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Will Chez Nous live to fight another day...?

Seems we'll know by tomorrow if the little soul bar that could will get a few more months in operation. For those who spied last week's Bird column, the item titled "Adieu, Chez Nous" reported that the legendary Afro-chic waterin' hole on the SE corner of Indian School and 7th Ave. in Phoenix would be closing 2/26 to make room for a Tesco supermarket. On Saturday, 2/24, owner Amina Uben called to tell me that the bar would be closing that evening. Then Monday, she called to tell me that the Chez was suddenly in negotiations to stay another four months! According to my last communication with Uben, we should know tomorrow whether the ebony heart of Phoenix nightlife will keep beating, or whether it's time for a transplant. Till then, learn more about Chez Nous at its Web site, www.cheznouscentral.com.

Sterling Hayden as Col. Jack Ripper: "Now, Ms. Heller, let's discuss the effects of fluoride on our precious bodily fluids."

As promised, here's a rundown of the last stand at Waco, aka, my Sunday afternoon and eve with the 9/11 deniers. I have to say my second dip into this paranoid pool was slightly more congenial, though just as wack in other ways as at the Friday "press conference." (You know, the pep rally I was briefly thrown out of.) I really wanted to chat with online radio loon Meria Heller, because I'd seen her keynote address on Google video, and I was eager to ask her about her Froot Loopy assertion that fluoride is a mind-control agent. I mean, the last time I heard that one was during a screening of Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove where Sterling Hayden's character Col. Jack Ripper explains that fluoridation of water is a Commie plot to rob Western man of his precious bodily fluids. I also wanted to inquire about her quoting Shoah-shirker Eric Williams (Williams' site features a Heller logo-banner), and her back-patting claim to have read "1500 books in the last seven years." I was envisioning saying something smart-ass like, "Boy, you sure must be real smart to have read all them there books, Mizz Heller. Were any of 'em comic books?"

But, alas, I couldn't find Heller anywhere. She's just the sort of self-important prig I love to fuck with, and I thought her keynote address was asinine. Comparing the Holocaust of the Jews during WWII to the rapid development of the Arizona desert? Riiiiight. Instead, I almost immediately ran into Sander Hicks of the Brooklyn coffee house/publisher Vox Pop, whom I initially thought of as a friendly face. I'd spoken to him before and he seemed relatively rational for a troofer, but little did I know the guy was p.o.'d at me. He got all up in my grill about the photo I'd posted of Williams and he about to shake hands at the Friday rally -- er, sorry, I mean press conference. He told me he considered the photo to be defamation of character and he demanded that I take it down or crop him out. I replied that I meant no ill will, just that it was the only pic I had of Williams at the media event and he just happened to be in it. The post didn't mention him otherwise, so what's the big deal? Shaking someone's hand doesn't mean you're dating. Plus it's not like I put a gun to his head and forced him to get close to the guy.

Anyway, Sander got all red-faced, threatened to sue me, and soon there was a crowd around us. We got off into debating various specific items of concern for deniers, such as Hicks' contention -- one I don't buy at all, BTW -- that Mohammad Atta was an agent or patsy of the US Government and/or the Pakistani ISI (their intelligence service). Hicks kept getting angrier and angrier that I would not accept his evidence, a Wall Street Journal article that talks about Atta receiving money from overseas; i.e., wire transfers from a UAE exchange house. The Journal article doesn't state these wire transfers came from the ISI. Rather the implication of the article seems to be that the money was coming from an associate of Osama bin Laden. Hicks told me that he felt the WSJ piece corroborated a Times of India piece, which claims Atta received a wire transfer of funds from the ISI. The Times of India article cites unnamed "top sources" for the tale, and I told Hicks he had to do better than that. The conclusion he draws from these two articles is a leap of faith, based not on evidence, but hope. (Ultimately, I'm not certain that an ISI connection would prove a U.S. Gov. connection, but whatever.)

The debate continued, with several others joining in on Sander's side, literally encircling me as I stood there. All the same, I find this kind of give and take enjoyable, even when I'm woefully outnumbered. Sander eventually bailed while others took up the cudgel. After a while, I went out into the courtyard with one fellow whose name I can't recall who said he was agnostic on the 9/11 conspiracy stuff and wasn't sure what to believe. After he left, I wandered into another room of booths, chatted amicably with Philly legal beagle Phil Berg, the dood who got me back into the "press conference" after I was kicked out on Friday. Berg admitted that if I'd not been readmitted, it would've been a black eye for the conference. He also told me that anyone who doesn't believe the Holocaust happened "should have his head examined." Speak of the daffy devil -- nearby was Eric Williams in his vendor booth. As I wrote in my Sunday post, I ambled over and talked to him, so I won't rehash that here.

