Dear 9/11 Truth Movement,

I would like to start out by commending you for standing up so harshly for what you believe in, despite the amount of political opposition against you. That takes balls, and I can respect that. I also feel that your argument even has some merit to it. I don’t trust the government in any way, shape, or form, and there is not a thing that I wouldn’t put past them. Am I sold on the argument that the government blew up the twin towers? No. Do I think it’s possible that they had a hand in it? Sure.

I am not an expert on explosions or demolition, and odds are you aren’t either. I don’t care how many experts you have lined up to support your cause, because there’s just as many experts on the other side. You are not going to win me over, it is not worth my time or effort. I’m not interested in hearing about melting points of steel or temperatures of kerosene. I’ll agree, it’s very suspect. A lot of things about it don’t make sense about it on the surface. I’ve heard all the arguments before, and don’t really need to hear about how “impossible the whole thing is” again. I work with computers, I see things that shouldn’t happen, don’t make sense, are irrational, etc. on a daily basis. This is nothing new to me.

I do however, support you and your right to continue to investigate and find out the truth, if that is what you are really interested in.

I have supported many theories in the past. I’m a firm believer that we are not alone in the universe. I believe that genetic engineering has all sorts of interesting (and potentially comic book-like) things in store for us. I can even find some logic in some parts of scientology’s dianetics (although that’s another thing that I will not completely research. There are much better things to do with my time).

But I have some big problems with the 9/11 Truth movement. Here they are:

I remain completely and entirely unconvinced that you are after truth.

I look at many of you and see people that are just as bad as those on the other side.

There are three different kinds of passionate people on this issue.

To get this out of the way, there are the conspiracy Muslims, who feel that the Jews hijacked the planes on 9/11 to frame and destroy them.

On another hand, you have your patriotic American who is convinced that Muslims are his sworn enemy. He is completely behind the US military action and believes that everything happened the way the MSM (mainstream media) has reported it. He doesn’t see any merit in the 9/11 truth argument, and all of his arguments are completely one-sided, without any kind of respect for the other side, and if it was proven that his government was involved, he still wouldn’t believe it.

Then you have the people that claim to seek the truth. However much like their mainstream counterparts, they take a completely one-sided look at things. They don’t believe anything the MSM says could ever be true and sees no merit in the argument that things happened the way that was reported. All of his arguments are completely one sided, without any kind of respect for the other side, and if it was proven that this was the work of terrorists and the government was not involved, they still wouldn’t believe it.

Never have I encountered a group of people who have claimed to be about truth and been so one sided at one time. You say you pursue truth, yet you advocate only one theory. That is was makes you lose credibility and makes nobody want to listen to you. To the rest of us, you become no different than the hacks on Fox news, rambling on about the same tired shit that you’ve been rambling on about for years now that most people have been uninterested in.

Saying the same things over and over again isn’t going to drill the idea into our heads, just use the example I gave above. Watch Hannity and Combs for a week straight and see if you’re over on their side about anything. Odds are you will just become more pissed off and anything you might have seen eye to eye on them with you will now completely appaul. Welcome to the world of the rest of us.

I have concluded that you are more after proving that the government was involved than anything else. I can see why you call yourselves a truth group, it makes you seem less crazy. But it’s not true. You are not a truth group, you are an anti-government group. Please stop bullshitting us.

If I am uninterested, please leave me alone

Even the people who protest the abortion clinics just yell and move on. You guys just keep trying to chat me up as though you are only inches away from converting me, which I haven’t given you the impression that I am nor was I interested in talking to you to begin with. Yet you continue to walk up to me, handing me business cards for Alex Jones or a flier discussing the “Fall of Babylon”.

The conversation is tired enough, but everyone in viewing distance flocks away, leaving me and you pretty much alone, me victim to what you have to say. Why do they flock? There’s all sorts of people handing things out, so how to they know that you are the one handing out 9/11 propaganda.

Gee. Let’s think. Maybe you’re not all that hard to spot in ANY crowd.

That picture was taken last tuesday, April 15th 2008 at the Freedom/ Anti-Tax rally in Washinton DC. I know, I took the picture. Dress like a normal human being (or even normal for the event) and maybe I’ll be more inclined to talk to you. See the other 2 highlighted people? Ernie Hancock is a well respected radio personality. As such, he dresses like a well-respected guy.The dude in the back is demonstrating what a patriot he is, and obviously there to support the Freedom movement and the Ron Paul movement.

