It Was Sixty-five Years Ago Today. . .That The Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapsed Into Puget Sound, Four Months After Opening

You may have seen the movie of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsing in science class. It is often used to demonstrate resonance. Even during construction, they noticed that breezes as low as four miles per hour caused oscillations, while stronger breezes often had no effect. The $6.4 million Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened in July, 1940, linking the Washington State mainland with the Olympic Peninsula. Click here to download a clip of the movie.

Locals named the bridge "Galloping Gertie." People would drive hundreds of miles to cross the bridge and experience the rolling and undulating. The disappearance and reappearance of cars in the concrete swells was a highlight.

On Thursday, November 7, 1940, the center span had been undulating three to five feet in winds of 35 to 46 miles per hour. They closed the bridge. Soon, the motion dramatically changed from a rhythmic rising and falling to a two-wave twisting motion with the road tilting 45 degrees from horizontal one way and then 45 degrees from horizontal the other.

The roadbed broke up, and finally the center span of the bridge fell into the Sound. 600 feet of the western end of the span twisted free, flipped over, and plunged into the water. At 11:09 A.M., the remaining bridge sections ripped free and thundered down into the Sound. The 1,100 foot side spans dropped 60 feet, bounced up and settled into a sag of 30 feet. The center span rested on the bottom of the Narrows.

Leonard Coatsworth, a Tacoma newspaper editor, somehow talked the guards into letting him cross after the bridge had closed. He was the last person to drive on the bridge:

"Just as I drove past the towers, the bridge began to sway violently from side to side. Before I realized it, the tilt became so violent that I lost control of the car... I jammed on the brakes and got out, only to be thrown onto my face against the curb.

"Around me I could hear concrete cracking. I started to get my dog Tubby, but was thrown again before I could reach the car. The car itself began to slide from side to side of the roadway.

"On hands and knees most of the time, I crawled 500 yards or more to the towers... My breath was coming in gasps; my knees were raw and bleeding, my hands bruised and swollen from gripping the concrete curb... Toward the last, I risked rising to my feet and running a few yards at a time... Safely back at the toll plaza, I saw the bridge in its final collapse and saw my car plunge into the Narrows."

---o0o---

It Was Eighty-eight Years Ago Today That The Bolsheviks Revolted In Russia. . .And Changed The World For The Better Part Of A Century

Eight-eight years ago today, leftist revolutionaries led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir Lenin launched an almost bloodless coup d'etat against Russia's pathetic Provisional Government.

The Bolsheviks and their allies occupied government buildings and other strategic locations in the Russian capital of Petrograd (a/k/a St. Petersburg) and within two days formed a new government with Lenin as its head. Bolshevik Russia, later renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was the world's first Marxist state.

John Reed wrote an excellent book, Ten Days That Shook The World, about these events:

“What side do you belong to?” I asked. “The Government?”

“No more Government,” one answered with a grin, “Slava Bogu! Glory to God!”

That was all I could get out of him…"

Vladimir Illitch Ulianov a/k/a Lennin, liked John Reed's book so much he wrote a an introduction for it:

"With the greatest interest and with never slackening attention I read John Reed’s book, “Ten Days that Shook the World.” Unreservedly do I recommend it to the workers of the world. Here is a book which I should like to see published in millions of copies and translated into all languages. It gives a truthful and most vivid exposition of the events so significant to the comprehension of what really is the Proletarian Revolution and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. These problems are widely discussed but before one can accept or reject these ideas, he must understand the full significance of his decision. John Reed’s book will undoubtedly help to clear this question, which is the fundamental problem of the universal workers’ movement. "

The world would live with the Soviets until just a few years ago, and in 2005, only a few countries of that movement remain communist, most notably China and Cuba.

Warren Beatty (coincidentally the subject of yesterday's blog posting) wrote, directed, and starred in Reds, one of the greatest American movies ever. Reds is a three and a half hour epic that focuses on John Reed and his coverage of the Russian Revolution.
---o0o---

Is Paris Burning?

