Which one is the "hate" rally?

Searchlight vs. L.A.: Rival Rallies Reveal Stark Right/Left Divide

[...] these rallies, you might likely assume (without even bothering to investigate) that the right-wing rally was an epicenter of hate, racism and craziness, whereas the left-wing rally was undoubtedly about peace, tolerance and rationalism.

Luckily, we no longer have to rely on the mainstream media. In both cases, citizen journalist bloggers were on hand to document the proceedings with eye-opening photo essays:

El Marco: Tea Party Express rally, Searchlight, March 27

Ringo: Anti-war rally, Los Angeles, March 20

Two rallies, not very far apart in time or location — and yet they couldn’t be more different.

I consider myself neither left-wing nor right-wing, and I disagree with one side or the other on various issues — but after viewing these images, I don’t think there’s any question where I’d feel more at ease.

Below is a sampling of images from each rally. (Click on the links above for the full reports.) Scan them and tell me: At which rally would you feel more comfortable? [...]

Follow the links and see the photos. Arrgh! The mental sickness in the Democrat party is what drove me out of it. People who are literally out of their minds.

Excellent photo essays.
     

Cannabis, Communism and Conspiracy Theory all go Together to make this San Franciso Treat

And they were all three proudly on display recently at the 9/11 Truth March and Power to the Peaceful Festival in San Francisco on September 8th.


I lived in San Francisco for 23 years. We moved away from there about 4 years ago. Pat was telling me I must go and look at the pictures and commentary of the event at the ZombieTime blog. At first I didn't want to, largely because that's the sort of thing that made me want to move away in the first place. Pat said it was a good reminder of why we don't live there anymore. I still wasn't interested.

But then he made the following post on his blog:

Going to pot

I used to be a Libertarian. San Francisco was chock full of them. Most of them were pot-heads, didn't like rules and never met a conspiracy theory that they didn't like. At first I thought I fit right in because I'd smoked tons of pot in my youth, didn't like rules and was fascinated by conspiracy theories. I read all about how the Free Masons control the world (at least when the Catholics or the Jews aren't) and how the Bushes are fourth cousins to the Queen and how the cult of Skopsis started the communist revolution in Russia.

You name it, I read it and eventually it dawned on me what the one thing was that conspiracy nuts all had in common: they were pot-heads with wild imaginations and heavy cases of paranoia. I soon parted company with both the Libertarians and pot-heads but I retained many of my small "l" libertarian ideals, one of which was that socalled "victimless crimes" like drug-taking should be legal. Even as recently as a few months ago, I posted on this blog that drugs should be legal.

I've changed my mind. [...]

It's worth reading his reasons in the rest of the post. We were discussing it at dinner last night, so I decided to go look at the photos. Talk about San Francisco Flashback! I've been to/lived near all the places in the photos. And the people, the faces, the events... oh so typically San Francisco.

There was a strong Marijuana presence at the Peace Fesitval:


Zombietime reported that illegal activity was openly being conducted:

[...] Theoretically, one must have a prescription to purchase "medical marijuana" from a licensed dispensary, but these folks were just taking money and handing out cannabis to anyone -- no presciptions required, no ID to check your age, come and get it.[...]

I'm not at all surprised. When we lived there, I knew many people with "Medical Marijuana" perscriptions who were dealing it to their friends. The legal guidelines were routinely flouted, because everyone knew that no one would enforce them. See the Zombietime link for more info and photos about this.

As for the politics of the festival, the Libertarians had a strong presence, as did a large assortment of socialist/communist groups:


As noted by Zombietime:

[...] But Truthism and Ron Paul-itis were not the main themes at the Power to the Peaceful festival. No, the real focus of the event was communism. Yes, communism. And for the sticklers out there: I use the term as a sort of generalized catch-all to describe the many varieties and gradations of communism to be found at the event, including socialism, Stalinism, anarcho-syndicalism, Marxism, Maoism, "people's revolution," and so on. There's no single word that best emcompasses all these political views better than the simple "communism," so that's the word I'm going to use, like it or not. [...]

How can Libertarians and Communists be so closely aligned? Aren't they opposites? Well logically, yes... but what has logic got to do with it?

It's like this. The Libertarian's believe recreational drugs should be legal. The pot-heads of SF are all for that. They are all for anything that lets them flout laws they don't want applied to them. That portion of libertarianism is very convenient for them. But what about the rest of the Libertarian philosophy, against big government? How can so many San Franciscan's seriously claim that you can't be a Libertarian if you aren't a socialist as well? I was told that many times.

It's easily explained. When you live in a Marijuana fog, you don't have to be ruled by pesky logic, you just follow your feelings. Logic is only to be used here and there in bits and pieces, to prop up your half-baked notions and emotional assertions: it's not a frame work to hang your world view on. Thus, you can easily embrace Libertarianism to support your drug use, and socialism to support your welfare checks, and communism to ensure that you don't have to compete (work) for anything, and can just live in your own little stoned Nirvana. Sex, drugs and rock'n roll. The John Lennonist reality. "Imagine all the people..." Imagine being the key word.

