It's About The Questions

It's About the Questions

http://www.downsizedc.net/2007/jun/1..._the_questions

6/9/2007

My one hour radio show, the Downsize DC Conference Call, is on this afternoon (Sunday) at 4 PM Eastern (3 PM Central, 2 PM Mountain, and 1 PM Pacific). I think this may be one of the most memorable and important shows I'll ever do.

For about three years now, with each passing month, the call for DownsizeDC.org to do something on the topic of 9-11 has intensified. People have sent me videos, books, articles, and tons of emails, insisting that there was more there than met the eye.

I have found some of this stuff to be interesting. However, the claims made in these various presentations almost always exceeded the evidence (when it should be the other way around). Some of them were sheer lunacy.

In February a friend of mine lent me a DVD titled, "9/11 Press for Truth." I didn't want to watch it, but he insisted that this presentation was different. I didn't believe him, but he was a friend, and so I watched it anyway. And he was right.

I purchased some copies of the DVD and asked some close advisors to watch it. All but one of them agreed, it was special. The remaining individual, my working partner at DownsizeDC.org, Perry Willis, at first, refused to watch for the same reasons I did. But he finally relented, and he too agreed, this documentary was different.

Why was it different? Because it asked questions. The evidence it produced supported the questions. The research was backed by solid, mainstream journalism.

And the questions, all by themselves (without any conspiratorial theorizing) are terribly damning -- particularly because they are asked by the victims' families, including a charming group of women the media has dubbed, The Jersey Girls.

It's about the questions. The right questions can result in accountability. We have not had accountability. Quite the opposite. The catastrophe of September 11 has been treated like all the other failures of our Monopoly Government: It has been rewarded with new powers, more money, and a larger bag of favors to hand out.

And that makes this issue a Downsize DC matter.

Today, my radio show will, for the first time in DownsizeDC.org history, launch a new campaign. We have never launched a lobbying effort on a Sunday. But we will today.

Ray Nowosielski, co-writer and co-producer of 9/11 Press for Truth, will be my guest for the entire hour. I was pleased to learn, upon meeting Ray, that he already knew about DownsizeDC.org and that he wanted to work with us.

The phone number is 1-800-259-9231. The show email address is "call at DownsizeDC dot org" (if you hit reply to this message, or send a message to our comments line, I will not see it in time for the show -- last week, ten people did exactly that).

Although the show is played on a handful of stations, the best way to catch the show is to listen online at www.GCNLive.com/listenlive.htm.

The Downsize DC Conference Call is sponsored by DownsizeDC.org and Gun Owners of America, and we'll have a GOA Update as well. But the topics and guests are chosen by me, and the opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the sponsors.

Jim Babka
Host - The Downsize DC Conference Call

Our Position on 9-11 Truth

Quotes of the Day:

With great power comes great responsibility.

-- Spider-man (Stan Lee)

Big claims require big evidence.

-- a fundamental principle of critical thinking

Given the subject of our latest campaign it seems incumbent upon us to state where we stand on the subject of 9-11 Truth.

We feel there is sufficient evidence to assert that the federal government had all the powers and resources it needed to prevent the 9-11 attacks.

• It knew that Osama bin Laden was planning to attack the United States.
• It knew that Al Queda agents were operating in the country.
• It knew that suicide attacks with airplanes were a real possibility.
• It knew that suspicious person were learning how to fly airplanes, with, in at least one case, an alarming disinterest in learning how to land them.

The federal government had the power, without the PATRIOT Act, or torture, or REAL ID, or illegal wiretaps, to learn everything it needed to know to stop the 9-11 attacks.

If the federal government had simply used the powers and resources it already had the 9-11 attacks would have failed, and many thousands of people who are now dead would still be alive and in the arms of their families.

9-11 is a textbook case of the government's congenital institutional inability to focus and perform competently.

If the federal government had simply done its job, using what it already had, then there would have been no...

• Disastrous war in Iraq,
• Bloated Department of Homeland Security,
• Overbearing TSA,
• Invasive PATRIOT Act,
• Dangerous REAL ID Act,
• Unconscionable Torture-Tribunal law,
• Illegal spying on American citizens,
• Or a whole host of other government transgressions.

Here is the truth, with a little "t," about 9-11: It was a day of massive government failure.

Here is another truth about 9-11: No one in government, and no institution of the government, was held accountable, or paid any price, for this failure.

Here is another truth about 9-11: The federal government, and the people who run it, were actually rewarded for their failure on 9-11, instead of being held accountable.

The federal government failed on 9-11, but the President and the Congress did NOT hold themselves accountable for this failure. Instead, they exploited their own incompetence to grant themselves massive new powers and recources, at your expense.

Worse still, Congress and the President have used these massive new powers and resources to commit even larger failures, such as the war in Iraq. These new failures have made YOU LESS SECURE, rather than more secure.

Government fails consistently, because the institution of government, and the people in government, NEVER PAY ANY PRICE for failure. Government fails consistently, because the people in government are CONSISTENTLY REWARDED FOR FAILURE by gaining greater power and greater access to your wallet.