Nearby was the intentionally mysterious videographer "Sofia," who was headed out of the room, so I followed her in hopes of asking her why she uses anti-Semite Eric Hufschmid to such length in her home made flick 9/11 Mysteries, currently one of the most popular videos amongst the troofer set. A slight, tan woman with dark brown hair, Sofia admonished me for being a bad journalist and refused to answer any questions as she hustled off. Next to her, unbeknownst to me at first, was Prof. Kevin Barrett, who kept acting like he wanted to get physical with me. He grabbed my tape recorder a couple of times, but I wouldn't let go. And he kept bumping into me on purpose as I walked next to him. Basically he called me a piece of crap, worse even than Sean Hannity! (Sniff.) He seemed to get even more ticked as laughed at his insult. By that point we were in the lobby of the hotel, with plenty of witnesses around, and I would've loved for Barrett to take a swing at me, because then I'd be able to defend myself without worrying about him lying about it after the fact. Though he's tall, he's also soft and nerdy. Any physical confrontation begun by him wouldn't have lasted long. And it certainly wouldn't have concluded in his favor.

Following the Barrett encounter, I bumped into a couple of major players in the conference who were not happy with Kent Knudson and the whole Williams debacle. They asked not to be quoted by name. Later on, Pete Creelman would make some critical comments that I've already reported. I also conversed for a long while with one fella who agreed with many of my swipes at the confab. I was glad to hear it. I must admit that not all conference-goers were total nutbars. Um, just the majority.

As mentioned in my Sunday post, Boston 9/11 conspiracy activist Mark McKertich bought me a couple of brews in the hotel bar, and boy did my throat need the beer bath after all that arguing. Whew! McKertich's a cool guy with a sense of humor, and I enjoyed his company almost as much as I dug those suds. As I walked back to the main vendor area, I thought about Sander and his complaint. The more I considered it, the more I felt it was unnecessary to remove or doctor that photo of he and Williams. Sander doesn't like it, I know, but he was there at a public event to which the media was invited. He sat on the panel that Friday, and afterwards, he and Williams spoke. Hicks isn't a Holocaust-denier, nor do I mean to suggest that. But Sander was a part of the conference, and the conference had some major problems, as he knows. Why didn't he just walk out of the confab if he was so offended by Williams' presence? (Hicks'd been flown out and put up by the conference, according to him, so walking on it wouldn't have been a major financial hit.) Lie down with dogs, and you get fleas, buddy. And maybe a tick named Williams to boot.

Some of the older gals in the hizzy took me under their wings and tried to convert me to the religion of 9/11-denial. One crusty bird grabbed me by the sleeve and led me to a chair with my name on it so I'd listen to this cat Col. Bob Bowman bloviate. OK, I admit Bowman gave a good speech. And to be honest, the 80% of it having to do with how the Bush admin. sucks, I could get with. But the 9/11 conspiracy stuff is where you get into The X Files territory. A lot of loony liberals buy this mess 'cause they hate Dubya so freakin' much they'll believe anything, even if it's off the deep end. This only goes to show that libs can be as crackpot as their wing-nut polar opposites.

Final observations: Jim Fetzer is a stark-raving mutton-chopped moonhowler; and Don Harkins, editor of the Idaho Observer seems to be a rather nice guy even though his paper's defense of David Duke is outright obscene, in my opinion. More to come later on a book Hick's Vox Pop is pushing that alleges Barry Goldwater helped off JFK! Nutty. Very nutty.

Holocaust-denier Eric Williams at his conference booth on Sunday.

While the rest of the civilized world was at home Sunday watching Marty Scorsese finally win an Oscar, I was hanging out with the conspiranuts at the Chandler 9/11 conference, and though I have only limited time because I'm on deadline this morning, I felt I should make a very brief report here. I'll follow up later, after I'm off deadline, with a more detailed account.

Holocaust denier Eric Williams was present and he did have a booth where he was selling his T-shirts, DVDs, and books -- all but his infamous The Puzzle of Auschwitz. I spoke to him, and he informed me that he was planning to re-release his Shoah-shirking tome due to popular demand. He also told me he'd made a nice bit of scratch at the conference, and I believe him because one guy was writing him a check for some merch as I approached. He seemed quite proud of the fact that conference keynote speaker Meria Heller had quoted him so glowingly during her Friday address.

I later learned from some disgruntled symposium participants that Williams had been invited up onstage by NY activist Janette MacKinlay during a "9/11 Unity" panel talk earlier in the day, which according to the schedule also included Kevin "the Holocaust's a myth, bubee" Barrett, conference leader Kent "Cow Killer" Knudson, and Steven "this is the only way I can make a name for myself" Jones. Williams even addressed the crowd briefly. So much for statements by Knudson that Williams was "out," and assurances on 911Accountability.org that Williams had "stepped down from involvement in the 9/11 Accountability Conference." According to Sham Rao (sp?), who called himself, "Kent's right hand man," Williams was allowed to have his booth and participate because of the work he'd done before being ousted as the Conference Director and Web master. Uh, so much for "accountability."

Could UFOs have been behind 9/11? They tell me al-Qaeda is Martian for "kill Earthlings."

Several attendees told me that Williams had become a divisive issue for the conference, and that a number of conference-goers were pissed he'd been allowed to be there. Volunteer organizer Pete Creelman, who is himself Jewish, seemed especially embarrassed by Williams getting up on stage for the Unity thing.

"That wasn't good," he admitted. "I would agree. I don't think he should've been invited up on the platform in view of all that's happened."

