February 12, 2007

• Uh...is this something more than an old promo for an upcoming BBC TV series rehashing the same old 9/11 conspiracy theories that have been spouted, debunked and redebunked several times over in the past 5 years? Or am I missing something?
• You gotta remember, Ralphie, that only a small percentage of us are actually informed about anything. The rest of the world lives under a rock.
• Well, it's the first I've seen any media outlet with credibility™ tackle the issue. Also, I think this is less of the "wtc was demolished by the feds" and more of "the feds were not entirely unaware of the upcoming attacks". I, for one, am hoping to be educated by the BBC.
• Media (specially european) with 'respectability' have exposed all kinds of questions about all the curious events of those days, since years ago. However, zany, batshitinsane theories have made it so that any doubt over the official version is set aside along with the wackos talking about tesla rays and switched planes dumping passengers to death camps.
• Schwinn Bicycle Co. c/o Pacific Cycle, LLC 4902 Hammersley Rd Madison, WI 53711 Sept 11, 2002. Ladies and Gentlemen: It was obscured by other big news, but last Sept. 11th, Huffy let go of its bid to acquire Schwinn. You can imagine how surprised we were to learn of that near-debacle. Naturally, we are concerned about the company’s direction and ownership of late. Huffy!? Huffy was never the bike the kids on the block were after, if they could help it – and Huffy and other brands of its ilk ( like Murray and Sears Free-Spirit) used to sell for half as much as Schwinns, but were only worth one fifth as much! The City of Tango possesses a fleet of vintage Schwinn bicycles in everyday use. Our experience has been the absolute best one could hope for, in performance and maintenance. In fact, no bikes in our fleet have been replaced since the late ‘60s! As an example, consider our bicycle, license no. 34-B – used by Mr. Micoskos T. Vargas, Garden-gate Hinge-Inspector, for the City of Tango. We don’t know the exact date the frame of Mr. Vargas’s two-speed cruiser was built, but we think it is after the U.S. Civil War, juding from historical photo research. The frame has acquired a character and rugged patina from hundreds of paint coats and generations of exposure to the elements, which is in stunning contrast to the bright chrome of the wheels, and the spring-loaded handlebars. Mr. Vargas’s cruiser has not had a major part replaced since the ‘50s. The hand grips wore out in 1977, and the rubber foot pads on the pedals were replaced in 1989. And 34-B is not the oldest Schwinn in use by our employees! An acquaintance of Tango’s mayor recently complained that the ‘70s Murray cruiser she renovated couldn’t keep air in the tires more than three days, and that the frame wobbled when under hard pedaling. Her Honor was gently reminded that the Murray was the same way when it was brand new! Mostly, our big problem with Huffy is that it’s a conglomerate, with its main business in something other than bicycles. How much heart would they put into Schwinn, when they were hung up on R&D for illuminated soccer balls and Kevlar/PVC hybrid backstops? We’d bet they’d be just as good as AMF was at trying to figure out how to kill off Harley Davidson, while they were making footballs that wouldn’t hold air very well. So along came Pacific Cycle, producer of Mongoose bicycles, and otherwise unknown to we, and the world. We wish you success, but we are not impressed, so far. To be fair, Schwinn was in serious decline before you came along. Crude knock-offs of classic clunkers do not a 21st century success formula make. We wonder what the gearheads at the Schwinn of yore would do with one of these "reumbcant" – "recumbunted"? – "recombinant"? – do these things recompose one’s DNA? – bicycles? Maybe they could morph the concept into a whole new thing, and make one that doesn’t look like a bunch of misaligned, mismatched regular bike parts? Please try to show us that you have a modern Apple-Crate up your sleeves, Pacific. Perhaps there are people, suffocating, laboring in obscurity deep in your organization who stand ready to gain control of the handlebars (and means of production), and show you guys what to do to get back on top! We will keep on repacking our bearings every decade, scouring the landscape for parts, and honking our squeeze-bulb horns at other passing Schwinns. We’ll be out there, on those big two-tone saddles, every single day. Yours in heavy-metal memories, x. 99-44/100% "Foo" Ass. Man. City of Tango
• Some interesting points (previously linked by Homunculus in this thread). Omar Sheikh, alleged by President Musharraf to have been an MI6 agent, is waiting to be hanged for the murder of Daniel Pearl. Sheikh, on the instructions of General Mahmoud Ahmed, then head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), wired $100,000 before the 9/11 attacks to Mohammed Atta. Ahmed had a series of pre-9/11 top-level meetings in the White House, the Pentagon, the national security council, with George Tenet, and with Marc Grossman. When Ahmed was exposed by the Wall Street Journal as having sent the money to the hijackers, he was forced to "retire" by Musharraf. There's more in the article, but this Sheikh-Ahmed-Atta money trail should be explained by someone.
• Wrong lead, roryk. You see, Pakistan isn't a member of the Axis of Eeeeevel...
• I had not heard of this connection between Ahmed and Atta. But i did check some links. Specifically here at the Wall Street Journal and it turns out that contrary to the Guardian commentary, it was not the WSJ who exposed Ahmed as having sent the money. The WSJ was simply quoting the Times of India in its daily Opinion Journal column, a summary of news links from around the world. How reliable is the Opinion Journal? Well, as you can see here , the Opinion Journal cites the meeting between Atta and representatives in Iraq, the one that never took place but were used to justify the Iraq invasion. The Opinion Journal column is scuttlebutt not bona fide Wall Street Journal investigative work.
• Oops, that should have been "Atta and representatives *of* Iraq"
• > it was not the WSJ who exposed Ahmed as having sent the money There seems to be a main source for this in India, along with "unofficial" or off-the-record confirmation on the U.S. side.
• Someone should put the effort into investigating and getting the facts. Although i can see why there's not a lot of interest, the trail is pretty much cold by now. The problem really with conspiracists is the lack of hard evidence which is an obvious thing to say.
• sorry, seeing 11 comments on this thread was freaking me and my tin-foil hat out. So I'll make it twelve.
• Clearly, the whole thing was just a gigantic cover-up, intended to cleverly divert attention from this other embarrassing news, breaking that same day.
• BBC takes a look at 11th September 2001 controversies. Umm... The Brits should be ashamed of themselves! Don't they know it's: The Tragic Events of September The Eleventh Two Thousand One??!!! The GALL! seriously, I wish those "9/11 families" would just be quiet about half the stuff they're bitchin' about. Air quality issues and health care for first responders? sure 100%. Wanting to preserve the "stairway of life" which is a badly damaged, butt ugly, hunk of concrete? bite me. Also, the whole furor about how the names are going to be listed on the memorial... sigh
• Apparently the BBC conclusively debunked everything.
• Shite, I forgot this was on.