28 Responses to “Purely Informational”

1. Tyler Says:
   July 17th, 2006 at 3:50 pm

   Damn, I should be in Ashland. Well, maybe I can find a way to stick around.

2. Shaheen A. Al-Haddad Says:
   July 17th, 2006 at 5:28 pm

   When are you guys going to be a voice for change? I remember coming into your office months ago with offers to submit articles on 9/11 being an inside job, the “war on terror” being a complete farce, and a real strategy to impeach the current administration. Obviously Ian didn’t have the balls to run anything I thought may be useful for the U of O. (Direct quote: “This looks like something we might see in The Insurgent”). This after him seeing the 9/11 Pentagon footage and him saying “That’s not a plane.” Controlled demolition brought down the towers, we’re fighting an illegal war, Bush stole both elections, and we’ve all been brainwashed. Admit it.

   Come on, guys. Look into this stuff and do something about it.

   http://www.universalseed.org

   Very truly yours,

   Shaheen A. Al-Haddad

3. Timothy Says:
   July 17th, 2006 at 5:55 pm

   “A voice” and “A crazy voice” are pretty different, I think.

4. Tyler Says:
   July 17th, 2006 at 6:06 pm

   Shaheen,

   To take some of the heat off of Ian, I should state that both Ian and I discussed the article and thought that it was wholly inappropriate for the publication. If memory serves me correctly, Michael also voiced concern over the content of the piece. Sorry. That’s what editors do.

   It’s one thing to make the agument that the “war is illegal”, or that very bad things are happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, or that human rights abuses are occuring at Gitmo; it’s something altogether different to believe in silly conspiracy theories proffered by the likes of Charlie “is it just me or did that look like a controlled blast” Sheen. Anyway, most of your “evidence” has been rebuked, scientifically and articulately, online and in magazines (Popular Mechanics debunked ALL of these claims).

   http://www.southerncrossreview.org/41/9-11.htm

   You can check that out if you want. Or you can believe in whatever nonsense you want; it’s honestly not worth arguing over.

   Tyler

5. Tyler Says:
   July 17th, 2006 at 6:36 pm

   Plus, as a side note, I would like everyone to know that currently I am in the library using a computer and right across from me is a dude wearing a Charles Barkley jersey and looking at porn. He is my new hero.

6. Tyler Says:
   July 17th, 2006 at 6:38 pm

   He’s now playing a video of a japanese girl getting naked. This is fucking incredible. I wish I had the energy to liveblog this prevert’s actions as they develop, but, alas, I need a drink.

7. Ian Says:
   July 17th, 2006 at 7:42 pm

   Shaheen-

   The object in the video you showed me did not look like a plane. So I said that it didn’t look like a plane.

   What you wrote does read like something you would see in the Insurgent. So I said that it looked like something you would see in the Insurgent.

   Of course, the object in the video didn’t look like a missile either (particularly since a missile almost certainly wouldn’t fly a couple of feet off the ground), but I suppose it’s supposed to be some uber-missile designed in a joint operation by Opus Dei, the IDF, and the Salvation Army. Or whatever the popular Internet explanation is nowadays.

   Well, there’s the video. Here’s your piece:

   World Trade Center Building 7
   Why there is much more to the events of September 11th, 2001 than you think
   By Shaheen A. Al-Haddad

   We were watching a game of baseball the other night when it occurred to us that a close call at first base could be used to stand for the events which occurred on September 11th, 2001. The first baseman, having to jump and stretch for the ball after it was thrown to him, clumsily took his foot off the base for a split second as the runner dashed to first. The umpire, trying to determine whether the baseman’s foot was on the base or not, called the runner safe. It was a close call, and the baseman’s manager came out to dispute the play.

   Fortunately for the power of video, viewers at home were able to see the play again in slow motion and from different angles. The runner, we were surprised to learn, should in fact have been called out — it turned out that the baseman’s foot actually was on the base — yet there was the runner on first, owing it all to the erroneous call of the umpire. The baseball players, coaches, umpires and fans in the stand didn’t see the video. Their concern about the call, fiery at first, soon evaporated. The game went on.

   What do we know about what happened on Sept. 11th, 2001? The official story is that Arab hijackers overpowered commercial jetliners and flew them into World Trade Center Buildings 1 and 2 and the Pentagon. Everyone remembers watching the Twin Towers burn and fall. But does anyone remember the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7, separated from the Twin Towers by Building 6 and Vesey Street? The official explanation from FEMA, the organization the government ordered to investigate the collapse of the three buildings despite the fact that FEMA is not an investigatory outfit, is as follows: “The specifics of the fires in WTC 7 and how they caused the building to collapse remain unknown at this time… Further research, investigation, and analyses are needed to resolve this issue.” (Chapter 5, pg. 31.)