To sum up for the moment, not everyone present was a complete fruitcake. There were some relatively sane folks there such as Philly attorney Phil Berg and others. And one attendee from Boston, Mark McKertich, actually bought me a couple of beers at the Crown Plaza San Marcos bar! But otherwise, it was nutbar city, as some of these videos that were on sale at one vendor booth reveal. I didn't make the conference Saturday, but I'll have more from my Sunday visit later today or this evening.

Crop circles? Obviously, Bush's behind it...

Admittedly, Sutton's hotter with a little mascara, which TiffanySutton.com has added for a Gothier look.

Following up on my February 16 post My Bloody Valentine: Tiffany Sutton's prior bloodlettings... in which I declare myself a devoted admirer of the Tempe temptress arrested on Valentine's Day for allegedly cutting up a dood after bedding him then informing the lucky fella she wanted to drink his blood, there's now -- get this -- a Tiffany Sutton Web site. The site declares Sutton to be "THAT CRAZY HOT BITCH THAT DRINKS BLOOD!" and whoever's behind it announces his affection for Tiff in no uncertain terms: "I discovered Tiffany on FEB 14th 2007....and have been in love ever since!" The site also pleads for donations so they can fete the witchy woman upon her return from the slammer.

"Help us fly her around and party with her," reads the appeal. "We will post party pics on this site! People who donate automatically get invited."

So far seven persons have given a total of $32.60. The Jerry Lewis Telethon, it ain't. But, hey, the Ottoman Empire wasn't built in a day, and at least I know there are other cats out there obsessed with this knife and pickax-wielding hottie. Do I plan to contribute to the "Tiffany Sutton Fund"? Hell, no. See, I want that wacky piece of ass all to myself, if she'll have me. Problem is now I'll probably have to duel the dood behind this site. I mean, read this passage from the companion blog:

On Feb 14 2007, Tiffany fucked a guy, tied him up, cut him and drank his blood. The dude freed himself and ran out into the street. She then chased him with a pick axe!

HOW FUCKING COOL IS THAT PEOPLE???!!! I mean COME ON! So I have started a quest to fly this hot crazy chick all over the place and party with her!

She's mine! I saw her first. Dude, I'll roshambo you for her...

Holocaust denier Eric Williams (left) with NY 9/11 activist Sander Hicks (right) at the 9/11 Accountability "press conference" Friday, February 23, 2007.

Despite statements on 911Accountability.org that Eric D. Williams had "stepped down from involvement in the 9/11 Accountability Conference," Williams was present today (Friday) at a "press conference" for the opening of the symposium at the Crown Plaza San Marcos in Chandler, and I have been informed that Williams will actually have a vendor booth at the conference on Saturday and Sunday. This is astonishing considering the controversy that's swirled 'round Williams and the conference since it was revealed that Williams had authored the Holocaust-denying tome The Puzzle of Auschwitz, which asserts that there were no killer gas-chambers at Auschwitz, and that there was no Final Solution planned and implemented by the Nazis against European Jews.

Because of Williams' involvement, several speakers dropped out of the conference, including Dylan Avery, the boy-wonder behind Loose Change, the one genuine star of the 9/11 conspiracy movement. The fact that the conference, headed by convicted felon Kent "Cow Killer" Knudson, has allowed Williams to participate despite disavowing him in the past and claiming (wrongly) that he had never been the Conference Director, should completely discredit this conference and Knudson, and serve as proof of the conference's willingness to accept Holocaust-deniers and anti-Semites into their midst. Further demonstrating the movement's tolerance of anti-Semites was panelist Jim Fetzer's defense of Eric Hufschmid, whose site Erichufschmid.net is filled with anti-Semitic tripe.

"In my opinion Eric Hufschmid's work -- his book Painful Questions, for example, is an exemplar of excellence in research," asserted Fetzer at one point during the media event. "He was a pioneer. He tackled this difficult subject. I realize that on various grounds, he's a controversial guy. That part I'm not addressing."

This freak Hufschmid argues that "Zionists" pull the strings of white supremacists in the U.S. He also states that: "The Jews are lying about the gas chambers and ovens;" " The Jews helped Hitler and the Nazi party get control of Germany;" " The Jews instigated both world wars;" and "The Jews created anti-Semitism in Germany to drive Jews out of Europe and into Palestine, and to unify Jews, and to bring pity to Jews."

And this dood is "an exemplar of excellence"? Hey, don't hog that tailpipe, Jim, give me a whiff too.

For the most part, the "press conference" was a pep rally for the conspiranuts. At one point the moderator asked those who were actually from the news media to raise their hands, and about three hands went up out of a room full of 60 persons or so. And it's not like the other two guys were from The New York Times. At one point I got booted from the room by some pretend security guards working for the "troofers." But to the credit of the moderator, whom I believe was Phil Berg, he had me ushered back in and allowed me to ask a couple of more questions. After the press conference, such as it was, I spoke civilly with a number of activists, including Don Harkins, who admitted writing an editorial in his Idaho Observer newspaper defending former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke for attending that Holocaust-deniers' conference in Tehran last year. I also went up to Eric Williams and asked him why he was present, and he genially stated that he had a right to be there, though he would answer no questions about his Holocaust-denying ways.

