The 9/11 terrorist attacks were part of “a massive neo-conservative government effort” to enable “American global domination,” a character on FX's "Rescue Me" argued on Tuesday night's episode. In the drama about firefighters in New York City, firefighter “Franco Rivera,” played by actor Daniel Sunjata, a real-life 9/11 “truther,” laid out his theory for a French journalist interviewing firefighters for a book on 9/11 first-responders. As noted in a February NewsBusters post, in a New York Times story about the then-upcoming storyline, Brian Stelter reported the ludicrous theory “may represent the first fictional presentation of 9/11 conspiracy theories by a mainstream media company (FX is operated by the News Corporation).”
During the episode, “Franco” outlined the four-point plan by the Project for a New American Century, starting with how Bush-Cheney “came to power with plans already made to attack Afghanistan and Iraq.” Second, “we have to make huge technological advances with our armed forces, that for some reason include the capability to fight wars from outer space.” Third, “huge increases in military spending” to the neglect of “sick and dying first-responders, 9/11's heroes, who can't even pay their light bill let alone their medical bills.” Fourth, “we changed the definition of pre-emptive attack so we can unilaterally bomb the shit out of, invade and occupy countries even if they pose no credible threat or had nothing to do with 9/11.” Finally:
How you going to put it into action? I mean, the American people are never going to go for shit like that, right? You're damn straight. No, what you need is an event, an event that gets everyone's heads turned around the right way. What you need is a new Pearl Harbor.
Audio: MP3 clip which matches the video.
Actor Daniel Sunjata (IMDb page), is a believer in the conspiracy he espoused on the program created by left-wing actor/comedian Denis Leary in which he stars as New York City firefighter “Tommy Gavin.”
In a photo with the February New York Times story, Sunjata sported a shirt emblazoned with “INVESTIGATE 9/11.” Two years ago he authorized the posting of a “New 9/11 Truth Statement from Daniel Sunjata.”
The “Franco Rivera” character in a scene with the female French journalist on the April 14 episode of Rescue Me on FX, the start of what will be an ongoing storyline:
What you're going to hear from me you're not going to hear from anybody else because my opinions, well, let's just say they're not popular. 9/11? Inside job, plain and simple, all you got to do is connect the dots and I'm not talking about the dots everyone's already heard about. I'm not talking about Bush sitting in that school reading a book about a goat to those kids for seven-and-half minutes after he was told the news. Everybody knows that.I am talking about a massive neo-conservative government effort. It's been in the works for over twenty years. You ever hear of PNAC -- Project for a New American Century? Well, according to them the end goal of their effort is American global domination. 'Full Spectrum Dominance,' they call it. Now, the first question that pops to my mind is how do you pull that off in this day and age? Well, according to them, you do it in four steps.
First, we must control the world's oil, especially the oil in Central Asia and the Middle East. Now, I don't have to remind you that Bush-Cheney, they came to power with plans already made to attack Afghanistan and Iraq.
Number two: We have to make huge technological advances with our armed forces, that for some reason include the capability to fight wars from outer space.
Number three, surprise surprise: Huge increases in military spending to pay for the above, a hundred and thirty billion dollars a year worth. Now, never mind the sick and dying first-responders, 9/11's heroes, who can't even pay their light bill let alone their medical bills and a lot of whom ended up homeless because of it. I guess there's just not enough room in the budget for that.Number four, and this is key: We changed the definition of pre-emptive attack so we can unilaterally bomb the shit out of, invade and occupy countries even if they pose no credible threat or had nothing to do with 9/11.
One problem: How you going to put it into action? I mean, the American people are never going to go for shit like that, right? You're damn straight. No, what you need is an event, an event that gets everyone's heads turned around the right way. What you need is a new Pearl Harbor. That's what they said they needed. You're looking at a guy who went to 58 funerals in 26 days, I can tell you that is sure as shit what they got.
Are you single?
—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Control the World's Oil?