Your argument would have more merit if you didn’t think you were in bladerunner, or some other tangent alternative universe where you are the ones saving the day.

Stick to your own damn movement and leave mine alone

Everyone that is anti-government should not band together. We all have different goals, different aims, and different messages that are very different from everybody elses. Just because we share one similarity does not mean we want to listen to everyone else’s problems. We all have our own brand of crazy, and what doesn’t seem crazy to us is batshit crazy to everyone else.

If we had everyone speak at these rallies and protests that was anti government, here’s a small list of who might show up to speak

• The Ron Paul people
• The 9/11 Truth people
• The mormon/pro-polygamy sects
• Scientologists
• White Pride Worldwide
• The Black Panthers
• The Grey Panthers
• Communists
• Anarchists
• Militia Movements
• The NRA
• Anti-Abortionists
• Pro-Abortionists
• The Libertarians
• The ACLU
• PETA
• Rage against the Machine
• Even Anonymous might show up

Is the point I make here pretty clear? There are a lot of organization that feel the same way on some of these issues, but they shouldn’t mix.

For example, the 9/11 Truthers Support Ron Paul. The Ron Paul people support Ron Paul. The white supremecists support Ron Paul. Yet when the 9/11 Truthers come to Ron Paul rallies, they don’t do it to talk about Ron Paul, they do it to talk about 9/11. Yet I’m sure you would be just as pissed as the rest of us if White Pride World Wide showed up at a RP Rally talking about the strength of the white man. Seriously, go check it out. Go to their forum and search for Ron Paul, see what comes up. Even better, they support the 9/11 conspiracies as well.

Here’s a poll taken from their site, click it to go to the page.

The only thing that truely upset me about the Freedom Rally on the west lawn of the capital on April 15, 2008 was that towards the end there was a pretty lengthy speech from a man talking about 9/11. This pissed me off for a number of reasons.

This is NOT why we were protesting. This is not why we came here, and this is not what we want to hear. Stay on topic at least to a point or say something that will help us.

I don’t want to be seen on youtube.com in a video watching you spew this stuff. Sorry, but I got up and walked over to a “We the People” booth after a few minutes, I’m just sick of hearing it all.

The timing of the speech couldn’t be any worse. We were out there since 11am, yet it was around 5 that the person started talking. Right when people are getting out of work, kids are getting out of school, etc. And what do they all see? A bunch of Ron Paul signs and a guy talking about the mysterious explosion of Building7. That is not the kind of press we need.

Worse yet, giving this speech was pointless. It has literally 0 chance of doing any good. Everyone involved with the Freedom Movement has already heard all the arguments on 9/11 at some point, just from hanging around. So you’re not introducing any new points to us or getting any new converts out of us. Instead, you’re preaching to the world at large. The people walking by aren’t going to stop and listen to you, they’re going to think you’re nuts and keep going. Meanwhile, I’m seen publicly at such an event, listening to all of this.

If I want to be part of your movement, I will join your rallies, come to your protests and hear your speeches. I am proud to join the freedom movement, and if I cared to join the truth movement, I would be proud of that too, as I’m sure you all are. But I’m not.

Don’t damage the Freedom Movement or Ron Paul any more by doing this. You do a substantial amount of harm and very little (if any) good. Stick to your own flock and I’ll do the same.

I very much hope you would take this into consideration in the future. I wish you all the best of luck and hope that if you are after truth, you discover it. No matter what it ends up being.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely, On behalf of the Freedom Movement,

John Carlos Cruz

I had originally written off the prospects of going to Washington DC for tax day, just because I thought it would end up being too expensive or not work within my schedule.

Funny how things change.

After finding out that there were still spots on a convoy from South Dakota to Washington DC passing through Ohio I decided that it would be worth it to hop onm board. It’ll only be one day, we’re just going for the rally/protest then taking off right afterwards.

It should be interesting. I’ll make sure to grab my extra camera batteries.

Some things I really, truly love about Mount Clemens. But there is something that I miss about Clinton Township. It sounds trivial, but I miss the ability to put my trash on my curb when I want.

I just recently cleaned out my upstairs loft, just because a lot of crap had accumulated from regular living, parties, etc. It had to go. So I threw out five bags of garbage and went on my merry way. The next day there was a nice note left for me by the city, a “newsletter” that gives you all the answers ‘you’ needed regarding refuse, compost, and recycling.