A lot of those present accused me of engaging in guilt by association, but my retort to that is sometimes birds of a feather flock together. Also, it's one thing to accept, say, Purdue University as a source, and it's another to accept some fruitcake Holocaust-denier as a source. The credibility of a source does count for something. I mean, if a member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult asserts that Shoko Asahara has been railroaded by the Japanese government and is actually a man of peace, then I might suspect that the source for that information is a little compromised. The same thing happens if a rabid anti-Semite assures me that the Israeli mossad was behind 9/11.

Finally, as I've mentioned previously, the 9/11 moonbats and Holocaust-deniers have the same m.o., as far as cherry-picking the facts they'll believe or disbelieve, the circular reasoning, the conspiratorial mindset, the use of half-truths, and so on. The presence of Eric Williams and others with questionable views of the Holocaust at this conspiracy convention does tend to bolster the charge by Paula Zahn of CNN and others that there is a virulent strain of anti-Semitism which runs throughout the movement.

More on the 9/11 Conference as the event continues. I don't know if I'll be able to make it down there on Saturday, but I am planning to go Sunday. Also present as an interested observer and interrogator was Pat Curley of ScrewLooseChange. The guy's practically a walking, debunking encyclopedia. I wish I could transplant all of his knowledge of these nutbars into my brain for future use. He knows the facts so well he dances rings around 'em. He's the Yoda of 9/11-denial debunkers. And he has an awesome, detailed, blow-by-blow description of what went down today on his site, so please check it out.

Gov. Janet Napolitano: Hey, that's one way to lose the mullet.

In honor of ex-pop tart Britney Spears goin' all cue ball on us, this week's Friday poll is a simple one: "Which celebrity or public official would you like to see shorn of locks and why?" Poll participants were asked to choose someone who hadn't gone bald previously. As you can see, we've included a few Photoshopped pics of the celebs in question. Tell us who you'd like to see bald, and maybe we can get our new art dood to break down and shave some virtual noggin for us.

Celine Dion: Now she looks like her husband.

10) Hillary Clinton
Because then she'd look even more like a ball-buster.

9) Angelina Jolie
She'd still look amazing, but I would hope it would save us from hearing how goddamn perfect she is all the time.

8) Gael Garc�a Bernal
He is so solidly hot that I just think we need to see additional aspects of it.

7) Gov. Janet Napolitano
It's one way to make her lose that mullet.

6) Dolly Parton
Then she'd have three boobs instead of two.

5) Kirsten Dunst
She doesn't need hair to be hot.

4) Prince
He could paint it purple, or paisley.

Prince: He'll be feelin' that purple rain fall on his chrome dome.

3) Celine Dion
Christ, she'd look like an ostrich.

2) Phyllis Diller
Assuming she's still alive.

and the Number One celebrity or public official we'd like to see shorn of locks and why,

1) Condi Rice
Man, that'd make her the ugliest woman in the world.

Condi Rice: Aaaaaaaaaah, Emmanuel Lewis lives!

The Rep's reportorial kitty cat: I could Google 9/11, but then I'd have to get off my ass.

Following the East Valley Tribune's verbal BJ of the 9/11 Accountability Conference taking place in Chandler this weekend, the Arizona Repugnant ran a totally uncritical puff piece on the confab in today's paper by reporter Luci Scott. Unlike the Trib piece, it was buried on B6 of the Valley and State section; but like the Trib piece, it reported on this crackpot symposium as if it were as benign as a Star Trek convention. Not only did Scott ignore the controversy over Holocaust denier Eric Williams heading the conference up until the beginning of February, she employed full credulity in handling wacko statements by the participants and organizers. Take this bit of fantasy from moon-howler Jim Marrs, one of the speakers who will be present:

"No one has offered up any proof of who these hijackers actually were," [Marrs] said. "According to the European media, half (of the alleged hijackers) are still alive in the Middle East, meaning their identities were stolen."

Marrs' untruth has its origins in a much-cited article in the BBC news online from September 2001, which discussed the then confusion swirling around the hijackers' identities. The BBC later corrected any confusion over the matter, but conspiracy theorists have latched onto such reports -- reports often due to similarities in names. The tale has mutated like an online game of "telephone" to become the Marrs fiction that "half (of the alleged hijackers) are still alive in the Middle East."

Aware that conspiracy theorists were exploiting the BBC's original report, BBC editor Steve Herrmann made a post about it this past October on his "Editors" blog, seeking to straighten out any confusion:

A five-year-old story from our archive has been the subject of some recent editorial discussion here. The story, written in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, was about confusion at the time surrounding the names and identities of some of the hijackers. This confusion was widely reported and was also acknowledged by the FBI. The story has been cited ever since by some as evidence that the 9/11 attacks were part of a US government conspiracy.

We recently asked the FBI for a statement, and this is, as things stand, the closest thing we have to a definitive view: The FBI is confident that it has positively identified the nineteen hijackers responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Also, the 9/11 investigation was thoroughly reviewed by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States and the House and Senate Joint Inquiry. Neither of these reviews ever raised the issue of doubt about the identity of the nineteen hijackers.