April 15, 2009 - 02:38 ET by reasonsjesterWe can't even control our own oil, let alone the world's! Do we or would we ever control Russia's? Saudi Arabia's? Did we even "steal" the oil from Iraq? Why don't we just invade Nigeria? What about Mexico, for Pete's sake. This is pablum. The environmental regulations in this country are nuts, but there is one thing it does - satisfy the left and big business. It artificially drives up prices, and it makes hippies happy. But it hardly makes "the right" happy. Hayek is probably as good a reference as any on the big business-big labor "conspiracy" - but 9/11 was an inside job? Hell, it doesn't even make sense. The Republicans got screwed like a virgin on prom night after we invaded Iraq, and the Democrats authorized it! Oh, no, Bush lied - and he made almost all the intel services of the world lie too! And it was consistent with Clinton policy in its fundamental justifications. But the media? Oh no, they do nothing to dispel how 9/11 was an inside job, let alone report how both parties authorized the war on Iraq, what Clinton's policy was compared to Bush's, oil for food, how we truly are trying to overturn a nightmarish dictatorship and implant a democracy in the heart of the Middle East, that we are fighting terrorists there, how we have been safe since 9/11, how our troops have given us victory after the Dems have tried to give us defeat over and over, and how it would have been disastrous, for us, for the Iraqi people who so bravely voted for freedom and democracy, to retreat as good -hearted folks like Obama suggested. The damn media is a disgrace. I am sick of them, I do not listen to them, but their accomplices in Hollywood are almost eqally annoying. When will Hollywood realize that its fortunes lay with the American people, and by tearing us down, they embolden our enemies and demoralize the troops and the people who love them? Sickening.I cannot believe they get away with what they do. And if the media bails them out, so help me Obama...
Responsibility is the price of freedom. - Elbert Hubbard
Re Control the World's Oil
April 15, 2009 - 10:03 ET by slickwillie2001During the Vietnam War, there were many on the loonbat left that claimed that war was about oil. Vietnam has some offshore oil but it is not significant. For them it's always about oil. We cleaned Saddam out of Kuwait in 1990, and could have stayed there if it was about oil. Our policies toward Iran such as no investment allowed and not spare parts is destroying Iran's oil industry and keeping prices high.
And as you point out, our democratics won't let us get at our own oil. Part of this is that liberals just don't understand industry and energy production and how the free market works, so their first impulse is to fear it and demonize it.
could never happen
April 15, 2009 - 02:44 ET by Hack CaffertyDo you know how many people would have to keep their mouth shut? Someone would talk and we would know.
yes it could!
April 15, 2009 - 12:01 ET by lotrIt probably wouldn't be any more than the number of people who kept their mouths shut since 11/22/63. The official "government version" of the story, the magic fire theory, can't be true since fire can't melt steel. And the buildings didn't fall back and to the left, which is "totally inconsistent" with the "immutable laws of physics" when a plane crashes into them from the rear and to the right. Thus, there must have been other hijackers with detonators on the grassy knoll.
Daniel Dumdata: Hollywoodenhead to the max
April 15, 2009 - 04:04 ET by Jack BauerDenis Leary is hilarious. And up till now Rescue Me has been on my must watch list.
So when I read of the Season 5 storyline referenced here in which...
My heart sank faster than Tax Cheat Daschle's confirmation. If I want to hear this type of grossly insulting and disgusting crazy paranoia, I'll visit Daily Koshite, thanks very much!
But here's the thing. If Rescue Me remained true to its characters and their "arc," as developed so far, this element of the Franco character would have been hinted at, if not revealed, in the past four seasons starting in 2004.
But the character of "Franco" didn't wake up one morning in Seasons 1-4 and decide he was a nut.
"Franco" was well established as a supreme narcissist, and a womanizing heartless dick, in Seasons 1 through 3. He is without a serious thought in his head.
A DIMWIT, albeit marginally smarter than the other certified moron, the Probie, who suddenly decides he's gay. Or not. And all hilariously written by Leary and Peter Tolan (a writer I've admired for The Larry Sanders Show, Analyze This, et al.)
The character "Franco" has never made any mention of 9/11 conspiracies at all that I can recall. Which is a bit weird as the whole premise of the show is founded on the devastating effects 9/11 had on the individual firefighter. You would think it would come up.
Okay, oaky -- this is fiction here. An alternate universe which incorporates real events into made-up people. So let's just accept that a successful drama needs actual DRAMA to drive the show, else it would be a boring one hour; and allow the dick Franco his sudden conversion to nutjob status.
What would the truthful reaction of an established character like TOMMY GALVIN be.
I suggest that the Tommy character, as brilliantly developed by Leary, would DECK HIM -- and kick his ass straight out of the Ladder; and/or the Fire Department totally.
