More on conspiracy theories

Gotta buddy who I noticed was signing his messages as RonL. A few months back, I was working for JRF, the Jewish Reconstruction Federation and RonL very enthusiastically told me about a book he had been reading, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion (PDF)

Now I was fully aware that the Protocols were a forgery with two centuries of works that led up to it and finally put together by agents of the Russian Ohkrana (Tsarist secret police) in 1905, and that it incited Russian peasants to carry out pogroms against the Jews in their midst. It was also a work cited by Adolf Hitler as he rose to power in the early 1930s. I didn't remember RonL ever demonstrating any bigoted attitudes towards anyone nor of his making any anti-semitic remarks, so I suspected he wasn't referring to it as a good source on how awful the Jewish people were. Sure enough, when I had cleaned up the coffee that I had spit out all over the floor and then asked him why, oh why, was he referring me to such a book, he replied that it was an excellent source on how conspiracies work, that it was a good primer on how the current "Establishment" got into and maintains power. Having only a general knowledge of the book, I believe that accurately characterizes some aspects of it.

Lately, RonL has also been speaking of The Illuminati, an account of 13 families that allegedly wield a disproportionate influence.

"For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."
David Rockefeller, Memoirs, 2002 - Hermes-Press.com -

Of course, the lawyer-blogger Glenn Greenwald has recently turned a suspicious eye towards a member of that very family, "AT&T's personal Senator Jay Rockefeller":

When Rockefeller smugly announces that he "thinks we will prevail," the "we" on whose behalf he is so proudly speaking is Bush and Cheney, lawbreaking telecoms, and all Republican Senators. The only parties whom Rockefeller is so happily "defeating" are civil liberties groups and members of his own party. That is what is making him feel pulsating sensations of excitement and "smugness."

This is also a most interesting comment:

Edward Mandell House [Illuminati] Had This to Say in a Private Meeting with Woodrow Wilson (President)
- “[Very] soon, every American will be required to register their biological property in a National system designed to keep track of the people and that will operate under the ancient system of pledging. By such methodology, we can compel people to submit to our agenda, which will affect our security as a chargeback for our fiat paper currency..." -
- Freedompool.org -

Interesting because it sounds like an early draft of the warrantless wiretapping that the Bush Administration has been engaged in since very shortly after they took office, long before 9-11.

There's certainly plenty there that folks can raise question about. One very familiar phrase is that of the "New World Order" that the elder Bush used shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union on, get this, 11 Sep 1990. The whole concept appears to be bound up with the cult of Freemasonry. "Freemasonry has always, admittedly, held deep occult secrets which it hides from the 'profane' and unworthy."

My own take on conspiracy theories is that I found the evidence collected by cooperativeresearch.org (Since folded into 911Truth.org) back in 2002 to be compelling, not because of any one element, but because there were simply too many unexplained or insufficiently-detailed elements for the official story to be believable. Captain Eric H. May is currently detailing how the Bush Administration attempted to follow up 9-11 with a small nuclear bomb on Texas City, within Congressman Ron Paul's district:

Feb. 3, 2006: Texas City British Petroleum Employee Heard 'Strange Abort Signal' on Local Radio Station The Morning Army Intel Officer Predicted Nuclear Strike At Plant. BP employee also said "other strange events" occurred, leaving her "nervous and on edge." Galveston Daily News follows up with story, finding WMD military support team was conducting a training session at a location near Texas City.

I'm far from alone in my suspicions. Zogby revealed that "51% of Americans Want Congress to Probe Bush/Cheney Regarding 9/11 Attacks" and that "67% also fault 9/11 Commission for not investigating anomalous collapse of World Trade Center 7." The PNAC plan to establish the US as the supervisor of a "benevolent global hegemony" is so uncontroversially true that Daily Kos, a website that refuses to run "wild" conspiracy theories, ran a 10th anniversary piece on PNACs first letter to President Clinton urging the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

Now, as I pointed out in another piece, not every conspiracy theory works out as neatly as one might imagine. Allegedly, Israel controls US Mideast policy, but 75% of Israelis think Bush's recent trip there was just a photo-op. I'm willing to keep an open mind on these matters. Just about everything has a more innocent possible interpretation. That's why we have courts where both sides can present exhaustive arguments and where a jury of regular citizens can weigh the evidence and ultimately render a verdict. Sunshine is, after all, the best disinfectant and the very best way to deal with questions.