If Scott or any of her editors at the Repugnant had bothered to use the Google search engine on their 'puters, they might have discovered information on the conference's anti-Semitic ties, the controversy over Eric Williams being involved, and the origins of some of the fables being peddled by the 9/11 conspiracy crowd. But both Scott and her editors are LAZY JOURNALISTS! I called Scott, and all she could muster in response was "I don't like to comment on my work." Don't like to comment? What sort of pathetic excuse for a reporter are you? How can you be a member of the fourth estate and not be prepared to defend your reporting, or lack thereof? What a joke.

Imagine that cleavage covered in vanilla pudding.

This week's Wednesday wench is a hella-voluptuous vixen, a va-va-voom Venus with the kinda curves that're a throwback to the screen sirens of the fabulous '50s, babes like Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Rita Hayworth, and so on. You might run into Miss Nicole McCord slingin' drinks as a guest bartender at Shayna's in Scottsdale, formerly the Cat Eye Lounge. And indeed, I first laid eyes on this vision of beauty at Kyl's, a legendary bar that sadly exists no more, where she was known as much for her saucy comebacks to her male admirers as for her lust-inducing, hourglass figure.

Nicole's day job? Tatting up the lucky males and females who seek her out through Tempe's Rebel Art Tattoo. She's been inking skin for 11 years now, everything from a huge minotaur on some dood's back to blue and purple flames on a pal's penis! But that was a one time deal, so don't ask her for a reprise.

"I tell guys I'll do it if I can have a grand up front and their mother holds it for them," she jibes.

Hmmm, while you're considering that offer, imagine Nicole bathed in 210 pounds of vanilla pudding, rolling around in it with her frisky friends in the Dirty Darlins of Debauchery. This Bill Cosby-approved wrestling troupe performs at various venues 'round town, the next time to be at the Sets on St. Patrick's Day. Nicole says they're considering adding green sprinkles to the mix in honor of the holiday, but I say, why not a few boxes of Lucky Charms? And can I help with the cleanup afterwards? Sounds like finger-lickin' fun.

Nicole's MySpace, with loads of pics: http://www.myspace.com/voodoomedusa

Nicole's workplace, with samples of her work: http://rebelarttattoo.com/

No, Phil, you're supposed to stick the gun in your mouth...

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon is a major dweeb, the kinda guy who probably got his lunch money stolen from him when he was in grade school, who now desperately curries favor with anyone and everyone to get them to like him. Whenever you complain about the guy being a dork to native Phoenicians or people who've been in the Valley for a while, they always respond with, "Yeah, but compared with those who came before him..." I guess in the PHX, if you're not a corrupt asshole, people give you a free pass, even if you're a political munchkin like Phil.

Someone recently sent me a link to Phil's MySpace account, where one learns that Phil only has four friends! One of those is "Tom," the guy who's everyone's first friend on MySpace. Another is "Derek," who has no photo and only two friends of his own, one of whom is Phil. And there are two 20-something chicks, who I'm guessing must be related to him because as you can see from the pic above, Mayor Goober is no George Clooney.

Under his "general interests," Phil touts his "tremendous record of success," which according to him includes "reduced crime through law-and-order initiatives." Anyone who lives in this city knows that's a major sack of horse hockey. The murder rate has stayed very consistent in the past few years, as I pointed out in a December Bird column ("Murder City," December 14, 2006 ), and Gordon's done precious little to alter the fact that PHX scores nearly 240 killings per annum. He has not made crime a priority during his tenure as mayor. And his only real crime-fighting program, if you can call it that, has been his laughable front porch initiative, which has distributed front porches to residents in hopes they'll report suspicious activity to the po-po while cooling their keisters. Judging from the murder rate, this dumb-ass Mayberry-esque idea isn't working.

But back to the number of Phil's MySpace pals. Compare it for a moment to the MySpace of another Phil Gordon, the professional poker player of the same name who's hosted Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown and written about poker for ESPN.com. This Phil Gordon has 7,749 friends and is studly to boot! Hey, why don't we run this guy against Mayor Goober this year? Phil Gordon the card shark lives in Vegas, but maybe we could entice him to work weeks and let him go back to Sin City for weekends. Sounds like it's worth a gamble to me, particularly if we don't have to see Mayor Dillweed's goofy grin for the next four years.

Trib Editor Jim Ripley says the paper doesn't need any more 9/11 sources: These will do.

In an example of incredible numbskullery and piss-poor reporting, even for that rumor of a newspaper known as the East Valley Tribune, Trib reporter Chris Markham penned a front page story that ran on today's cover titled "September 11 skeptics to meet in Chandler." The tres gullible report practically reads as an endorsement of the wacko 9/11 conspiracy nuts gathering this weekend in Chandler as part of the 9/11 Accountability Conference. Most of 'em believe 9/11 was an inside job, and that al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the 19 highjackers and those four ill-fated airplanes are myths, disinformation that we've supposedly been force-fed by the media and the 9/11 Commission. Markham's story is a completely uncritical view of a conference that's been plagued with defections since it was revealed on February 1 by this columnist that its then Conference Director, Eric D. Williams was a Holocaust denier.