   Building 7 was not even mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report. Why? Was it because Building 7 was home home to such government agencies as the United States Secret Service, the Department of Defense, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, and the CIA? What is trying to be covered up? What was going on in the 23rd floor bunker, which had blast-resistant windows and an independent air and water supply system, housing Mayor Giuliani’s Emergency Command Center? Call us crazy, but we thought that information would at least raise a few eyebrows.

   To really understand how suspicious this under-reported incident still is, simply watch a video of the building’s collapse. (Type in WTC 7 at http://www.youtube.com.) You will see the building fall vertically, as if it we were brought down by a controlled demolition. In fact, billionaire Larry Silverstein, who owned the lease on the World Trade Center, admitted on a PBS special that the building was “pulled”, a reference used by demolitionists to describe the controlled implosion of a structure. If the video alone doesn’t go against your common sense about how the building fell, think about this: Building 7 is the first steel structure to ever collapse as a result of fires. The fires on the 5th through 7th floors were small in comparison to what other steel structures have been able to withstand. In 1991, a fire at the One Meridian Plaza in Philadelphia raged for 18 hours, demolishing eight floors of the 38 floor building. It did not fall. The First Interstate Bank Building burned for hours in Los Angeles in 1988, demolishing four floors but producing no damage to the main structural members.

   We are not crazy conspiracy theorists. We are not saying the Freemasons and Israelis, with help from aliens of course, brought down the building with lasers attached to a tank. What we are saying, though, is that there is more to what happened on September 11th, 2001 than what is commonly believed. As honest and intelligent Americans, it is our duty to learn for ourselves what really happened that day. We cannot believe everything we hear on the news and we should always remain skeptical of what is commonly believed. We must also remember that one of the most dangerous aspects of journalism is not what is reported, but that which is left out.

   If you cry about how the Bush administration is “bad” all the time, think about what you can do. We are all just tools in the system if we do not choose to critically examine the events which led to two wars and created sweeping reforms in our laws.

   The information is out there for us to read. We are not stupid. We know that, at the very least, there must have been some form of complicity on behalf of the government concerning the events of September 11th, 2001.

   For more information, visit:

   http://911research.wtc7.net
   http://www.whorulesamerica.net
   http://www.youtube.com (video file database)

   Note the exhaustive use of the collective first person– a device which you again use in your post above, albeit in a completely different manner. Or do you believe that you yourself are also brainwashed?

   And as for my balls, I’d rather not talk about them on the Internet. Of course, that’s likely due to the brainwashing.

8. Ian Says:
   July 17th, 2006 at 7:52 pm

   Tyler-

   Why in the hell didn’t you try and recruit him?

9. Andy Says:
   July 17th, 2006 at 8:13 pm

   Tyler, are you in town? Lets meet at rennie’s sometime.

   WTF does a “real strategy” for impeaching Bush have anything to do with the UofO?? I assume you’ve read our magazine so you cannot dismiss the fact that we do run stories that can have a big impact on campus.

   There is no reasonable proof that the towers we brought down by demolition, the war on terror is no more illegal than the IRS, Bush won both elections fair and square according to our system.

   Everyone seems so intent on focusing on the symptoms of the disease that is killing America.

   I do agree with you that we’ve been brainwashed - into believing that government does more good than harm.

   The only thing Americans are stupid about is that they give up liberties for false security.

10. Timothy Says:
    July 17th, 2006 at 9:01 pm

    Why is it that my posts have a disproportionate tendency to attract nutcases? I mean, shit, all I did was say “hey, dudes, I’m gonna be in town maybe we can get drunk” and this guy shows up. The hell?

11. Greg S. Says:
    July 17th, 2006 at 9:25 pm

    I think Shaheen’s “real strategy” for impeaching Bush involves something about passing a ASUO Senate resolution about it.

12. Olly Says:
    July 17th, 2006 at 9:50 pm

    Tyler, you’re like the OC’s own Carl Monday.

13. Shaheen A. Al-Haddad Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 1:58 am

    Oh, man… I really thought that by now you guys would have gotten your heads out of your asses and critically examined this stuff… To Tyler, you think you’re some wise guy? I’m so glad you pulled out that ridiculous (and obvious propaganda) from Popular Mechanics. It was authored by Benjamin Chertoff. I hope that sounds familiar. His cousin Michael is head of the Department of Homeland Security. Man, you guys should do your fucking homework. 9/11 was an inside job, everyone knows it, you guys are behind, suck it up and accept it and then do something about it. Wish I could be in Eugene to help out, I really do, but I moved back to Los Angeles (back where I can be in good company with the rest of all those tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorists). Wake up guys.

    I’ll make things easy for you stubborn guys.

    http://www.universalseed.org
    http://www.supportthetruth.com
    http://www.loosechange911.com

14. Olly Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 7:29 am

    I’m so glad you pulled out that ridiculous (and obvious propaganda) from Popular Mechanics. It was authored by Benjamin Chertoff. I hope that sounds familiar. His cousin Michael is head of the Department of Homeland Security. Man, you guys should do your fucking homework.

