Ventura endorses 9-11 conspiracy theorist

Ventura endorses 9-11 conspiracy theorist
Associated Press

Last update: September 4, 2008 - 4:24 PM

MADISON, Wis. - Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura has endorsed a Sept. 11 conspiracy theorist for a congressional seat.

Ventura came out Thursday in support of Kevin Barrett, a Libertarian running against incumbent Democrat Ron Kind for western Wisconsin's seat.

Barrett is a former University of Wisconsin-Madison lecturer who believes the U.S. government was behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and has discussed his views in class.

Ventura is a former professional wrestler. He served one term after being elected Minnesota's governor in 1998 as a third-party candidate.

www.startribune.com/politics/state/27869284.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUjc7YUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

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Posted: Thursday, September 04, 2008 5:03 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: 2008, Republican convention

From NBC's Mike Levine
ST. PAUL, MN -- Get your facts straight.

That's what the dozens of Ron Paul supporters shouting outside of the Xcel Energy Center yesterday afternoon were telling Americans to do. They said the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, were an inside job.

"The Trade Center was never even hit by a plane. It was a 47-story skyscraper that would've dominated the St. Paul skyline," one of the protesters screamed into a megaphone. When a bystander shouted back that the Twin Towers were more than 100 stories tall, the protester insisted: "I don't have the exact numbers. I'm sorry I'm not an Encyclopedia Britannica." (In fact, 7 World Trade Center, which was near the Twin Towers, was 47 stories tall.)

Then the protester got back on message: "Where's the footage of the Pentagon being hit? Why's the government hiding that from us? America wake up!"

The crowd -- carrying signs saying "Reinvestigate 9/11," "Bush: Liar. Murderer. Terrorist" and "Ron Paul" -- broke into cheer: "9/11 was an inside job! 9/11 was an inside job!"

"I don't believe Osama bin Laden did the attacks," said 21-year-old Geoff Dittberner, of South St. Paul. "I think the American government was behind it. Did you hear about the meeting Dick Cheney had . [where he] discussed 12 different ways to incite a war with Iran? Sy Hearse reported that, and he.s a pretty renowned journalist," he noted, referring to the New Yorker's Seymour Hersh.

Protesters handed out literature with "11 Remarkable Facts About 9/11," including claims that "some of the alleged 9/11 .'suicide hijackers' are still alive and well" and "the sudden, vertical, explosive, and total collapse of the Twin Towers at near freefall speed can only be explained by controlled demolition."

So why are Ron Paul supporters, many of them Republicans themselves, protesting the Republican convention? "We want to bring the GOP back to its roots," insisted 24-year-old Adam Gross of Kansas City, Mo, who said he.s a registered Republican. He had slapped a bumper sticker onto his Ron Paul sign that read, "9-11 was in inside job."

Twenty-five-year-old Melissa Miles, an Idaho native, expressed similar disappointment in the Republican Party. "[John] McCain doesn.t exactly vote constitutionally every time," she said. "We actually have a candidate who voted constitutionally every time. But he didn.t exactly get fair play."

Neither did the facts of Sept. 11, according to the crowd. "The mainstream media refuses to cover these facts," shouted one protester. "They refuse to ask why the victims' families only had 30% of their questions answered by the 9/11 Commission report."

The protesters then marched peacefully to the set of MSNBC, in a park just outside of the Xcel Energy Center.

As MSNBC host and NBC political director Chuck Todd wrapped up his telecast, another protester shouted, "We.re sick and tired of sex, drugs and rock and roll. We want real news!"

Todd signed off with this: "You.re watching MSNBC, the place for politics. and megaphones."

firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/04/1349480.aspx

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Black-shirted protesters contend 911 a government conspiracy
Steve Myers, Rocky Mountain News
Originally published 02:25 p.m., August 26, 2008
Updated 02:25 p.m., August 26, 2008

CIVIC CENTER PARK - About 200 black-shirted protesters marched through Denver this afternoon contending the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were a U.S. government conspiracy.

"911 was an inside job," chanted the group as it walked down Colfax Avenue toward the Pepsi Center and Democratic National Convention. Protesters wore matching shirts emblazoned with the same slogan. They passed out computer CDs that make their case and leaflets referring people to their web site Colorado911Visibility.org.

"A lot of revisionist history," said a skeptical Creigh Kelley, a smiling volunteer who is working as the city's official starter for protest marches.

Not so, according to protester Dorothy Lorig, 46, of Golden.

"We're trying to bring about a real 911 investigation," she said. "The one so far was a White House controlled white wash; 911 is one of a long series of red flag operations designed to start wars.

Lorig resents that people think of her and her fellow protesters as nothing more than conspiracy theorists.