Is Paris Burning? Yeah, it is. Across France, they are incinerating cars at a rate of something like 1,000 a day. Chirac has called a security meeting to discuss the riots. The rioting has spread from the the Mediterranean to the German border and into central Paris.

Chirac is under the blowtorch from opposition parties for sitting on his hands during the outbreak of violence. France was stunned by the intensity of the rioting this weekend. According to the associated Press, "Arsonists burned 1,295 vehicles nationwide, including 35 within Paris itself, a sharp increase from the 897 incinerated the night before. Police spokesman Patrick Hamon said police made 349 arrests nationwide."




The riots may be intensifying. Police have pointed out that the rioters now arrange attacks through cell phone messages, and have disseminated information on bomb making. Chirac meets tonight to plot his next move.
---o0o---

Bulworth V. The Terminator::::Beatty And Schwarzenegger Square Off In Califoria

Yesterday in San Diego, Warren Beatty and his wife Annette Bening tried to bust into a campaign appearance by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. It didn't work, but they got some ink. The Hollywood couple were barred by a Schwarzenegger aide, Darrel Ng, who told the star he needed a wristband to get inside.

According to an AP story, "Beatty's appearance caused momentary confusion at the rally. Just before the governor took the stage, the hangar door was closed - literally in the face of Beatty and Bening. It was later reopened as Schwarzenegger told cheering supporters at the rally that his slate of four ballot proposals would "reform the broken system."

"It's time for some people to retire," said former San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock, who hosts a popular radio talk show. "I'm trying to be gentle about it but it's clear that Warren is over the hill and desperately looking for something else to do."

Democratic activist Beatty has criticized Schwarzenegger lately, leading people to speculate that he may run for governor next year.

AP also reported that Beatty, 68, would shadow Schwarzenegger all day and urge citizens to vote against the ballot measures supported by Schwarzenegger.

"The sun is hot, the agenda is clear, the task is at hand, so let's get out and do what we have to do," Beatty told the crowd. "Let's get out the vote." On the bus Truth Squad Beatty said, "We may just have some fun."

Beatty told reporters he had no plans to run for public office, but didn't rule it out entirely. He also said he wasn't a gubernatorial candidate in next year's election.

"I don't want to run for governor," he told reporters. "I want to say what I think."

In Anaheim, Beatty told supporters outside a Schwarzenegger rally that the issues on the ballot could have been resolved by the Legislature, but the governor forced a special election because he knew there would be low voter turnout and a high chance of success.

"To my knowledge, I have not heard him debate a human, living person," Beatty said. He also said "My experience in politics goes way, way back [Jack note...I first remember him politically working very hard on the '72 McGovern campaign]. I don't drop the issues simply because I know someone socially."

I confess that I am a fan of Beatty, the director, actor, and activist. If he were to run for Governor, and ran something like a Bulworth campaign, I'd take a leave of absence and head down to California tomorrow to help.
---o0o---

Painting: Another Flag

Click painting to enlarge. . .
---o0o---

Poem: You Rehearse Dying

You Rehearse Dying

It's not "all good,"
But closer than you think.

Everything you refuse to believe
Is true

Love and mercy and goodness
Fill the air

You look and listen and feel it
But you won't believe

Blue sparks arc in the air
Leaving a trail of ozone

The man in the moon
Is psychotic

Mother Earth
Had a sex change

Every flower is finished

The rising water
Is up to your knees.
---o0o---

Vincent Gallo's Sperm For Sale: A Cool Million A Pop

Vince Gallo's web site is selling semen. There are some conditions for purchasing Vinnie's seed. Vince is some kind of crypto-Nazi who does not want his genes comingled with non-Aryan ones. OK, gals, I realize he may be "hot," but he looks about like Charles Manson might have if he got cleaned up for a job interview.