How nice of them to take time out of their busy day to give a shit.

I knew we were not allowed to use trash cans, but the fact that NO trash can be placed on the curb until the night before is just ridiculous. Especially since it includes “bulk items”, such as furniture or washing machines. What are we supposed to do with said old washing machine until trash day? Leave it on the lawn somewhere? Put it outside, in the way only to have to move it later?

Here’s my biggest problem with this. Lets say trash day is on Monday (my trash day might very well be Monday. To be honest, I really don’t know.). The newsletter states (and they even highlighted it) that: under no circumstance is any type of refuse to be placed at the curb before 6:00 p.m. the day before the scheduled collection day. That means every Sunday night is open season for garbage pickers.

They come out like vampires at nightfall, with their bikes, beat up pick up trucks, or vans that look more like a permanent residence than they do transportation. Picking up not just the old chairs and hot water heaters but going through anything that is out on the curb.

I’m fortunate enough to be able to put my trash on North Avenue, at a fairly busy intersection. So vans stopping by the side of the road is not a common occurrence. However, for many of my neighbors on streets close by, it is. Government policies like this set a small time table that creates an open season for this kind of stuff. In reality, all this does is inconvenience residents.

My favorite part is the last little bit that’s highlighted: If I do it again, they’re going to come pick it up and charge me for it. No way around it, that’s just bullshit.

The letter they sent me is below, click on it to download a PDF version.

The City of Mount Clemens Refuse Policy:

I’ve partnered with Mippin to provide a mobile version of Conveniently Misplaced. This is better than the iPhone version that was on here as it provides a full mobile browsing experience for full articles, not just a preview with the article names.

Check it out at

http://m.cruzweb.net

Hash Bash and The Breakfast pictures are up, check it out here. 

I went to Ann Arbor yesterday, not because it was the annual Hash Bash, but because I wanted to see The Breakfast, some old clients of mine back when my life was nothing but college and freelance web design work.

I’ll work on getting the pictures from everything up online, but the thing that amused me the most was the religious presence in Ann Arbor. At the corner of University and State, there were people taking turns standing on a platform yelling at passers by about how everyone was going to hell from sin, less they repent immediately. It’s one of those things you think you’ll never really see in person. For those who missed it, I remembered that my digicam does video. It’s great how the kids just kinda laugh in their faces.

Interestingly enough, the bible-thumpers weren’t the only ones bringing their message of love, there was also a small parade of Hare Krishnas wandering about.

After I stopped filming, I heard someone say “If I had to choose between 2 religions, and one was telling me what an awful person I was and the other said ‘Lets go out in the street to dance and sing!’, I know what choice I would make”.

Well put. The Christians were calling people out, pointing at them as they walked through the crosswalk, telling people that they lead lives of sin and were going to die because of it. Had this been in Detroit, they probably would have gotten killed themselves.

So every once in a while I get really inspired to do something creative. Its usually either some kind of computer creative thingy or a music creative thingy. Yesterday, it was music creative. I try hard not to listen to any kind of top40 music because they overplay it to the point where I can’t stand it, however Love Song by Sara Bareilles has trickled down into my ears recently. It’s an amazing song, but it sounds like it was written 40 years too late, it sounds like a 60s soul song, only without all the horns.

So I woke up this morning and decided to remix it a bit with some sax recordings. It’s pretty rough, but I like the way it came out and really didn’t want to make a big production about it all. So here it is, complete with the video so you have something to amuse you while listening. Please send me your thoughts, I want to know what you guys think of it all.

 

The recording session turned out to be a pain. Apparently there’s something in the latest version of MacOS Leopard that screwed up my USB audio interface driver, so it would randomly turn to static and I’d have to re-launch garage band. I tried logic too and thought my interface was blown till I googled and found the driver issue. The mix could have come out better but overall I don’t think it’s too bad. Also, I’ll update the h.264 version soon, but blip.tv was giving me crap about it so I just let Premiere do the Flash conversion. Enjoy

Let me know what you think.

I have some pretty diverse music tastes. My friends are always amazed at how across the board I am with everything that I listen to (apparently not a lot of people can sing along with Anna Nalick, Snoop, and Chicago). Because I’m always discovering new music, I can’t believe that there are people out there that don’t know how to find new music to listen to. So here we go, how to discover new music.