There's no doubt about that. In fact, Leary in real life seemd to despise 9/11 Liars (the self-proclaimed troofers). Glenn Beck interviewed him a couple of years ago on CNN, and the subject came up. Leary took the opportunity to give the 9/11 Liars a verbal kicking.
So if they follow through the character arcs with logical honesty, then I'll continue watching.
But if this sudden diversion is merely a sop to an actor who's clearly gotten more than his fair share of mental problems, then screw RESCUE ME. And sorry Denis, you will have lost a big fan in that case.
Jack, I don't watch the
April 15, 2009 - 05:53 ET by motherbeltJack, I don't watch the show, but your line of reasoning makes perfect sense.
It's almost as if someone suddenly decided that, since this is a show about the effects of 9/11...ooops! We never mentioned the conspiracy theory; better get that in!
Something apparently happened to make them want to bring that up now....maybe they are setting up a new plot line?
They might say "Wow, that sucks!" But at least they'll say "Wow!" -Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes
mother -- EXACTLY. That's
April 15, 2009 - 06:05 ET by Jack Bauermother -- EXACTLY. That's the difference between character based drama and purely plot based drama.
Up until now Rescue Me has been, painfully at times, character drive, with the drnken Leary character being show as a cruel, unthinking jerk at times, as his guilt and destructive behavior has escalated and waned.
All the plots have been character driven, no matter how absurd. Despite the sympathetic "gay" fireman son of the Chief, all the other characters are shown as still not being comfortable with the "gay" lifestyle, and making fag jokes. Cruel yes. But true? Undoubtedly.
and I have to say, Jack,
April 15, 2009 - 06:26 ET by motherbeltand I have to say, Jack, after watching the video, that he doesn't seem comfortable spouting phrases like "the ability to wage war from outer space" and "even though they pose no credible threat." Maybe it's the Brooklyn (?) accent....LOL
And maybe it's bad acting, but he really does sound like he's reciting something that he memorized..not as in memorizing acting lines, but as in talking points...which, I guess maybe is the point...that he is regurgitating memorized "truther" points.
They might say "Wow, that sucks!" But at least they'll say "Wow!" -Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes
mother -- from what I've
April 15, 2009 - 06:35 ET by Jack Bauermother -- from what I've read, Dumdata pushed the writers/producers to put this crap in his characters mouth.
I wouldn't be suprised if he wrote the wooden dialogue himself, based on some wacko 9/11 Liars blog.
But as we know, if he spouted this in "reality" he'd get his face re-arranged PDQ in the fire house.
And you are correct, he's a terrible actor. All pout and no presence.
That's the descriptive word I was looking for....
April 15, 2009 - 06:38 ET by motherbelt"Wooden."
Sums it up perfectly.
They might say "Wow, that sucks!" But at least they'll say "Wow!" -Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes
Will have to wait to see
April 15, 2009 - 05:54 ET by eaglewingz08Will have to wait to see whether they are seriously pushing this crap or whether it's mental illness of Franco character. Isn't the Franco actor, the one who played a closeted homosexual baseball player in off broadway show Take Me Out? He seems to hold very queer views of life, pun intended.
conspiracy theory
April 15, 2009 - 05:55 ET by pagg30I loathe these people. They find no answers, no real answers, and somehow their ignorance of a topic is a creditable defense for non belief. I've heard them all, and not one is based remotely in science. From Rosie spouting "This is the first time in the history of man that fire has melted steal." to "the planes were really missles with holograms projected around them." to "there were no Jews in the trade center that day" the latter to fuel our support for Isreal and attack the Arab world. They are all crap.
I'm also sick of the morons who say "They never saw a building fall that way." Funny how there are no engineers backing these people.
Homeland Security Head
April 15, 2009 - 07:07 ET by Nortoneeds to roll. Reminds me of the Missouri troopers bumpersticker thing. Times are very dangerous and this admin is pushing the limits. I am not sure what except for prayer is going to matter in the near future, or at any time, for that matter.
Norto.. Prayer indeed..
April 15, 2009 - 08:06 ET by rimskyNorto.. Prayer indeed.. keep on keepin' on.
its a TV show! and remember what the 2 other characters said...
April 15, 2009 - 07:12 ET by De_Oppresso_Liber...I could just imagine this rant on this site... -LOL Everyone relax...