The $1 M price includes a "free" in vitro procedure. If Vince likes your picture, he'll throw in in-person "natural" insemination free. If you don't cut the mustard, Vince will deliver the goods personally, via his fabled--according to the website--package, for a price. You probably have to buy the candles and wine. If you're not muy caliente, it will cost you an additional half million. I've said too much. We'll let Vince do the talking:

"Price includes all costs related to one attempt at an in-vitro fertilization. (A $50,000 value) If the first attempt at in vitro fertilization is unsuccessful, purchaser of sperm must pay all medical costs related to additional attempts. Mr. Gallo will supply sperm for as many attempts as it takes to complete a successful fertilization and successful delivery. Sperm is 100% guaranteed to be donated by Mr. Gallo who is drug, alcohol and disease free. If the purchaser of the sperm chooses the option of natural insemination, there is an additional charge of $500,000. However, if after being presented detailed photographs of the purchaser, Mr. Gallo may be willing to waive the natural insemination fee and charge only for the sperm itself. Those of you who have found this merchandise page are very well aware of Mr. Gallo's multiple talents, but to add further insight into the value of Mr. Gallo's sperm, aside from being multi talented in all creative fields, he was also multi talented as an athlete, winning several awards for performing in the games of baseball, football and hockey and making it to the professional level of grand prix motorcycle racing. Mr. Gallo is 5'11" and has blue eyes. There are no known genetic deformities in his ancestry (no cripples) and no history of congenital diseases. If you have seen The Brown Bunny, you know the potential size of the genitals if it's a boy. (8 inches if he's like his father.)

And then there's the really sick stuff:

"Mr. Gallo maintains the right to refuse sale of his sperm to those of extremely dark complexions. Though a fan of Franco Harris, Derek Jeter, Lenny Kravitz and Lena Horne, Mr. Gallo does not want to be part of that type of integration. In fact, for the next 30 days, he is offering a $50,000 discount to any potential female purchaser who can prove she has naturally blonde hair and blue eyes. Anyone who can prove a direct family link to any of the German soldiers of the mid-century will also receive this discount. Under the laws of the Jewish faith, a Jewish mother would qualify a baby to be deemed a member of the Jewish religion. This would be added incentive for Mr. Gallo to sell his sperm to a Jew mother, his reasoning being with the slim chance that his child moved into the profession of motion picture acting or became a musical performer, this connection to the Jewish faith would guarantee his offspring a better chance at good reviews and maybe even a prize at the Sundance Film Festival or an Oscar. To be clear, the purchase of Mr. Gallo's sperm does not include the use of the name Gallo. The purchaser must find another surname for the child. "

---o0o---

Alien Lore No. 40 - Teach Earthlings The Language

Click alien document to enlarge

So you think it is a little weird when people see UFOs? How about when people see aliens? Or when they're abducted? And, taking it to the next level, how about when you're abducted and the Greys try to teach you their language?

Betty Andreasson Luca was shown the alien document above during her abduction experiences in the '80's. She also saw her daughter being trained in this script. "Her daughter would trace the symbol on a screen with her finger. Then, a ball of light would pop out in front of her daughter, and inside that light, was a tiny picture. This description is similar to holographic designs reported by other abductees. "

The document photo and quote comes from Glimpses of Other Realities, Volume II: High Strangeness, page 206 by Linda Moulton Howe. This book is out of print. You think!?
---o0o---

Alito: Trouble Ahead On The Right And The Left?

The news today must be giving heartburn to the Republicans so loudly applauding the nomination of Joseph Alito, Jr. for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, "of the four abortion cases in which he participated as an appeals court judge, he voted on the pro-choice side in all but one. The 1995 Alito vote in particular is raising eyebrows among some legal scholars." He also voted on several other cases:

- A 1991 case related to the Pennsylvania law requiring married women to notify their husbands before seeking an abortion. The court struck down the restriction. Alito dissented.

- A Pennsylvania law that required women seeking to use Medicaid funds to abort a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest to report the incident to law enforcement officials and identify the offender. Alito provided the decisive vote in 1995, striking down the abortion restriction.

- Alito ruled in 1997 that the Constitution does not afford protection to the unborn (re: a New Jersey law that prevents parents from suing for damages on behalf of the wrongful death of a fetus).

- In a 2000 challenge to New Jersey's ban on partial-birth abortions, Alito struck down the law based on a Supreme Court precedent.

