It's a package deal. The president gets to use the NSA eavesdropping program on any American. Amongst other threats, it supposedly helped uncover a plot by Lyman Farris, an Ohio trucker and naturalized citizen, and got him to plead guilty in 2003 to supporting Al Qaeda.

The whole gang was said to be planning to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge with acetylene torches, get it? If you believe that, the administration will let you have the bridge wholesale. Wholesale will be defined later, depending on your party affiliation, phone and e-mail data file, religious affiliation, and library book-lending record. Woe be to you, if you are in arrears on patriotic books.

This tale grew out of the December 16 New York Times story, "Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts," by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, research contributed by Barclay Walsh. It opens with: "Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials."

It's hearty reading for the bland Times, which originally adhered to a White House "wish" and held the story for a year before publishing it. Seems the Times would have tipped all kinds of bad guys had it pursued its constitutional right to freedom of the press.

But let's return to this premise of infamy, using acetylene torches on the Brooklyn Bridge. From this linked piece by David McCullough, I culled some structural information about the building of the bridge . . .

The suspended roadway's great "river span" was to be held between the towers by the four immense cables, two outer ones and two near the middle of the bridge floor. These cables would be as much as fifteen inches in diameter, and each would hang over the river in what is known as a catenary curve, that perfect natural form taken by any rope or cable suspended from two points, which in this case were the summits of the two stone towers. At the bottom of the curve each cable would join with the river span, at the center of the span. But along all the cables, vertical "suspenders," wire ropes about as thick as a pick handle, would be strung like harp strings down to the bridge floor. And across those would run a pattern of diagonal stays, hundreds of heavy wire ropes that would radiate down from the towers and secure at various points along the bridge floor, both in the direction of the land and toward the center of the river span.

The wire rope for the suspenders and stays was to be of the kind manufactured by Roebling at his Trenton (wire) works. It was to be made in the same way as ordinary hemp rope, that is, with hundreds of fine wires twisted to form a rope. The cables, however, would be made of wire about as thick as a lead pencil, with thousands of wires to a cable, all "laid up" straight, parallel to one another, and then wrapped with an outer skin of soft wire, the way the base strings of a piano are wrapped.

Deviating from tradition, Roebling introduced the use of steel, which he called "the metal of the future," for the four cables. At the time, steel was being used for construction of the railroads, but its use had not yet been used for major structures such as bridges. Until the Brooklyn Bridge was constructed, iron wire was used for suspension cables. Roebling defended his use of steel wire in an article in The American Railroad Journal, discussing the weaknesses of earlier iron-wire and chain suspension bridges and their vulnerability to destructive oscillation caused by high winds.

Acetylene torches on that structure? Good luck. What's more, the bridge has been open since May 23, 1883. It's 123 years young and handles thousands of cars, pedestrians and bicyclists each day, zooming back and forth to Manhattan from Brooklyn. There are crews tending to the bridge's well-being constantly. The very notion of some guy or guys stopping with acetylene torches to take it down day or night is ridiculous.

World Trade Towers Built To Last, Too

Ah, but then the World Trade Center towers were built with redundant steel frames locked to a steel grid for flooring, and connected to a redundant steel core for elevators. And such steel frame buildings had never in the history of construction burned to the ground, even after hours of raging fire. But then, poof the magic dragon, after burning for 29 minutes, the second tower to be hit, the South Tower, suddenly tumbled down first in 10 seconds. After burning an hour and 42 minutes, the North Tower, the first hit, suddenly tumbled down in 9 seconds, amazing. This on 9/11/2001--when two of four hijacked airliners hit the towers, supposedly commandeered and piloted by novice pilots with box-cutters. I guess anything is possible when the right people are involved and transponders all go down so planes can be easily flown from the ground.

But read these last two paragraphs of Notes from Robert Ivy, FAIA Editor-in Chief, describing his escape from the first tower hit and across the Brooklyn Bridge to safety . . .

Although it seemed impossible to stop for breath, at mid-point in the bridge, we felt a rumble like faraway thunder and turned. The impossible was happening. The south tower of the World Trade Center shook, and in what resembled an elemental act, fell to earth in a mighty shout. The entire dissolution, the changeover from solid elements to ash, took only seconds, and it was gone. A bronzed man lifted his hands with clinched fists to the skies shrieked and yelled, "You bastards!" and ran into the throng. Then in a few short steps we had reached the shade of Cadman Plaza and safety while ash and smoke billowed out like a land-borne cloud . . .

As an architect, I was amazed that these powerful structures, surrounded by columns, had proved as vulnerable to exterior movement as they had. Although the aircraft had exerted tremendous forces, would the towers have fallen without some additional explosives, or had something within the structures caused the buildings to collapse? [And now comes the myth] We subsequently learned, via CNN, that they had been loaded with fuel. The planes had, in effect, been bombs. Answers would demand another day and rest and peace. For now, we had all become victims of an hour's terror, aware that the nexus of urban civilization had been shaken, and that we would all be changed.

"A rumble like faraway thunder," "dissolution . . . from solid elements to ash," a falling "to earth in a mighty shout." Sounds like two mighty explosions and then some to my humble ears. And, lord knows if someone were to set thousands of cutter chargers to the Brooklyn Bridge's mighty towers and nuclear-brand charges to the pylons supporting them, BOOM, BOOM, they too could go down. But a trucker from Ohio with acetylene torches? Not unless he had a little help from his friends, whoever they could be, Al Qaeda, or its founding fathers, the CIA, who hired Osama in 1979 to help organize a jihad in Afghanistan to fight the invading "atheist" Russians. Ah, but this is old history. Anyone can find it on the web (at least for a while), including the-non myth version of What Really Happened at the World Trade Center that day. For instance . . .