Its only a TV show, and a great one at that. I liked hearing this "9-11 conspiracy" explained so now I know what the NUT-JOBS are ranting about and I can taunt them
I was more impressed and moved with the two other characters remembrances of 9-11;
Lou; '...finding only a finger and using gear so they can carry the finger out with dignity on a stretcher...'
and Tommy; '...make your stinkin book the size of the Tower footprint, 2 city blocks. bodies falling 100 floors and bursting like waterballons on us as we went in...'
So *yawn* some hollywood dope goes off on a looney rant... whats new folks?
THINK OF 9-11 AND THINK OF THE HEROES.
9/11? Inside job, plain and
April 15, 2009 - 07:40 ET by MidAmerica9/11? Inside job, plain and simple,
There are two types who actually believe that scenario, liars and the ignorant.
South Park
April 15, 2009 - 07:54 ET by PeskyDaneSometimes you find wisdom in the most unusual places. I am reminded of the espisode where Stan Marsh states that anyone who believes that 9/11 was an inside job is retarded. Then Cartman retorts that 25% of the country believes that 9/11 was an inside job, and challenges Marsh, "Are you saying that 25% of the country is retarded?"
Little Stan's dead-pan comeback is priceless: "Yes, 25% of the country is retarded."
Jack, Motherbelt--I know, I know!
April 15, 2009 - 07:45 ET by karelingI can explain why Franco is suddenly so concerned about a 9/11 conspiracy when he wasn't before. Don't you see? For the past 8 years, he couldn't speak up because of the bloody oppression of the Bush-Cheney dictatorship! He could've lost his job! He could've been hauled off in the dead of night to one of Bush-Cheney's secret rendition camps and waterboarded! Surely you guys haven't forgotten already that during the Bush regime, free speech was forbidden and all dissent* was brutally crushed.
But now, thanks to our savior Obama, Franco's free to finally speak the Truth!
*Remember when it was also considered "patriotic"?
LOL! That's it!!!
April 15, 2009 - 07:58 ET by motherbeltLOL! That's it!!!
Why didn't we see that????
And yes, I remember the "old days" when dissent [is] the highest form of patriotism.
They might say "Wow, that sucks!" But at least they'll say "Wow!" -Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes
kareling -- yeah. I get it
April 15, 2009 - 08:04 ET by Jack Bauerkareling -- yeah. I get it now. Thanks dude.
It's bleedin' obvious when you have the special lefty decoder ring.
And don't forget, it takes real guts to be a lefty actor in Hollywood. You may never work again once it gets out.
The Bilderberg Group!
April 15, 2009 - 09:07 ET by Protocol_9Conspiracy theories abound by those who want to believe in them.
Jon Ronson's "THEM: Adventures with Extremists" lays out the agenda for most of these conspiracy nutjobs.
Of course, we all know the world is ruled by a small elite group of people hidden away in a room somewhere...
We must try to expose them once and for all!
WWM?
protocol9
taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear the most. -dostoyevski
I know this is just one
April 15, 2009 - 09:42 ET by TexasteacherI know this is just one more toke on the liberal hollywood ignorant stick but we gotta draw the line somewhere. It is grossly disrespectful to the survivors, victims, and the service men and women who are dealing with the people responsible. Not to mention President Bush, who had to deal with clinton's lack of testicular fortitude and who made good on a promise to not let it happen again. This liberal a**hole actor (sorry for the redundancy) and anyone else who prescribes to this nonsense (trolls included) are incompetent morons and should be ashamed of themselves. God have mercy on their souls, because I sure as hell woudn't.
obama's notion of bi-partisanship is telling conservatives to shut up and do what he wants.
I HATE THIS SHOW
April 15, 2009 - 10:08 ET by DelsaI never watch it. I watched it a couple times because my son is a firefighter and I thought it was going to be about firefighters.
Instead, it is all about a supposed firefighter who has blow-jobs all day and all night. And when he isn't doing it, he is dreaming about it. His buds in the fire house are gay or depraved in some way.
The show stinks and is pure Hollywood crap!
Due to it's subject matter, I am not surprised the writers would go into a show with this subject matter.
I bet the episode has the star having sex when the buildings go down.
In all fairness, Franco
April 15, 2009 - 10:06 ET by robert108In all fairness, Franco came off as a nutbag in that episode, with the interviewer looking at him like he was crazy, and of course, his question to her at the end("Are you single?") made it look like his entire rant was just to get over on her by making him look cool or knowledgeable. If some of the others had said anything supporting his position, one might have a legitimate gripe about the show, but that was not the case. There are people who actually believe that crap, after all, and some of them might be NYC firefighters.