In addition, the The Boston Globe's web site today reported on Alito from way back. . .in 1971, he chaired a Task Force at Princeton that stronglyurged gay rights, and came down solidly on the side of privacy rights. It quotes his writing:

''We are convinced that in recent years government has often used improper means to gather information about individuals who posed no threat either to their government or to their fellow citizens."

''The erosion of privacy, unlike war, economic bad times, or domestic unrest, does not jump to the citizen's attention . . . But by the time privacy is seriously compromised, it is too late to clamor for reform."
---o0o---

Bill Clinton Gooses Supreme Nominee Alito's Daughter

Interestingly, the family of Joseph Alito was posed beneath the oil portrait of President Clinton in the White House at yesterday's most recent Supreme Court Justice rollout.

Even more interestingly, President's Clinton's hand appears to be resting on the shoulder of Alito's daughter. If I were a better animator, I could show you what happens next: Bill's hand drifts ever so slowly down, unsnaps the clasp of the skirt, and gingerly breaches the elastic of her panties as he reaches to cup her tender nether regions.

Jesus! Did I just write that? Is she even of age? Is the Secret Service charging over to my house at this very moment? /jack
----o0o----

All This Is That Design

click design to enlarge. . .

Alien Lore No. 39 - Presidents (And Near Presidents) Who Believe In Or Have Seen UFOs: Carter, Nixon, Reagan, Ford, Goldwater, Truman

"The evidence points to the fact that Roswell was a real incident and that indeed an alien craft did crash, and that material was recovered from that site. We all know that UFOs are real. All we need to ask is where do they come from, and what do they want?" - Capt. Edgar Mitchell Apollo 14 Astronaut

There have been several Presidential believers in, and Presidential witnesses to, UFOs. In the case of Richard Nixon, the information comes from Jackie Gleason's widow. The Nixon-Gleason tale is by far the most far-fetched, and the only one involving aliens. The stories and quotes of Presidents Carter, Nixon, Truman, Reagan, and near-President Goldwater (OK, not that near) all come from primary sources: the Presidents and candidates themselves.

President James Earl Carter saw a UFO on, as he said, "a very sober occasion." Howell Raines wrote about the sighting in The Atlanta Constitution, in 1973:

"Carter saw a blue, disc-shaped object during a campaign stop in Leary, a South Georgia town in the same general area where numerous UFOs have been reported recently."

"The object came into view as Carter and several members of the Leary Lions Club stood outside the hall where Carter was to speak. All the members of the group observed the object for about five to ten minutes, Carter said. He immediately went to a tape recorder and dictated a description of what he remembers as "a very remarkable sight."

"It was about 30 degrees above the horizon and looked about as large as the moon. It got smaller and changed to a reddish color and then got larger again."

"Carter speculated that the UFO "was probably an electronic occurrence of some sort," rather than a visitation from outer space. At any rate, the governor said, "it was obviously there, and obviously unidentified."

During his 1976 campaign Jimmy Carter went out of his way to say "If I become President, I'll make every piece of information this country has about UFO sightings available to the public and scientists. I am convinced that UFOs exist because I have seen one."

Senator Barry Goldwater spoke on the Larry King Radio show in 1988:

CALLER: Hello Senator Goldwater, I've heard in the past that you have an interest in UFOs. I just finished a book called, "Above Top Secret," by Timothy Goode, where three or four of your letters are quoted concerning your attempts to enter Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

SENATOR GOLDWATER: Uh-hum.

CALLER: Do you believe that the government is withholding information on UFOs?

SENATOR GOLDWATER: Yes I do. But I don't know enough about the subject involving Wright-Pat. to form any opinion. I remember when I first tried to get into that room out at Wright-Pat. and I went to General Curtis LeMay, an old friend of mine, and asked him. He used some pretty plain language and in effect, told me to "go to hell" and...

LARRY KING: That's the room where they are rumored to have aliens?

SENATOR GOLDWATER: Well, its a storage room where they are supposed to have some of the evidence they've collected relative to Unidentified Flying Objects. I have never...I wouldn't argue against them. I wouldn't argue for them. My only thinking on it is this planet of ours is one of several billion planets in this universe. I can't believe that God or whomever is in charge would put thinking bodies on only one planet. So I'm a firm believer that something can fly around here that the Wright Brothers didn't have anything to do with.

