‘Outrageous statement’ to calling the president ‘an empty headed person’, to the call for action of sending the email to everyone you know is new. Also new are the two pictures, obviously intended to accentuate the snobbish persona that he has been saddled with since he was a nominee for president.

One iteration also added the following to the article as an intro:

Most people will say this article is BS, so do me a favor and let your fingers do the walking over the key-board and research this, don’t be surprised at what you find.

Please do. In addition to our article, and the link to the obviously satirical piece, here are some additional resources that will help you find the truth of the matter:

Snopes Page
TruthorFiction Page
Fact Check Page
Media Matters Page

If you search Google using only the quotes only, you’ll find the above pages plus a ton of message board and blog postings that repeat the lies, most without any dissent or corrections. Unfortunate, but that’s the way the internet works…

No matter what your personal views of President Obama are, he is no doubt a clever politician. And the golden rule of politics is never insult the troops. Common sense should come in to play here.

Discussion

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BotB Verdict:

“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Note: In the FDR quote I erroneously placed ‘immigrations’ in place of what he actually said, ‘immigrants’ – Hat tip to my trusted nitpicking sidekick, James “eyebrows” Naughton.

Summary

Although the words were spoken almost a hundred years ago, a speech given by Theodore Roosevelt regarding immigrants coming to the United States has been given new life recently by a chain email that has popped back up in to the cyberverse. The words are correctly attributed to President Roosevelt, but the email misstates the date and circumstance in which they were delivered. The accompanying picture is not one taken while he delivered this speech. In fact, it wasn’t delivered in a speech at all. While the email does not go in to any overt xenophobic rants, the quote has been used as a rallying cry for anti-immigration sites.

This Round’s Most Common Iteration

A 1907 PHOTO

Perhaps this is one email that needs to be forwarded until everyone with a computer receives it.
The year is 1907, over one hundred years ago.
READ THE PRINT UNDER THE PICTURE!

US President Theodore Roosevelt’s ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907:

“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American… There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag…… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…. and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.” – Theodore Roosevelt, 1907
Every citizen needs to read this!
KEEP THIS MOVING!

Historical Facts

While it may appear at first glance that the message President Roosevelt was trying to get across was against immigration, in reality the president was only advocating compulsory learning of the English language and a support for the nation at large, above and beyond the immigrant’s home nation. You’ll hear no objection to this point of view from us, but let’s get the facts straight.

First, the words in the email are from a letter that President Roosevelt sent to the American Defense Society in 1919, incidentally three days before he passed away. According to UrbanLegends.com:

“Americanization” was a favorite theme of Roosevelt’s during his later years, when he railed repeatedly against “hyphenated Americans” and the prospect of a nation “brought to ruins” by a “tangle of squabbling nationalities.”

He advocated the compulsory learning of English by every naturalized citizen. “Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or to leave the country,” he said in a statement to the Kansas City Star in 1918. “English should be the only language taught or used in the public schools.”

The entirety of the letter can be read at the Snopes.com page regarding the email, by clicking here.

One would be well off to ‘remember, remember always’, the quote at the top of this email from Teddy’s cousin FDR as well. While there is no doubt that to be an American should mean that you embrace and assimilate to better the national cause, we are a nation of immigrants, and that should never be forgotten.

Note: Battle of the Bilge apologizes for the long delay between posts, as I have been out due to sickness and am just now catching up on work

Discussion

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“The fabric of our collective will has begun to fray, weakened all the more by a series of pernicious myths that thicken the fog of war.” – Colonel Joseph Collins, (USA-Ret)

MOAA Life Member and National War College Teacher Helps Clear Up The Air

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar for journalists regarding Afghanistan at the Medill School of Journalism put on by Military Reporters and Editors and the National Defense University. With the current dramatic events unfolding politically and militarily over the future course of the war, the timing was excellent. Also excellent was the presentation by Colonel Joseph Collins, (USA-Ret), who is a current teacher at the National War College and a former deputy assistant director of defense for stability operations.

In addition to these accomplishments, Colonel Collins is also a Life Member of MOAA and graciously gave us the go ahead to share what he felt are three pervasive myths regarding Afghanistan. We thank him for helping the home team. Below are exerts from each myth. To visit the full story at Armed Force Journal, click here.

Myth 1 – Afghanistan is not a vital interest to the United States, we should withdraw.

Colonel Collins explains why Afghanistan is a crucial theater in the war against violent extremist Islam:

…Our mission in Afghanistan remains what it was in the fall of 2001. We must prevent the re-establishment of a terrorist stronghold there and defeat al-Qaida and the Taliban, who, if anything, have moved closer together over the years. Our methods for achieving our objectives include counterterrorism, counterinsurgency and state-building. All are necessary. Those who think we can ignore Afghan needs while we use their country as a counterterrorism platform are naïve or shortsighted. Unless we create a decent, stable country in Afghanistan — not a Utopia — it may again be conquered by an al-Qaida ally, and the need for counterterrorist operations there will never disappear.

He continues to explain that Yemen and Somalia are unpredictable as bases for al-Qaida and that their best opportunity is to regain operational control of Taliban dominated Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Myth 2 – The Taliban are winning the war in Afghanistan. They can’t be stopped.

This type of reporting or propaganda encourages defeatism, according to Colonel Collins, and is not the reality of the situation.

The Taliban can be defeated and blocked by strategies that protect the population and build up the security capacity of the Afghan state, its provinces and its districts. Counter-sanctuary activities by Pakistani forces could easily disrupt their base areas and training grounds. Better coordination with Persian Gulf allies and stronger counternarcotics efforts could dry up their financial base. To win faster, we will have to fight harder and smarter, drastically increasing Afghanistan’s capacity to manage its own affairs. The truth is that Taliban forces have made great strides, but they can be stopped. The Taliban cannot win unless the West quits.

Defeating the Taliban strategy of outlasting the determination and will of the international forces is the best path to victory.

Myth 3 – Afghanistan has always been unstable and has never had an effective central government. Trying to build one is a waste of time and resources.

Prior to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the nation was a much more secure place. It was even a tourist destination for a lot of hippies and members of the New Age movement.

From the early 1900s to the Soviet invasion in 1978, Afghanistan was a poor, but relatively stable, developing country. The government writ large — national, provincial, district and at local levels —was in control at home and generally at peace with its neighbors. In the postwar era, the country was courted by the U.S. and the Soviet Union, both of which during the Cold War provided significant foreign aid. It had a draft, a functioning Army and Air Force, as well as a significant Western presence. From the early 1960s onward, it had both a king and a functioning parliament.

Underneath the surface, however, the pressures for modernization and the pull of tradition and religion produced both leftist and religious extremists. In 1973, the king was deposed by his progressive cousin in a velvet coup. After a Soviet-backed, Marxist coup in 1978 — which the late anthropologist Louis Dupree characterized as “more Groucho than Karl” —the country spiraled rapidly downward. Even before the Soviet invasion in December 1979 to shore up its position on its southern border, the Afghan people were widely in revolt, energized by the need to deal with atheist invaders.

Since the Soviet pull out, the nation has experienced nothing but bloodshed, with a civil war leading to a Taliban government and the war with the United States.

Nation Building and Setbacks

While the bombings, raids and battles raging daily between the Taliban, al-Qaida linked forces and the international coalition grab all the press coverage, there has been a determined attempt to restore the nation of Afghanistan to its prior self-supportive days. But this effort is useless while Taliban and their cohorts are attacking bases, bombing embassies and threatening schools and government institutions that support the international coalition. As the White House, Congress and DoD discuss our next moves, these concepts should be clear.

Discussion

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