Seismographs at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York, 21 miles north of the WTC, recorded strange seismic activity on September 11 that has still not been explained. The Palisades seismic record shows that -- as the collapses began -- a huge seismic "spike" marked the moment the greatest energy went into the ground. The strongest jolts were all registered at the beginning of the collapses, well before the falling debris struck the earth. These unexplained "spikes" in the seismic data lend credence to the theory that massive explosions at the base of the towers caused the collapses.

Myth v. Reality

But am I getting off track here? Are we talking about the president and the NSA eavesdropping on ordinary Americans, or a plot to use acetylene torches on the Brooklyn Bridge, or 9/11 occurring in a totally different fashion than the popular myth, not necessarily at the sole hands of the mythic players, Al Qaeda, and its dastardly leader, Osama Can't Find Him?

Or has the myth been so mushed together with reality that it's all indistinguishable? Therefore, the central deed and obfuscation of 9/11 de facto give the president and his administration permission to do anything they want: tear up the Constitution, predict a new apocalypse any day, or do a 180 and claim that nothing has happened since because they have protected us so effectively, eavesdropping, ignoring the Geneva Conventions, creating the Unpatriotic Act, starting an illegal war in Iraq, accusing Saddam Hussein of having WMD (that he was about to use) and of being in bed with this Al Qaeda group, who were in bed with the CIA from Day 1 to 9/11/2001, and so on.

I don't know about you, but I'm stupefied. Not stupid, but stupefied, like those guys on the bridge from the shock of the violent explosions, and the tales afterwards of Bush, Cheney, Condi, Rummy, Wolfie, Libby, Pearley, et al. Unfortunately, if you buy the central myth of 9/11, then anything is possible, and all control is ceded to those illegally in power.

Perp Sues President

Ironically, despite the fact that Lyman Farris is alleged to have traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan to meet with Osama and his deputy, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and despite the fact that he's serving a 20-year sentence at a supermax federal prison in Colorado, as of December 23, 2005, Salon.com noted that Farris had put out a national call for lawyers to aid him in suing Bush.

He's retracting his confession, saying he admitted to the plot to cash in on a book deal. But more importantly, he is appealing the case on more solid legal ground as he waits a ruling by the 4h Circuit Court of Appeals. Michael Scherer reports on Salon, "Legal scholars say the defendant can argue that the search was unlawful so all of the evidence to follow was fruit of the poisonous tree." One of those scholars, Jamin Raskin, a law professor at American University, says "Farris may also be able to sue for civil penalties under Title III, the federal wiretap statue, which bars illegal monitoring of electronic conservations. He could also bring a constitutional tort alleging violation of his Fourth Amendment rights."

Yet Farris, as Raskin points out may not be able to exercise his rights under FISA (Foreign Intelligence Security Act of 1978), since it "denies standing to those working with foreign terrorist organizations." The most notable evidence against Farris: prosecutors allege he sent a message to Al Qaeda leadership in 2003 claiming "the weather is too hot," a sure signal to the pros that he could not follow through with his Brooklyn Bridge plan. Of course, these messages are classified. So we can't see them. We just have to swallow them.

Actually, the FBI surveillance of Farris was called off for a short period for technical reasons. Senior Justice Department officials feared what would happen if the NSA picked up information needed for court use. This government would have to expose its NSA spy operation or mislead a criminal court about its information gathering.

President Overrules Rules

Returning to Bush, you may recall he blamed the CIA for faulty intelligence that lead to 9/11. Now, he is abusing the right of NSA intelligence gathering, especially by bypassing Congress to spy on US citizens, some 500 "at any given time." But then the president's legal folks have interpreted his "inherent authority" as president to do as he wishes in these dark times. Parenthetically, the NSA has also been known to stand for "No Such Agency," veiled in secrecy with its 30,000 plus employees at Fort Meade, Md., their collective electronic ears and eyes glued to your phone and computer as well as the world's chatter.

So we all have to ask ourselves, would we buy a Brooklyn Bridge destruction plot from a leader who spies and lies to his countrymen? Moreover, do we want to continue buying the myth of 9/11 as an act of Al Qaeda from him? The evidence points to a highly-coordinated government plot to further the New World Order. Thus, we have handed him the status of dictator, given a neutered Congress and a judiciary eager to follow the leader. Where are the checks and balances, where is the government, where is the truth that's not according to Bush & Company? Yes, in some books, some websites, videos, articles. But how soon will they vanish into the palaver of CNN and the DC Holding Company?

We haven't even touched on the Pentagon hit on 9/11 that left a mere 18-foot wide hole in the southeast wall and no part of Flight 77's Boeing 757 fuselage (153 feet long), no part of the 125-foot wing span, the 45-foot high tail, no remains of passengers or any baggage. Nothing in the photos but firemen on a green lawn who later found the rotor from an Allyson Turbofan jet engine, notably used in the Global Sky Hawk radio-controlled missile carrier, one which could be configured to look like a smaller AA passenger jet, one which would make something like that 18-foot hole of entry and the smaller 8-foot wide exit hole from ring C.

So the story goes on and on, but is anyone listening besides the NSA. Are you? Are the ghosts of Flight 93, the 757 that eyewitnesses saw shot out of the air on 9/11 by two F-15's and one white military jet, scattering the remains of plane and passengers some eight miles across the rural southern Pennsylvania landscape? And where are tapes of the supposed cell phone calls? Experts tell us the cell phone technology in 2001 was not capable of transmission above a height of 8,000 feet. All we have is claims, typed transcripts, and the Brooklyn Bridge on sale for cheap.

Don't you want more, America? This is your life. And Ralph Edwards is no longer around to replay it for you. You need to stand up now and tell them you're not buying it, the bridge or the 9/11 mythology. The price is our future, already half up in smoke. Let's salvage something, at least for tomorrow and the kids.