    Speaking of homework, when you say “obvious propaganda,” I assume that means that you can refute all - or some, or any - of the assertions it makes.
    

    9/11 was an inside job, everyone knows it, you guys are behind…

    Excuse me, but are you trying to use peer pressure to convince people of the veracity of your absurd conspiracy theories? Do you find this often works?

15. Andy Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 7:30 am

    LoL!

    “Oregon Commentator publishes evidence of 9/11 cover-up”

    Editor1: wait..who the fuck is the OC?
    Editor2: Uhm, a student news paper from the UofO that looked at some websites and critically examined the ‘evidence.’
    Editor1:”Git that corn outa my faaace!” (nacho libre..)

16. Shaheen A. Al-Haddad Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 10:42 am

    Crazy ramblings made linkable

    –Your Friendly Neighborhood Administrator.

17. Niedermeyer Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 12:13 pm

    Shaheen, I liked your piece on Iran a lot, but I just can’t help feeling like the whole 9-11 conspiracy tangent is a better fit for The Insurgent… it’s not that it’s complete nonsense -per se- it’s just that it’s really hard to create a constructive discourse around highly speculative theories.

    Why rehash a national tragedy when there are so many issues on which to build some consensus in the here-and-now. I think that the issue is so divisive, and the theory you are trying to prove is so far reaching that there is little good that can come out of printing it in the magazine.

18. Shaheen A. Al-Haddad Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 1:01 pm

    I expect personal apologies from all of you at some point down the line. The truth is coming out and it’s only a matter of time before you guys realize it. I suggest you all spend a good few weeks pouring over everything before you dismiss these “highly speculative theories.”

    These “theories” are only far reaching because people purporting to be intelligent and aware dismiss and blackball them before they even look into them.

    You know that scary feeling you get in your stomach and chest when you find out about something you don’t know? Yea, that’s what you should be getting right about now.

19. Timothy Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 1:48 pm

    Actually, that’s just indigestion. I shouldn’t have had that pepperoni sandwich for lunch.

20. Niedermeyer Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 1:54 pm

    I think we can all agree that it is hard to believe that an attack as destructive and impactful as 9/11 could be carried out by a handfull of religious extremists. As a former Oklahma City and JFK conspiracy theorist, I understand the appeal of trying to uncover hidden truths about events of great significance. Ultimately though, history is the myth that the most people agree on… regardless of “right” and “wrong”, do you really think people would rather fight a civil war in this country against the “Bush Cabal” or whoever may or may not be involved in this conspiracy, or bomb people on the other side of the world who may or may not have attacked our country?

21. Timothy Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 2:07 pm

    Don’t you know, Ted, it was TEH JOOOZ!!!

22. Niedermeyer Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 3:00 pm

    They were like, on the grassy knoll too, right?

    Man the shit is way deeper than I ever thought….

23. Tyler Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 3:38 pm

    Let’s ask the guy looking at porn in the library. I bet he’s still there.

24. Timothy Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 4:15 pm

    Oh, you do not even know the depth. You cannot fathom it.

25. Sho Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 5:13 pm

    Shaheen,

    I think there are some questions in regards to the 9/11 attacks that could be more carefully examined through rational public discourse; however, it’s not like your condescending attitude is making me any more motivated to look into it.

    Tim,

    I’m sad to say I won’t be in town for your visit as I’ll be heading back to Portland on Friday in preparation for my trip overseas. I’ll remember to raise a glass in your honor in London.

26. Timothy Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 6:02 pm

    BAH! Going out of the country is a likely story! Why do you hate me and America, Sho?

27. Olly Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 8:24 pm

    Choice quotes from Shaheen’s last link:
    

    Is it not possible that these columns were destroyed by bombs? … Isn’t it just too much of a coincidence that the crash happened at this very spot with these “blast resistant” windows? … Couldn’t those marks from a plane wing (if he really did see them) be caused by a different aircraft? … If he was able to pick up plane parts by hand, then couldn’t these parts have been planted by hand? … And that photo is consistent with a fiery missile attack or other type of plane crash!

    This is not a refutation of anything in the Popular Mechanics piece. It’s a bunch of speculative nonsense, substantiated by links to even more speculative nonsense. On this basis, you might as well believe that aliens crashed flying saucers into the World Trade Center, or creatures from Atlantis fired RPGs at the Pentagon, or that 9/11 never happened at all and we’re really undergoing a mass hallucination brought about by the CIA putting dope in the reservoirs.
    

    I expect personal apologies from all of you at some point down the line. The truth is coming out and it’s only a matter of time before you guys realize it.

    Don’t hold your breath, ace.

28. Shaheen A. Al-Haddad Says:
    July 18th, 2006 at 10:19 pm

    I agree my approach was a bit hostile and therefore alienated everyone right off the bat. Read the skeptics section on the forums at http://www.loosechange911.com. Just look into this stuff is all I’m asking.