Disaster -- or DELIBERATE? (Or: Is there AN AGENDA?)

I'm a little sorry to be coming through Irene so unscathed, considering all the damage done elsewhere. In this small suburb of Balmer, we didn't even have a power outage -- and our power tends to go out easily. If the neighbor's cat sneezes too loudly, we're on candlepower for the night.

About the earthquake: The following (from here) sums it up.


And here's the Alex Jones version:


And then there are those enlightened souls who have sought to reveal that both the earthquake and the hurricane were engineered by...them.

There appears to be evidence that this storm is being "steered":
Thread: They are STEERING Hurricane Irene to HIT NYC! PROOF INSIDE!

Those who believe in this line of inquiry tend to focus on this piece, titled "Who's controlling our weather?" The article cites a noteworthy source:

Now, there is a gentleman named Richard C. Hoagland who knows something more about all this. Hoagland is a scientific researcher with some clout...

Yeah. He's the guy who spent years -- dcades -- pushing the "face on Mars" bullshit. I semi-followed his work for years, until it lost its amusement value. His nonsense about ancient Egypt derives (in part) from the writings of Graham Hancock, whose own horseshit about Egypt was skewered mercilessly in a book called The Stargate Conspiracy.

The afore-cited article on weather control appears on Hancock's website. As a general rule, silly-billies have an incestuous relationship with their fellow silly-billies.

Of course, there are those who connect the "disaster" conspiracies to our poor economy.

So why not create some earthquakes, a giant hurricane, and inject some tried and true fear which always works to buy some time. This will stop the fall, via a trading halt, encourage people to seek help from the government, who is just there to help you...ya right..and distract the sheeple from real news, for awhile. It is a rather transparent plan if you have been paying attention.

Dare ye scoff, ye scoffing scoffers? Well, consider this:

The big new video in Wackyland is something called The Agenda - Grinding America Down. It was made by a man named Curtis Bowers -- of whom, more anon.

The makers of this film (here's the website) believe that Obama is operating according to the dictates of a communist scheme. Yes, Bowers and his buds really believe that the USSR never fell, and that the commies are in firm control of world events.

For evidence, they cite a document titled "Communist Goals - 1963" taken from the work of that posthumously-famous kook, Cleon Skousen. The "Goals" document was read into the Congressional Record by a kook-friendly congressman. (Back then, this was a favorite tactic for giving fake documents a veneer of official-ness. Hey, it was in the Congressional freakin' Record -- so it's gotta be real, right?)

Of course, Skousen just made shit up out of whole cloth. I could write a whole book (in fact, I half-finished just such a book) about the fake "conspiracy" texts being passed around by earlier generations. The L. Ron Hubbard "Brainwashing" hoax may be the most famous example.

Needless to say, Bowers' whole Communist "secret agenda" canard has not one whiff of real evidence behind it. What Bowers is pushing is just another version of the Illuminati myth -- a scarecrow designed to frighten the easily duped.

The people behind "The Agenda" recommend that we familiarize ourselves with the works of such noble heroes as Joe McCarthy, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Ludwig von Mises, etc. The usual crew. Bowers is also big on the threat allegedly posed by Islam -- all of Islam, not just al Qaeda. Apparently, the commies and the Muslims are in it together.

(This widespread belief in a commie-Islamic collusion is, of course, a thoroughly insane reading of Middle Eastern history. The people who believe in this nonsense have never bothered to read a standard, non-kooky historical work on modern Arab history.)

There's no talking to the people who have become enmeshed in this line of unreasoning. They are the Borg. They are unreachable. Dialogue is impossible. Fact-based, reasoned argument cannot penetrate their diseased craniums. If you challenge them on their sick anti-logic, they will simply presume you to be part of their imaginary conspiracy.

Why am I spending so much time talking about Curtis Bowers and his exercise in lunacy? Two reasons:

1. Curtis Bowers is an actual legislator in Idaho. People vote for this clown.

2. His film has garnered 561,027 viewings on YouTube alone. And it has been seen in other venues.

This article effectively skewers Bowers:

Rep. Bowers’ goal, it seems, was to pit neighbor against neighbor by targeting three groups of people: feminists, environmentalists and gay rights advocates. According to him, these groups share blame for the destruction of families, business and culture. In fact, his enemies list may include you.

1. Do you agree that women should have the right to vote? If so, then you’re a feminist.

2. Do you enjoy hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, skiing or other recreational activities in Idaho and do you agree that the ability to participate in these activities ought to be preserved for your children and grandchildren? If so, then you’re an environmentalist.

3. Are you among the 63% of Idahoans who, according to a recent BSU survey, agreed that it should be illegal to fire a person because they are or are perceived to be gay? If so, then you’re a gay rights advocate.

If you answered “yes” to any of these three, you are among those Rep. Bowers has accused of being unpatriotic communist sympathizers.

In short: Curtis Bowers defines "communism" as anything he does not like. If the dog poops on the rug, the dog is part of the communist conspiracy. If anyone in the world holds to beliefs contrary to his own -- well, that just proves the existence of an all-powerful, never-dying plot against all that is holy.

Bowers is barking mad. And his paranoid insistence that everyone think as he thinks makes him the spitting image of Joe Stalin. Indeed, Stalin is best conceived as a Bowers-esque fringe-dweller who, in a time of political upheaval, managed to grab real power.

That's why I hope never to see such an upheaval occur in this country. Some of my readers seem to look forward to such a possibility; they want to live in "interesting times." I do not.

In normal political times, the Stalins and the Bowerses tend to stay on the fringe, where they belong. But in abnormal times, abnormal people may seize their chance.

When I began this post, I was in a lighthearted, even silly mood. But now -- now, I'm not feeling so lighthearted.

Lincoln said that America cannot survive half-slave and half-free. I say that America cannot survive half-mad and half-sane.