Friday, March 30, 2007

Alex Jones: Descent into Tyranny

I came across this copy of Alex Jones' book (and I use the term loosely) "Descent into Tyranny" on the Internet and decide to give it a perusal. Now I know debunking Alex Jones is low hanging fruit, shooting fish in a barrel, pick your cliche, but as long as he is a prominent member of the 9/11 denial movement, I will not feel guilty picking on this Texas blowhard, no matter how unsporting it may be.

I was not expecting a Putlizer level work, but even Jones managed to surprise me with his level of idiocy. The book does not appear to be a final published version, it only has notes for the publisher where the pictures will go, but even for a draft it is replete with errors, typos, illogical leaps, and outright lies. I am not going to debunk the whole book, mainly because I don't have a month to spare, but I will probably make a few posts.

This part especially annoyed me. I have heard Jones and others make repeated claims that Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared Martial Law (which Jones like many conspiracy theorists usually spells "Marshall") before 9/11. Now aside from the fact that this is pretty illogical, why would he risk giving away the plot with this entirely needless act, there is absolutely nothing to substantiate the claim. Here is the section from Descent into Tyranny, page 54:

Jeb Bush Declares Martial Law on September 7, 2001
On the homefront, President Bush’s brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush signed an unprecedented emergency State Executive Order (01-261) laying out new guidelines for setting up military rule (martial law) in Florida. Governor Jeb Bush signed his Executive Order on September 7, 2001 despite the fact that there were no major natural or man-made disasters at the time of its drafting.

“I hereby declare that a state of emergency exists in the state of Florida… The
Authority to suspend the effect of any statute or rule governing the conduct of state business, and further authority to suspend the effect of any order or rule of any government entity… The authority to seize and utilize any and all real or personal property as needed to meet this emergency… The authority to order the evacuation of any or all persons from any location in the State… The authority to regulate the return of the evacuees to their home communities… I hereby order the Adjutant General to activate the Florida National Guard for the duration of this emergency.” Florida Governor Jeb Bush, September 7, 2001. (Associated Press, September 9, 2001, State of Florida Website Listing State Executive Orders)

In this book most of his claims, no matter how obscure or outrageous, have no source, making it nearly impossible to check his claims, but this time he actually does actually give a source. Since he lists the number of the Florida State Executive Order, it is a simple matter of going to the state website to look it up. Unsurprisingly, it does not say what he claims it does.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 01-261
WHEREAS, the Florida National Guard has the statutory responsibility to provide support to law-enforcement personnel and emergency-management personnel in the event of civil disturbances or natural disasters; and


WHEREAS, the Florida National Guard has the responsibility to provide training support to law-enforcement personnel and community-based organizations relating to counter drug operations; and

WHEREAS, the Florida National Guard must train to meet such responsibilities; and

WHEREAS, the Florida National Guard is funded for any such training by budgetary appropriation or grants before any such training; and

WHEREAS, the Florida National Guard must conduct such training in active service of the state, as defined by Section 250.27, Florida Statutes (also known as active military service and state active duty) for members of the Florida National Guard to be covered by Section 250.34, Florida Statutes; and

WHEREAS, as Governor, I may delegate the authority contained in Section 250.06(4), Florida Statutes, to order training to help respond to civil disturbances, natural disasters, and counter drug operations to The Adjutant General of the State of Florida; and


This executive order does not declare a state of emergency or martial law, it merely provides for the training of National Guardsman to prepare for the event of a disaster, a completely different thing. I have no idea where Jones got his version, it was probably passed on to him from a separate declaration of a state of emergency, and the fatman was too lazy to look it up. He lists the AP also as a source, but a Lexis/Nexis search shows the only AP article which even mentioned Jeb Bush from September 7th, to September 9th, 2001 was one titled, "Bush Orders Statewide Standards on Reading", which quite clearly has nothing to do with this.

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16 Comments:

At 30 March, 2007 18:05, Blogger Jenny Quarx said...

Have you been a good boy, our James?

 
At 30 March, 2007 18:22, Blogger James B. said...

Sorry to disappoint you, but I have never even been to Nico's site, nor have I ever talked to him. I assume Pat has, but he hardly has played a significant role in developing the site. Actually our biggest single source of stories recently has been your friends at 911 blogger. Maybe you are a shill?

 
At 30 March, 2007 18:31, Blogger Alex said...

(S)he's dissatisfied and pretending to be British. That's all I'm getting.

James, what's this, the third time dealing with the Martial Law nonsense? If I remember correctly, they were activated in order to provide proper benefits/coverage for the soldiers taking part in the training. I'm not familiar with the US system, maybe you can clarify how that works?