***This involves a little bit of internet research on your part but it can yield some amazing results. So if you really want to be able to find some good stuff, make sure you have a little bit of time to devote to the cause.***

The Charts

The charts are some of the best places you can check to find new music. You can start with the Billboard Charts, featuring top 100 lists and such. You go through there, and find something that looks intriguing to check out. Looking around the net you can find lots of top _____ charts for all sorts of countries. Some amazing music is being made all around the world, so don’t be afraid to look at places like the top UK charts, college radio charts (even Canadian ones), etc. The bottom line is that there’s charts for top albums, singles, for all genres. Google around and find a category that looks good. Now you’re presented with a list of artists you can take a look at and see what looks promising. 

Here’s the current independent artists album sales chart from Billboard.

There’s 3 artists here that could possibly be interesting. Except I already know about the Eagles, they’ve been around for a while. And the Radiohead album I already picked up when it went digital. But “Vampire Weekend” sounds interesting and intriguing. 

Now, we can proceed to see if this band is worth the investment of our ears. 

I’ve found an interesting artist…now what?

The first place I go is I fire up iTunes. Sure enough, Vampire Weekend is on there. iTunes is cool because you get reviews, similar artists, other stuff that people like that are into this band, and high quality, easy to use previews of all their songs.

I like Gnarles Barkley. I like the Arcade Fire, and the album has good reviews. After giving it a listen, yah I’m diggin the sound quite a bit. However, if you come across a sound that you aren’t feeling, just head back to the list and find something else. Of course because the song previews are so easy to access, give a good listen to a few of the songs before you decide you like or hate any given group.

Consequentially, you can also use Amazon.com instead of iTunes. I prefer iTunes because the music library is larger and usually I have iTunes open anyway, so it’s easy to find an artist and check them out. Go with whatever works best for you. Some people hate iTunes or can’t use it (like all you fine Linux folks), so do what you can. 

Once you’ve gotten a good sampling of the artist, check out their official web site, myspace profile, etc and i’m sure you’ll find lost of good stuff. 

Making use of media

The problem with using the charts as a method for discovering new music is that you only get popular stuff off of it, so you have to go about different routes to discover new music. This is where people find that magazines and newspapers come in handy.

I’m not a big fan of Rolling Stone magazine. Entirely too much politics and not enough music. However, they do have some worthwhile things in there. Features on new artists are what helped me discover Interpol. So check out stuff like that, as well as album reviews to see what’s new that might be worth looking into.

Even magazines like Entertainment Weekly can have something interesting every once in a while. Last week I got a supplement from them with the best indie rock albums of the last 25 years. Good stuff. Local independent news media can give you a fresh perspective on what’s out there. In Detroit, we have the Metro Times and Real Detroit Weekly, free independent papers that cover music, movies, among other things. Check for sources like this. Of course, googleing around can find all sorts of websites that cover the same thing. Be creative.

TV can also be good once in a while. And I’m not talking about some top 40 countdown or TRL, but instead look to places like Leno or Jimmy Kimmel Live and check out the musical artists they have on there. That’s how I discovered Esthero. 

Basically, keep your eyes open to all media on this one. Go through Ticketmaster and see who’s coming to town on the cheap. Spending $50 a ticket on a big name artist can be fun and exciting, but you can have just as much fun with a $20 ticket on a lesser known artist. Do the same as above only instead of starting with a top ___ chart, just use the ticketmaster listings. Then go have yourself a good time.

Another cool thing about picking up a cheap show is that you can discover awesome opening acts as well. A couple years ago I went to a show featuring Graham Colton with Blue Merle opening. While waiting in line I found out that a lot of people were there to see some dude named Michael Tolcher who wasn’t even on the bill for the venue that evening. But that aspect turned out to be just as cool as the rest of it. 

Even the age old medium of radio can be helpful. A lot of stations will feature new artists, just look for the stuff that doesn’t play the repeat top-40 all the time. Public radio and college radio are great for this, I discovered Lily Allen and numerous other artists after hearing an interview with her on Detroit Public Radio. 

Find Artists by Association

Another awesome feature of iTunes and Amazon is the ability to discover new music just by looking at artists you already like. They both have the “here’s what else people are into” feature when you look up a band. For example, a search for Wilco’s album Sky Blue Sky gave me the following recommendations:

Note the page 1 of 10 at the top. So there’s 50 different recommendations here for stuff. An instant guide to everything you might like, they practically do all the work for you. iTunes does the same thing pretty much, although I think Amazon does it a bit better. Here’s what happened when I searched for the Arcade Fire’s album Neon Bible:
 

The cool thing where I give amazon an edge over iTunes is for their Listmania! feature, which allows users to create lists for whatever and put items in there. For example, you can create a list called “Best Music to Have Sex to” and throw all your favorite music to get freaky to so other people can find it. 