But even if Markham was unaware of Williams' Holocaust-denying book The Puzzle of Auschwitz, and did not know that several scheduled speakers have flaked on the kook convention since the Williams debacle broke, why pen a story that treats 9/11 conspiracy buffs as if they're no more controversial than Civil War reenactors? Doesn't the guy have Google on his 'puter? Check this typical passage:

There are plenty of differing theories on what happened on Sept. 11. One is that government-planted bombs, not terrorist-hijacked jetliners, brought down the Twin Towers. And another is that an air-to-air missile shot down United Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.

At no point is someone quoted dismissing or criticizing such crackpot views, even though conference spokesperson Pete Creelman admits (after the jump) that "he doesn't have proof of the government's complicity." Huh? Then why interview this guy without asking him any tough questions, like "Why do you believe in something you have no proof for?" Seems like a logical line of inquiry to me.

When I called the Trib's Executive Editor Jim Ripley about the story, he at first didn't see what all the hubbub was about. But when I asked why there were no critical voices in the article calling into question the crazy conspiracy theories espoused by the conference's planners, he made an astonishing admission.

"I think it's a fair question," states Ripley. "The paper's never taken a position skeptical of 9/11. And there are like millions of people out there who have the standard point of view of 9/11. So I'm not sure you'd have to race out and find people who don't believe it."

Christ, it's on your front page, Jim! Don't you realize that such reportorial laziness helps mainstream a fringe group of extremists who traffic in distortions, anti-Semitism, and outright lies? If this was a conference of Holocaust deniers meeting in Chandler, would you be so nonchalant about presenting their views without opposition?

Ripley doesn't have to be a fan of the New Times to do his job, which is making sure his reporters don't slack off, especially on cover stories dealing with a subject of this importance. A terrific person for them to talk to would be Pat Curley of the internationally-renowned ScrewLooseChange blog. Curley, who lives in Phoenix, was recently interviewed by the BBC, no less. And if he's a good enough critic of the 9/11 nuts for the BBC, then surely he'd be good enough for the East Valley Tribune.

Air America Phoenix

Scaredy-cat radio jock Jeff Farias: Whoa, Jeff, is that 40-weight in your hair, or what?

Kent Knudson was on Jeff Farias' 1480 KPHX show "The Truth to Power Hour" today to talk about the 9/11 Accountability Conference, and when it became obvious that Farias was just gonna kiss Knudson's gnarly ass, I decided to call in and point out that Holocaust denier Eric Williams, author of The Puzzle of Auschwitz, was until a few weeks ago the head of the conference. Farias, who's going to be at the kook convention next week, cut me off as I was just getting into it with Knudson.

In the brief time I was able to engage Knudson, he denied on-air that Williams had ever been the conference director, even though I have printouts and screen saves from his org's Web site showing that Williams was the head of the conference at one time and that the website was registered in Williams' name. ScrewLooseChange also has these screen saves and you can view them at the February 2 post to that blog, which reveals that Williams was having checks for the conference sent to his Ohio address. These should prove conclusively that convicted felon Kent "Cow Killer" Knudson is completely full of shit.

After they cut me off, I tried calling them back a few times, but they kept hanging up on me like the pusillanimous pinheads that they are. A producer named Shawn, who sounds like he's got marbles in his mouth (and his brain), told me, "Hey, you know what? Get fucked, pal." When I called him back again, he told me, "You're pushin' the wrong button, pal." Like, what, the dillweed wants to try to beat me up because I wanna talk to him? Hello! You run a call-in show, you moron! All I've got to say to Shawnie-boy is: Take your best shot, Oswald. I can handle myself.

Farias was too big of a weenie to talk to me directly, instead he called me a "jackass" on air, and insisted he's not afraid of me. Uh, Jeff, if you're not scared, why did you cut me off? Why didn't you allow anyone else on the air to challenge the POV of your guests? Moreover, why did you never mention the controversy surrounding Eric Williams, and all of the people who have dropped out of the conference after Williams was exposed: Alex Jones, Dylan Avery, Alessandra Soler Meetze, Charles Goyette? Could it be because you'll be a part of the event as well and are therefore compromised? The 9/11 troofers are always talking about the 9/11 Commission being a whitewash, but here troofers like Knudson and Farias are engaging in a cover-up themselves, of sorts.

The tag-line for Farias' show is, "Where lies come to die." May I suggest another? "Where lies bloom like roses..."

Finally, 1480 KPHX has been running deceptive ads for the conference. I heard one today on Farias' show which claimed that Alex Jones would be present and that there would be "dialogue with debunkers." What debunkers? Is Knudson going to produce a sock monkey to be the conference's straw man? (I wouldn't put it past him.) And Jones has been out of the conference almost a week now. That ad is more than misleading. But of course, Knudson, et al. have no choice but to run ads like these. Otherwise, who's gonna pay $129 to go to this joke of a convention? ScrewLooseChange's Pat Curley has a post up right now that features some bitching from one prospective conference-goer. Check this quote from some cat named "Alfons":

Bad news, I won't be at the 9/11 Accountability: Strategies and Solutions Conference. Kent is refusing to send me an airline ticket. Eric Williams had called me and promised to pay all expenses, including transportation. Then Eric stepped down as co-chair of the conference due to protest about him being a holocaust denier. When I called Kent he acted very strange, told me I would have to share a room with 10 people, made it pretty clear that he did not want me at the conference. Said if he sent me a ticket I could just cash it in, and not come to the conference. Kent told me I would have to raise the money for a plane ticket, and then he would reimburse me for it. I would need about $600.00 to get down there, and then I would run the risk of not being reimbursed. Because of the way Kent behaved on the phone I don't trust him, he was gruff and rude, and now has not returned my calls, or emails.