The incentives by which our government operates are completely backward: Government is always rewarded for its failures, so its incentive is to constantly fail.

This is the fundamental truth about 9-11.

Are there others truths that also matter and that have been neglected? Perhaps. But the idea that the Bush administration somehow conspired with Al Queda to bring about the attacks, is almost certainly not among them.

It makes zero sense that the Bush administration would have been capable of such a massive crime, but incapable, a few months later, of planting WMD's in Iraq. On this basis alone, most of the 9-11 conspiracy theories are non-starters.

This does not mean that the Bush administration did not exploit 9-11 to do things it wanted to do anyway. Of course it did.

Neither does it rule out that some members of the administration may have been intentionally incompetent in order to permit the inciting "Pearl Harbor incident" they were on record as hoping for in advance.

But both of these things are a far cry from most of the conspiracy theories that parade under the banner of "9-11 Truth."

Sadly, the focus on wild theories has tarnished the words "9-11 Truth," and made it harder to actually get at the truth.

We have been inundated with films and books and articles about 9-11. We have heard all the claims and studied all the supposed evidence.

Big claims require big evidence and many "9-11 Truth" claims fail this test. This is why we recommend a documentary film called "9/11 Press for Truth."

"9/11 Press for Truth" is different. It makes few claims, but presents a lot of big evidence. Seeing this movie has prompted us to take action to compel the federal government to re-investigate its own performance on 9-11, and to assume a responsibility equal to its great powers.

The proper federal response to 9-11 should have been to downsize, streamline, and focus. Instead, it used its own failures to upsize, complicate, and thrash about in all directions.

We want Congress to take another look at 9-11, and this time attribute blame, impose penalties, and adopt policies that will enable government to better overcome its innate incompetence.

If you share these goals, then please send a message to Congress calling on them to take another look at 9-11. You can do so here.

Please, also consider sending your elected representatives a copy of "9/11 Press for Truth" as part of the Press for Truth Pack. There will be instructions on how to do this, and how you can get your own copy of this film, after you send your message to Congress.

Please, also consider making a contribution or starting a monthly pledge to further our work. This Friday is the deadline for getting listed on the website roster for the "One Subject at a Time Act." The minimum contribution to be listed is a $5 monthly pledge, or a $60 one time contribution. Contribute more if you can because the names will be listed by the size of the contribution.

You can make your contribution here.

Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.

Jim Babka & Perry Willis
President & Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

To whom it may concern,

First and foremost, I want to thank you for your efforts regarding 9/11, and for basing your efforts on the documentary, "9/11: Press For Truth." It is a documentary I am very proud of, and am thrilled to have been a part of it. I wanted to address an email I received from you today concerning your position on 9/11 Truth. I only want to address the following paragraph:

"It makes zero sense that the Bush administration would have been capable of such a massive crime, but incapable, a few months later, of planting WMD's in Iraq. On this basis alone, most of the 9-11 conspiracy theories are non-starters."

The following is a speech I gave at the recent 9/11 Accountability conference in Chandler, Arizona.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...C+9%2F11&hl=en

That speech is available here with all sources:

http://www.911blogger.com/node/4178

In regards to your comment about WMD, have you ever read this piece from Larisa Alexandrovna?

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Secret...olve_0105.html

Larisa was a story consultant for 9/11: Press For Truth.

I have been doing this for 5 years. I think it's safe to say that I have probably read more than you on the subject. All I can say is, I don't know what happened on 9/11, but because of the fact this administration wanted to go to war, and because of all of the lies we were told about 9/11, and believe me, there are a great deal more than what is presented in the 84 minutes of 9/11: Press For Truth, and because of the obstruction of justice, and because they have used 9/11 to get their war, they have become suspects in the crime of 9/11. I have little doubt that if a real investigation were to take place, those sitting in the White House would be found guilty for, at the very least, criminal negligence, and at the most, pre-meditated manslaughter.

Please, don't downplay the possibility.

Again, thank you for your efforts.

Sincerest Regards,

Jon Gold

BTW... they have a campaign going now. Please go sign.

http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=74

Mr. Gold,

Thanks for writing, and for your encouraging words. Our position is that Congress must launch a fresh, independent investigation. The investigation would be more effective if it begins with the presumption is that 9-11 was NOT an inside job, that the Administration is "innocent until proven guilty." Then, the investigators can follow where the evidence leads. But our organization is not in a position to turn speculations into accusations. We want members of Congress to open their minds and ask the right questions; if we tell Congress we believe we already know the answers, members of Congress will mis-judge our intentions and ignore us.

Our agenda is to downsize the federal government. If the investigation finds that the Administration was incompetent, that advances our case and cause for smaller government. If the investigation concludes that the Administration was guilty of something far worse than incompetence, that underscores the need for smaller government all the more.

Sincerely,

James Wilson
Assistant to the President
DownsizeDC.org