Richard Nixon, Jackie Gleason and UFOs. This story, from Jackie Gleason & The Little "Men From Mars by Timothy Green Beckley, appeared in All This Is That (August 23, 2005):

"Larry Warren was an Airman First Class stationed at Bentwaters Air Force Base in England (a NATO installation staffed mainly by US. Servicemen) when an incredible series of events took place over Christmas week of 1980. A UFO was picked up on radar and subsequently came down just outside the perimeter of the base in a dense forest."

"Later that night, matters changed radically, when Richard Nixon showed up at Gleason's house around midnight. "He was all alone for a change. There were no secret service agents with him or anyone else.

"I said, 'Mr. President, what are you doing here?' and he said he wanted to take me someplace and show me something." Gleason got into the President's private car and they sped off into the darkness - their destination being Homestead Air Force Base. "I remember we got to the gate and this young MPH came up to the car to look to see inside and his jaw seemed to drop a foot when he saw who was behind the wheel. He just sort of pointed and we headed off."

"Warren says that later Gleason found out that the secret service was going absolutely crazy trying to find out where Nixon was. "We drove to the very far end of the base in a segregated area," Gleason went on, "finally stopping near a well-guarded building. The security police saw us coming and just sort of moved back as we passed them and entered the structure. There were a number of labs we passed through first before we entered a section where Nixon pointed out what he said was the wreckage from a flying saucer, enclosed in several large cases." Gleason noted his initial reaction was that this was all a joke brought on by their earlier conversation on the golf course. But it wasn't, as Gleason soon learned. "

"Next, we went into an inner chamber and there were six or eight of what looked like glass-topped Coke freezers. Inside them were the mangled remains of what I took to be children. Then - upon closer examination - I saw that some of the other figures looked quite old. Most of them were terribly mangled as if they had been in an accident."

"According to Larry warrens testimony (regarding Gleason's lengthy conversation about UFOs and space visitors), "I forget whether he said they had three or four fingers on each hand, but they definitely were not human...Of this he was most certain!"

President Ronald Reagan described his 1974 UFO encounter to veteran newsman Norman C. Miller, Washington bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal.) "I looked out the window and saw this white light.It was zigzagging around. I went up to the pilot and said, Have you ever seen anything like that? He was shocked and he said, "Nope." And I said to him: "Let's follow it!" We followed it for several minutes. It was a bright white light followed it to Bakersfield, and all of a sudden to our utter amazement it went straight up into the heavens. When I got off the plane I told Nancy all about it."

President Reagan later speculated, at the U.N., of all places, on how life on earth might change of we did indeed know of visitors from another place: "I think about how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And I ask you, does not this threat already exist?"

President Harry S. Truman, in 1950 said "I can assure you that flying saucers, given that they exist, are not constructed by any power on earth." It's not clear whether or not President Truman had ever seen a UFO. However, if you believe the Majestic documents published earlier in All This Is That 10/22/2005), you may also believe that President Truman witnessed both UFOs and alien corpses.

Following hundreds of UFO sightings in Michigan in 1966, future President Ford said: "In the firm belief that the American public deserves a better explanation than that thus far given by the Air Force, I strongly recommend that there be a committee investigation of the UFO phenomena. I think we owe it to the people to establish credibility regarding UFOs and to produce the greatest possible enlightenment of the subject."

"I have taken special interest in these (UFO) accounts because many of the latest reported sightings have been made in my home state of Michigan...Because I think there may be substance to some of these reports and because I believe The American People are entitled to a more thorough explanation than has been given them by the Air force to date, I am proposing either the Science and Astronautics Committee or the Armed Services Committee of the House, schedule hearings on the subject of UFOs and invite testimony from both the executive branch of the Government and some of the persons who claim to have seen UFOs..."

"In the firm belief that the American public deserves a better explanation than that thus far given by the Air Force, I strongly recommend that there be a committee investigation of the UFO phenomena. I think we owe it to the people to establish credibility regarding UFOs and to produce the greatest possible enlightenment on this subject."
---o0o---