After all, the show is meant to be realistic in its portrayal of NYC firefighting culture, isn't it?
LOVE this show. And you're
April 15, 2009 - 13:10 ET by balboaLOVE this show. And you're right Robert. The whole time Franco was spouting this, the woman looked at him like he just threw up on her shoes.
So I disagree that FX is somehow "pushing" this theory on anyone. They also had a great speech by Denis Leary questioning the woman's intentions in writing a book about 9/11, and it was a powerful moment. No mention of "pushing" that, huh, Brent?
Color me shocked...
well if that's the story
April 15, 2009 - 13:20 ET by TruthMongerwell if that's the story then groovy
thanks for the heads up bal:)
keep us posted
who's worst prez ever now?!!
Never watched the show never will . . however
April 15, 2009 - 11:05 ET by 1611LilacLady. . . if anyone still thinks 9/11 just happened to happen and no global hierarchy had a clue . . well, I have oceanfront property to sell in Arizona.
C'mon folks - - W A K E U P! From 9/11 to an alien Muslim as President . . only 7 years later.
And only weeks after 9/11 'ecumenical' understanding was being held in Yankee Stadium and the push was on that Islam was a peaceful religion.
And you think these things just happened on their own???
Isaiah 5:20a Woe unto them who call evil good, and good evil. . . KJV
So Stupid
April 15, 2009 - 14:46 ET by Peter-in-NYCI live in New York City and I can't believe ANYONE thought/thinks it was an inside job. That's stupid. Even Bill Clinton said that this theory makes us look stupid to the world.
The fact that we had an election, that the country is controlled by liberals should be proof enough! But this stupid theory will continue as long as paranoid people buy books and those looking to make a fast buck continue to write books.
Loose change.... should be loose screws!
Re So Stupid
April 15, 2009 - 16:49 ET by slickwillie2001Yet it was the idiot Bill Clinton that blamed Rush Limbaugh for Oklahoma City. Go figure. I guess he can be honest when he doesn't see political gain.
It's a Character.
April 15, 2009 - 18:26 ET by someloudthunderIt's a character is a show, nothing more. Believe it or not people actually believe this, mentally unstable people that is.
Rescue Me
April 15, 2009 - 19:55 ET by client8Leary's made a lot of money portraying firefighters as monosyllabic drug addicts, alcoholics, degenerate gamblers, sex offenders, thieves, and worse. Now this. This character (and the actor) is an idiot. The show is an embarassment.
9/11 Truthers And Tea Party Participants Are One In The Same...
April 16, 2009 - 00:23 ET by The7SticksIt depresses me so when I see one of my friends spouting that 9/11 was an inside job. Sometimes I have to compose myself and tell them politely, "I'm sorry, but this is simply not the case. There are too many facts that debunk these myths about inside jobs." I try to explain to them that Tower 7 was not an improvised explosion because of the damage it sustained from the falling debris and whatnot.
I also said that these Tea party participants are one in the same with the 9/11 Truthers, and I stand by it. I go by the philosophy of Achem's Razor, where the simplest solution is usually the right solution. And I think to myself when I see these poor pathetic souls holding signs complaining about taxes, Why can't they just figure out the simplest solution?, which would be to vote the representatives you want and believe in. I know that one vote makes all the difference, and the people who participate in these movements, whether it's 9/11 or taxes, simply have given up on a system that does work. That's the way I see it and I'm sticking to it.
§ Sticks....Back it UP!!! Ster is Calling U OUT!!!
April 16, 2009 - 00:30 ET by TheSterUmmmmm....
I'm a Right Winger....DEFINE ME.
Waiting........
Ster.
My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.
"Why can't they just...
April 16, 2009 - 08:43 ET by lotr"Why can't they just... vote the representatives you want and believe in?"
I totally agree, and have been scratching my head over this in the aftermaths of the '06 and '08 elections.
That said, public protests are a good thing in that it raises public awareness and it sends a message to elected officials. That is why the MSM, the propaganda mouthpiece for the Democratic Party, sought to marginalize them.
7sticks ~ your viewpoint is so messed up...where to begin???
April 16, 2009 - 16:58 ET by pahuber"I also said that these Tea party participants are one in the same with the 9/11 Truthers, and I stand by it."
How to even have the gravitas to post this w/o a shred of evidence and just lump these two groups together is just not being in touch with reality.