 
At 30 March, 2007 18:47, Blogger James B. said...

While I have seen this being debunked in passing, I don't recall us addressing this in-depth.

The story isn't so much that Jones got it wrong, we all make mistakes, it is that he could have easily verified the story, and chose not to. Everyone makes mistakes, but the truthers don't care whether they get it right or not. They won't even make the slighest effort to verify their stories.

You are correct in that this was just an administrative action to ensure funding for training. During peacetime all funding for guardsmen must be channeled through the state, although it is often reimbursed at the federal level.

 
At 30 March, 2007 18:49, Blogger Sword of Truth said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At 30 March, 2007 18:50, Blogger Sword of Truth said...

The only person who is as obsessed as Jenny is with SLC's non-relationship with Nico is the pseudo-Pat over at SLC-Exposed.

Coincidence?

 
At 30 March, 2007 20:11, Blogger Jenny Quarx said...

Nice effort, Sword of Twoof--but my suspicions predate the fake "pat" by a couple of months at least.

Sorry to disappoint you, but I have never even been to Nico's site

Prominent debunker, by his own admission has expanded his scope beyond LC, interested in all 911 kookiness(as you think) and you have NEVER been to the kookiest of "twoofer" sites.

Sure, I believe you. Honest. Makes perfect sense.

LOL.

Our Alex--this one's for you, chum.

;-P

 
At 30 March, 2007 21:33, Blogger Alex said...

Are you hitting on me again?

 
At 31 March, 2007 01:17, Blogger Der Bruno Stroszek said...

Nice effort, Sword of Twoof--but my suspicions predate the fake "pat" by a couple of months at least.

If that was the other way round, it might prove something.

 
At 31 March, 2007 05:49, Blogger ConsDemo said...

Alex Jones wouldn't know tyranny if it him in the face, although maybe he should be deported to North Korea so he can get the feel of it first hand.

 
At 31 March, 2007 05:53, Blogger ConsDemo said...

Coincidence?

Poor Kernel Jerky Sparks, there isn't much traffic over at the mock website. It looks like all that effort just went down the tubes.

 
At 31 March, 2007 10:08, Blogger James B. said...

There are literally thousands of kooky truther sites. There isn't enough time in the day to visit all of them.

 
At 31 March, 2007 12:28, Blogger Jenny Quarx said...

There are literally thousands of kooky truther sites. There isn't enough time in the day to visit all of them.

Sorry, Jimbo, doesn't wash. There are not thousands of kooky sites that you lot blog on a SEMI-REGUALR BASIS. Basic human curiosity would have made you take a peek by now, if you really didn't know about it.

nor have I ever talked to him.I assume Pat has, but he hardly has played a significant role in developing the site.

Pat has talked to Nico? Hmm. And I hadn't assumed Pat specifically helped develop Nico's site, but since YOU bring it up, I wonder...

Are you hitting on me again?

Depends--are you a pretty boy?

consdemo: you know a b.j.edwards? Because it sounds like your stealing some of my lines from his--lame--forum. ;-P

Sword of Twoof: I see you're too cowardly to publish my comment in your "non-blog". Nothing to say for yourself? I didn't think so. Like I said--Jenny knows. BEHAVE.

 
At 31 March, 2007 19:26, Blogger Jenny Quarx said...

Another odd thing is that Nico's 911Screw Loose Change Watch

each post has a separate time he, presumably, posted it. But if he's really just copying this site, he would have noticed there are a collection of daily posts--and save himself time by just waiting until Pat and James were done for the day, and copy ALL the day's posts into ONE post with ONE date. Its not like he's including the comments.

Whatever our Nico is doing, he's not just copy pasting from looking at this blog online--he's getting his information from another source that breaks each days posts down into separate files.

Just seems really cumbersome if all you are is a guy on your own copying and pasting stuff...

 
At 31 March, 2009 12:49, Blogger znuff56 said...

Either you work for the government, you’re naive, or you are a sheeple. I believe you know what the truth is but you are paid to debunk it. I have spent most of my life learning the system. I’ve gone as far as being in a council in Washington. I KNOW what I‘m talking about, do you? America was meant to be free and I will die free.
Send me an e-mail, I would like to argue law with you. I would like to know what your explanation would be.

 
At 31 March, 2009 13:02, Blogger znuff56 said...

Do you know the truth regarding social security, the constitution and the bill of rights.
I would ASSUME you know it and you are keeping it secrete like a good sheeple should.
My guess is you would just ignore me.
THE TRUTH HURTS.
You sir, are part of the problem.

 

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