I have been able to get $400.00 in pledges, but I really don't think I should have to pay for anything.

Hi-fucking-larious...

Alleged vampirish vixen Tiffany Sutton: Is she a man eater?

None other than "Mr. Mike," aka Michael O'Donoghue, renowned comedy writer for National Lampoon, Saturday Night Live , and others, once stated that, "I like my women like I like my eggs -- scrambled." And indeed there's something really hot about crazy chicks. Maybe it's the unknown, or at least the knowledge that they're sure to be bobcats in the sack. See, the thrill of bedding a real freakazoid is better than Cialis for the average man's libido. So the Valentine's Day arrest of Tempe witchy-woman Tiffany Sutton for allegedly tying up some bloke during sex, then stabbing him with a knife 'cause she supposedly wanted to drink his blood, has fired the imaginations of horndogs everywhere. Would I let this V-day Vampirella slash me with a butcher's blade and drink my life juice? Since her mug shot reveals her to be a gothy little wench, who reminds one of Helena Bonham Carter in Fight Club, the response has to be, "Hell yeah! As long as I get to bone her afterwards."

Interestingly, this isn't Sutton's first run-in with the law. According to court docs I pulled today, "Tiffany Lachelle Sutton" (the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department spells her middle name "Lashelle") is due in court this Wednesday, February 21st because of a little incident that happened on February 5 in Mesa where she was allegedly "trespassing" at this dood's house. The summary of the Mesa cops says it all:

On 2/5/o7 around 0130 hours the defendant was at 1007 West Main Space 43. The defendant was asked to leave by the victim. The victim called PD to have the defendant removed from the property. The defendant told officers she was living at the residence and after an investigation of her story it was determined she was not living at the W. Main Street address. The defendant was asked to leave again by the PD. The defendant refused to leave. While arresting the defendant she began to struggle with officers, jerking and pulling her arms away from officers. The defendant was told to stop resisting several times and was advised she was under arrest for trespassing. While the defendant was being searched for transport, she began to struggle and grabbed Officer Waters' hand digging in her fingernails into his hand drawing blood and leaving cuts.

The report doesn't state whether or not Sutton licked the officer's bloody hand. (Mmmm, blood.) However, it does indicate that Sutton was under the influence at the time of her arrest, may be an addict, and was a transient. She also had a prior arrest listed for assault and disorderly conduct, and warrants outstanding for failure to appear. According to the court papers, she was found to be indigent and released on her own recognizance. Makes sense. After all, she hadn't been able to feed off one of her victims yet like Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger.

So, knowing all this, would you take this chick home, do drugs with her and let her tie you up? Uh, if there was a reasonable chance of getting into her britches, maybe...

And now for a little Hall & Oats:

I wouldn't if I were you
I know what she can do
She's deadly man, she could really rip your world apart
Mind over matter
Ooh, the beauty is there but a beast is in the heart

Oh-oh, here she comes/Watch out boy she'll chew you up
Oh-oh, here she comes/She's a maneater

Obama: Young, smart, good-lookin', with charisma out the wazoo.

Hey, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat and even I can't stand Hillary Clinton! I mean, she just comes off as a royal, Class A bitch. I loved Bill Clinton. Would be great if we could change the Constitution so he could be President for Life. But Hillary? No way, Jose. Unless the choice is between Clinton and Giuliani. Then I'll have to hold my nose and vote for the lady with the thick ankles. I lived in New York for a minute while Goonliani was il Duce, uh, I mean, Mayor. The guy's a power-mad hypocrite. I don't even really buy the argument that he was so great post-911. While I was trapped in Gotham, I used to say Goonliani was perfect for New York. A city full of assholes needs a Godzilla-sized asshole to lay down the law, perhaps. But that still leaves him being a big ol' butthole, and we currently have a Butthole in Chief. Do we really want another in 2008?

The Rodham: Just look at her, can you see this battle-ax as Prez?

That leaves us with Obama. He's got some of that (Bill) Clinton magic, for sure. And I'm feelin' him as presidential material at this point. Can he win? I don't know. He'll have to be a giant-killer to survive, taking down Hillary first, and then Giuliani, because we all know Giuliani's gonna get the Republican nod if GOPers know what's good for them. I reckon we'll see with time if he's up to the challenge. Our David versus the Hillary and Giuliani goliaths.

The Goonliani: Be afraid, be very afraid...

The New Times Friday poll, as you may have surmised, is thus: "Who're you feelin' at the moment: Obama, Hillary or Goonliani?" All answers from New Times editorial staffers, with your opinions invited. And here we go,

10) "I would say Hillary but I don't think she can be elected, so Rudy, for his experience and confidence."

9) "Yuck. None of the above."

8) "Barack, but I liked him better when he was a smoker."