Here’s what I found after a google search for “Listmania! amazon white stripes”
 

It gave me the list there on the left as well as other lists with similar stuff on the right (Egads, more Interpol!). Listmania! is a great way for you to really see what kind of music like-minded folks are into. 

Talking to other fans of your favorite bands can also be good to finding out what kind of music you might like. Strike up conversations at concerts or record stores, or if you’re part of an online community feel free to ask around with them as well. 

Take a look at the bands that your favorite bands tour with. Look at the openers, the other tour guys, etc. A lot of people will show up to a show late so they don’t have to sit through the opening act, and rightly so, as some opening acts suck. But check them out before you head to the show, see if it might be something you would be willing to sit through or something you can easily dismiss. After all today’s openers could be tomorrow’s headliners. And good music is good music, no matter what. 

Social Network Utilization

There are tons of ways that the internet can help you find new music. Sometimes, the music finds you. Either way, social networking can be a big help in discovering new grooves. Even just having a Facbook profile that will update you when friends add a new favorite group to their profile. Even with myspace, we’ve all had an obnoxious amount of bands try to add us as friends, and once in a while you actually get someone who’s good enough to check out. 

I’ve even gotten messages from random fans of bands.

Here’s a message someone sent me, the profile is now gone but the message was along the lines of “hey, you don’t know me, i’m just spreading the world about this group I know, check them out”. Who knows if it really was some dude or a ploy set up by the band. Either way, it worked. R0rshak turned out to be amazing, so much so that I purchased the CD and still listen to it pretty often. 

There’s a million ways to use social networking to your advantage to finding new music. From myspace to just finding people on Twitter who talk about their musical tastes. 

Take Advantage of Freebies

Always, always, always take advantage of free stuff. People that are into marketing and promotions know that people will bite and possibly come back for more. You have nothing to lose by taking that bite. If someone is offering you something for free, take them up on it. There is no risk, so why not?

Sitting at the counter of your local record store and in the hands of people outside of local concerts are sampler CDs, demo discs, all sorts of stuff. They may look something like this:

Or they could be from a specific band, etc. While a random sampler CD like the one above can really be hit or miss, the ones you get outside of concerts are usually much more on the mark. Outside of a Dropkick Murphy’s show I was given a sampler CD by a Tossers street team member, which was really quite good, made for a good listen on the ride home. 

Free music is all over the place if you just look for it. Amazon will offer random free MP3s (how I discovered Spock’s Beard) on their site, just as little incentives to sell CDs (and now MP3s) through their website. So it’s worth taking a look at, they might even have a freebie section on there somewhere. 

iTunes offers their own brand of freebies as well, every Tuesday they update with 2 or 3 new free (and sometimes DRM-Free as well) tracks for download. Like anything else, these are hit or miss. There have been songs that have been top-40 hits come through here, and there has been weird Opera stuff that nobody would ever want to listen to again. Either way, it’s free, so give it a shot. Who knows what you might discover with it. 

Of course, there is always the option of randomly downloading music torrents to see what you get. While this may seem like a good idea, it’s more or less the most random grab-bag of music somebody can imagine. You’ll be wasting more time with illegal music you’ll never listen to than anything else, so it’s more of a pain in the ass, forget about it (the same applies to going to FYE or any other record store that has the “scan and listen to the CD” feature. It’s kinda cool, but ultimately it’s a waste of time.

All In all

These are just some of the ideas you can use to discover new music, and some of the methods that I use personally. There are a million different ways to expand your musical horizons and find new things to groove to, it just takes a little creativity on your part. But that’s what music is all about right, being creative?

A lot of people like to dog Detroit for whatever reason. Maybe it’s because we have some of the world’s most beautiful buildings and they’re rotting away. Maybe it’s because our Mayor is a total douche, or that our economy is non-existent and unemployment is a pandemic.

But seriously, where else in the world can you find a truck like this with a DEALER PLATE on it?

I saw this while driving today and had to snap the shot (you can see the font of my hood in the picture). Yes I Photoshopped out the rest of the license just as a courtesy of the driver.

Either way, this is pretty absurd. Sometimes, you just gotta love Detroit for stuff like this.