"We're all internet researchers," she said, pointing out that she is a business owner, married 22 years and is the mother of two. "We get called idiots and crazy. They can't argue the merits of the evidence ... so they marginalize us.

"Hey, I'm a stable person."

www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/26/black-shirted-protesters-contend-911-government-co/

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Cause of club fire questioned
165 died in '77 blaze at Southgate, Ky

Cause of club fire questioned
165 died in '77 blaze at Southgate, Ky

The cause recently caught the interest of a former Kentucky state fire marshal and a New Jersey firefighter who has analyzed high-profile cases.

Some former employees suspect the explanation for what caused the fire -- faulty aluminum wiring -- isn't correct. They suspect arson.

A leading proponent of the arson theory has been former supper club busboy Dave Brock. In the past year, Brock has pored over 33 boxes of evidence, including Kentucky State Police investigation files, photographs and files from attorneys involved in the case.

Brock claims that on the day of the fire, he saw two mysterious figures wearing jeans and long-sleeved shirts working on the wiring in the Zebra Room. He said the workers claimed to be working on the air-conditioning, which the Zebra Room didn't have.

He said the building's owners, the Schilling family, didn't hire them. That night, the Zebra Room caught fire, with the blaze spreading to the whole building. Another employee has claimed to have seen the workers wipe the walls of the main corridor with an unknown substance.

Some say Brock raises some legitimate questions about the fire.

Glenn Corbett, a New Jersey firefighter who is an assistant professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, is interested in the case.

Corbett once testified before Congress on the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Corbett said Brock contacted him a few months ago, and he is writing about Brock's findings for "Fire Engineering" magazine.

"This is pretty remarkable in the sense that Dave has done so much of the work already," Corbett said. "I did a lot of 9/11 work. There are a lot of people that believe in 9/11 conspiracy theories. Some people will look at this and think, 'Well, gee, this happened 30 years ago.' The key difference here is this information comes from a first-person account. The 9/11 conspiracy theorists are people looking at photos. Dave was there, physically in the building."

Corbett and a group of experts with the magazine will look at the evidence and form an opinion on whether they think arson was involved, and whether law enforcement should investigate.

"I don't know where it will end," Corbett said. "Perhaps we will draw the same conclusion that it was electrical in nature and end up agreeing with what was said 30 years ago."
Questions remain

The supper club blaze led to many changes in fire safety and building codes.

But some don't feel the evidence proved wiring as the source, Corbett said.

"No one has definitive answers," Corbett said. "I haven't seen the smoking gun yet as far as it being electrical in nature."

Former Kentucky Fire Marshal Rodney Raby also thinks many unanswered questions surround the fire. Raby became interested in the arson theory last year after Brock approached him.

Some question why the supper club was mostly demolished within two days of the fire before many investigators could make adequate assessments.

"A lot of evidence was piled up in the parking lot," said Raby, who worked as field supervisor with the state fire marshal's hazardous materials office at the time of the fire. "There was no protection of the scene."
More witnesses

Brock helped organize the 30th anniversary memorial of the fire in 2007. He said he has since come into contact with eight other people claiming they saw the same mysterious workers.

Interviews Brock obtained from state police also show witnesses mentioning the workers, with one interview mysteriously cut off right after mention of them.

Bruce Rath said he saw three air-conditioning workers at the supper club two days before the fire.

At the time, Rath worked for Cincinnati Bell, and he was working on the supper club's telephone lines.

He said the workers appeared agitated and kept asking him when he would leave.

"These guys were in a big hurry and wanted to get up into the ceiling," Rath said.

Rumors of the mysterious workers circulated back to Rath -- known by many as the volunteer firefighter who heroically pulled dozens of people from the burning supper club -- shortly after the fire and gave him pause.

But now, 30 years later, he doesn't know if reopening the case will do much good.

"He has got a valid point, but what can you do?" Rath said. "If there are people who did it, they are dead or got to be in their 70s or 80s."

Brock said they are alive. He claims to have found the company and the workers there that day. He believes the workers rigged the wiring and put an accelerant on the walls.

Brock said he would like to clear the Schillings' name.

"I think it is important to find the truth," he said.

Rick Schilling Jr. said he wants to put the fire that destroyed the nightclub he ran with his late father and two brothers behind him. Schilling said Brock has told him of his arson theory, but he doesn't have an opinion on it.

"I didn't want to get into it," Schilling said. "That has been a long time ago. It is in the past. I'm in no rush to bring it back."

Brock said anyone with information is asked to e-mail beverlyhillsinvestigation@hotmail.com

www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080905/NEWS01/809050442/1008/NEWS01