7) "Sign me up for Obama-rama. I saw him at the Orpheum and he's a total rock star -- young, charismatic, optimistic, and seemingly willing to overlook party lines for the sake of the bigger picture. Plus I've never liked Ghouliani, and my beef with Hillary is my beef with dynasties in general."

6) "I like Obama, but that must be because I'm white."

5) "Actually I think none of them because Giuliani's I-talian, Hillary's a woman, and Obama is black. There ain't no way the uber-white and uber-Christian middle america and Bible Belt is gonna vote for any of them. But if it were purely a contest between the three, I think Giuliani because he's a 'hero of 9/11' (plus his wife is hot)."

4) "Barack Obama... because he is a Kenyan bro." (Note: this staffer hails from Kenya originally.)

3) "I like Barrack Obama, though he has an obvious problem getting elected in red-neck America. Or does he? He doesn't exactly come across as Fifty Cent. People like to harp that he lacks experience, but so did Bll Clinton, who had only governed the little state of Arkansas (a smaller job than mayor of Phoenix)."

2) "Are you nuts? Giuliani, dood! He's got balls of steel after 9/11. I know all the chicks wanna bang Obama, but he has no experience. And everyone with sense hates Hillary."

and the Number One response to the Obama-Clinton-Giuliani Friday poll is,

1) "Obama cuz he's black, idealistic, and not a bitter ol' school marm. It takes a village my ass."

www.nizkor.org

Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel in better days...

Being a scribbler myself, I generally don't think people should be jailed for expressing themselves, even if they traffic in distortions, falsehoods and racist propaganda. Still, I have to say I take perverse pleasure in reading about a Holocaust denier like Ernst Zundel being sentenced to five years in a German slammer because of his efforts in disseminating anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying tracts such as The Hitler We Loved and Why and Did Six Million Really Die? Zundel had been deported from Canada to his native Germany, and prosecutors in Mannheim were able to go after him because he had contributed to a Web site devoted to Holocaust denial. He was sentenced this Thursday.

Zundel's name has come up recently in connection with the impending 9/11-deniers' conference in Chandler for two reasons. First, in 1988, when Zundel was tried by a Canadian court for publishing Did Six Million Really Die?, one of those testifying on his behalf was Holocaust-denier Fred A. Leuchter, Jr., subject of the Errol Morris doc Mr. Death -- in turn, Leuchter's one of the sources for Eric Williams, author of The Puzzle Auschwitz and formerly the head of the Chandler powwow until his Shoah-shirking ways were revealed. Second, Kevin Barrett, the wacky Wisconsin prof slated to speak at the Chandler symposium, has stated that "I cannot possibly dismiss the arguments of people like Green, Irving, and even Zundel," in a 2005 e-mail published on Oilempire.us.

Zundel is a major figure amongst Holocaust deniers and the neo-Nazis who cite them, right up there with David Irving, who's done time in an Austrian hoosegow for denying the Holocaust. The fate of both Zundel and Irving must give Eric Williams some second thoughts about visiting Germany or Austria anytime soon. All Barrett did was mouth off in an e-mail, but surely this is one reason why he went to such lengths to insist to me that he's not a Holocaust-denier: He wanted to avoid the stigma that goes with that label, a stigma in part imposed by European courts.

I don't believe in such punishment for the speech we don't like, and I'm thankful we have a First Amendment to protect even jackasses on par with Zundel and Williams. But it's also satisfying to see karma bite people such as Zundel in the ass. In America, Williams, Zundel, Barrett, and everyone else can spew the vilest lies known to man, if they wish. Still, the thought that justice is lurking out there for them, even if it's thousands of miles away, is not necessarily a bad thing. For instance, I doubt Williams' travel agent will be booking him any flights to Berlin, or Tel Aviv, in the near future. And should Williams ever face sentencing in a German court, I won't be weeping any tears for him, that's for sure.

So whose idea was it to put a Holocaust denier in charge?

Looks like convicted felon Kent "Cow Killer" Knudson, the "chief cook" of the 9/11 deniers' conference in Chandler, has finally removed the names and pics of those who've bailed on his sinking ship of a symposium. At last, Kent surrendered today, taking down AZ ACLU director Alessandra Soler Meetze's pic, bio and name from his "Confirmed Speakers" roster, over a week after she pulled out. And Dylan Avery, his production company, and uber-moonbat Alex Jones have also been deleted. Ouch, we know that hurts, Kent. The biggest draws in your event -- gone, finito, amscrayed! Now you're left with real winners like former LaRouche-ite Webster Tarpley, local libertarian gasbag Ernie Hancock, Wisconsin Muslim-prof Kevin "I Swear I'm not a Holocaust-denier" Barrett, and assorted other fruitcakes.

Moreover for $129, there's no food?! Get this quote from Knudson's conference schedule, "Meals are not included in the conference fee. We strongly encourage everyone to use these breaks as an opportunity to network !!" What, no coffee and danish, even? Sheesh, what cheapskates! For $129 we have to brown bag it?

Of course, who knows, maybe attendees will get to chat with Holocaust denier Eric Williams, author of the The Puzzle of the Holocaust. See, as I and the keyboard commandos of ScrewLooseChange have pointed out before, Williams' name is still on the Vendor page, even though 911Acco