And of course, the paranoia often associated with frequent Marijuana use fits in perfectly with conspiracy theory, which was also much on display at the festival:



Every kind of conspiracy theory an emotional thinker could desire. No need to think too deeply, just FEEL and let political correctness be your guide.

Yes, this festival was a real genuine San Francisco treat all right... looking at all the photos, I feel like I was there once again. But it's not a treat for me, which is why I don't live there anymore. A fact for which I am very grateful.


Related Links:

I beg to disagree

Why I left San Francisco #769
     

Debunking Rosie O'Donnell's Stupidity

“I do believe that it’s the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel. I do believe that it defies physics that World Trade Center tower 7—building 7, which collapsed in on itself—it is impossible for a building to fall the way it fell without explosives being involved. World Trade Center 7. World Trade [Center] 1 and 2 got hit by planes—7, miraculously, the first time in history, steel was melted by fire. It is physically impossible.”
- Rosie O'Donnell, from "The View"

Once again we are subjected to the half-baked opinions of an actress, presented as unassailable facts. How does this arrogant, ignorant woman even get time in front of a camera anymore? The facts do not support her. Do the facts even matter anymore? I think so, and fortunately I'm not the only one.

Some good news for us, from Tammy Bruce:

Popular Mechanics Responds to Rosie's 9/11 Conspiracy Meltdown

On Tammy Radio today I commented on Rosie O'Donnell's delusions about September 11th and her assertions that it was an American government conspiracy. This after her similar paranoid/conspiracy rant about the Iranian hostage taking of the British sailors either being faked or arranged by us, the British, or maybe Martians. All she knows is someone is setting up the gentle, compassionate and 'ethical' Iranians.

Other than the mental health issues in question, the bizarre claims of conspiracy surrounding 9-11 have been addressed over the years by a number of respected scientists, researchers and engineers, including the editors of Popular Mechanics. They now respond to Rosie's delusions on their blog, and deconstruct her wild accusations, one by one.

Tammy also goes on to tell us about the book Published by Popular Mechanics, called:

"Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts".

See the rest of Tammy's post for more about the book, and a link to an article about the Conspiracy Industry, by one of the editors at Popular Mechanics.


As for Rosie's claim about melting steel, she's right! The steel did not melt, the fire would not have done so. Unfortunately, she stopped there. What she failed to understand was that it didn't have to melt for a collapse to occur.



Some excerpts from the Popular Mechanics Rosie Rebuttal article:

[...] Towers 1 and 7 were approximately 300 ft. apart, and pictures like the ones here and here [see article for hyper-links] offer a clear visual of how small that distance is for structures that large. After further studies, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) told PM that debris from the 110-floor North Tower hit WTC7 with the force of a volcanic eruption. Nearly a quarter of the building was carved away over the bottom 10 stories on its south face, and significant damage was visible up to the 18th floor [...]

Tower 7 housed the city’s emergency command center, so there were a number of fuel tanks located throughout the building—including two 6000-gal. tanks in the basement that fed some generators in the building by pressurized lines. “Our working hypothesis is that this pressurized line was supplying fuel [to the fire] for a long period of time,” according to Sunder. Steel melts at about 2,750 degrees Fahrenheit—but it loses strength at temperatures as low as 400 F. When temperatures break 1000 degrees F, steel loses nearly 50 percent of its strength. It is unknown what temperatures were reached inside WTC7, but fires in the building raged for seven hours before the collapse. [...]

(Bold emphasis mine) Tower 7 sustained severe damage to it's lowest 10 floors. Add to that fire, fed by ruptured pressurized fuel lines, which WEAKENED the stress capacity of the already over-burdened remaining support beams ... it isn't hard to understand. But it does require actually reading something other than just conspiracy theory. Rosie ought to try it sometime.

The article is filled with lots of details, and also examines and debunks the clandestine demolition theory too. It's easy to understand and should be of great interest to anyone who actually cares about FACTS.



I worked in high-rise security for 12 years. I participated in annual Life Safety seminars, where scenarios like the impact of a plane were examined. Depending on the size of the plane, it's speed, it's fuel load and where it impacted the building, it could precipitate the collapse of a building. ANY massive damage to a large building, in the right location, combined with a raging fire, could do the same thing. This kind of knowledge has been around since long before 9-11. In fact the 9-11 hijacker's tapped that knowledge and decided to deliberately use it as a weapon.

To have to hear an ignoramus like Rosie spouting off at length on national TV about her conspiracy theory nonsense, when the information that proves her wrong is so abundantly and easily available, is appalling and beyond excuse. Barbara Walters, who is supposed to be a journalist, should be ashamed of herself for allowing it to go unchallenged. What's going to be next on The View... Holocaust denial? Sheesh!


Related Links:

LMC's The Anti-View
(has video link, also has contact information for sending complaints to ABC).

Highrise Security and our post 9-11 reality
What I understand about 9-11, based on my own experience in high-rise security.