Dateline: above the garage in Portsmouth RI, 15 September 2004

Monday I get a call from someone who says she produces/books for the "Alex Jones Show" out of Texas, and will I go on for an hour to discuss the book? I say yes, without any forethought, figuring I'll check the guy out online before the hour approaches.

Then I head off to DC to brief at National Defense University and get back this morning in office. In my in-box I have a warning from the Public Affairs Office at the college: I better check this guy's site out before I go on. My PAO doesn't say I shouldn't appear, just that I need to understand what I'm getting into.

So I check out www.infowars.com and it's some pretty bizarre stuff. Some of the loopiest bits include: the CIA kills Nick Berg and stages the whole video, the Bush Admin secretly engineered 9/11 to institute a reign of tyranny, Israel secretly runs Hamas to its own ends, the ACLU is secretly a communist front organization, IMF seeks to rule the world, and so on. I'm talking some of the most high-end dumb-ass, conspiracy nonsense you can find on the planet. Everyone in this paranoid universe is either a "patriot" American holding off the one-world-government or part of the "globalist/communist" conspiracy. The material is so badly put together, full of some of the most self-contradictory analysis I have ever seen, that it almost comes off like a parody. You don't know whether to laugh or cry, it's just so amazingly stupid.

The Bush Administrationís almost Nixonian quest for secrecy has fueled far too much of this stuff, which is ironic in the extreme, since weíre talking the Republicans hereónot exactly the party of expansive government. But where this White House has failed to explain a foreign policy that I largely agree with, fools have clearly rushed in (and cashed in as well).

Yes, I realize this need for all-encompassing conspiracies also reflects a lot of fear out there about the complexity of the modern world, and that people reflexively reach for simple answers in desperation. But geez! You're sinking awfully low if youíre listening to shock jocks like Alex Jones on a regular basis. Then again, if you want more than anything to live in constant fear about current events, much less future ones, and you happen to live in the vicinity of one of his radio affiliates, then he's your man, because every bit of news that comes down the pike CONFIRMS to Mr. Jonesóyet again!óthe amazing "globalist/communist plot to create one-world government."

No, Jones is not even a serious star in the fear business. Just a bit player peddling his stuff across a local radio stations, but as any true fear-monger, he's firmly convinced he's at the center of the universal struggle between good and evil, so his confidence in marketing insecurity is marked. Judging by some of the emails he fans have sent me, he works a pretty sorry crowd of very scared people. I don't sense the same fear in him, but more the perverse joy of manipulating fear in others. It is intoxicating no doubt, but it's a pathetic way to earn a living. One imagines Jones was either terribly bullied or a terrible bully as a child. You don't just develop that skill set overnight; it takes years of twisting a normal personality just so.

Of course, you don't rule out that it's all just an act with people like Jones. But you'd like believe he's got at least some excuse better than his wallet.

Anyway, after checking out the site and feeling my stomach turn at the notion that I would legitimize this guy's crap by appearing on his show, I called the number listed on his site for press inquires, heard a voice message from the same woman I had spoken with, and left a message saying I was not going to be able to appear on a show that went out of its way to sow fear and loathing (especially toward the U.S. Government) in the way that this guy apparently has been doing for quite some time.

The Alex Jones Show doesn't check its messages when it's on the air, so when 1pm rolls around, a tech rings me up expecting me to go on. I say no, and give the same reasons. They about five minutes later I hear from the great man himself by phone. I do indeedóas he later recounts on his showódescribe his act as "despicable" and ask "How do you sleep at night?" He replies that "our side is winning" and that "true American patriots" will stop my book's scheme to "enslave the world through globalism."

You get the drift: some real dialogue that I'm sure would have delighted his listeners (whose emails are some of the most poorly written hate letters I've ever receivedóalthough I must admit it's some mean trick on my part to be both a "communist" and a "slave to Wall Street," cause you know how well those two concepts mesh together), but alas, I wasn't interested. I try to tell him as much, but Mr. Jones is one of these types who, when confronted by opposing views, simply starts yelling his slogans non-stop no matter what you say. The funny thing, a guy like that makes for a wonderful party apparatchik. I mean, he'd be a natural at a show trial. But isn't that always true with such head cases? Scratch the surface and you find this little kid inside just dying to perform the very same role he condemns.

So we're basically talking a frustrated demagogue here, and while it's one thing to humor these people a time or two in email replies, it's another thing to waste your time doing their jobs for them, especially when that job is fundamentally about making people fear the future, which is basically the exact opposite of what I seek to do in my work.

So, thwarting Jones'ódare I say it?óplot to "reveal the truth" about my plan for "slavery" around the planet ("prison planet" is a big theme of his site, which has a wonderful, Alice Cooper-ish feelóabsent the self-mocking tone, of course), I leave poor Alex hanging for an hour, because his Air Force general coming on to critique PNM won't appear until the hour is up, so he spends some time recounting our lively phonecon, and then starts taking callers. I listen through the first one via the Internet, get bored almost instantly, and then shift back to the real world.

Should I have gone on to debate this "expert"? There's always that desire to stand up to these sorts of blowhards, but I feel a real responsibility to the men and women of the U.S. military, so when it comes to appearing in venues like the Alex Jones Show, which posits that everything the U.S. military does is part of some White House plot to dominate the world/imprison everyone/institute martial law/create a one-world government/etc., I simply believe it's wrong to lend any sort of legitimacy to his endeavors. Just the way Jones bragged to me over the phone that several Texas senators and congressmen had been on his show in the past told me that this would be an uneven exchange: my reputation diminished as his credibility is enhanced. Frankly, I saw nothing of value in that transaction. Moreover, if you're a serious Alex Jones listener, I would consider you so lost to the world of fear and paranoia that any such effort on my part would be a waste of time. I don't work the fringes. I leave soul-saving to the priests. I work the vast middleóyou know, the ones who think for themselves.

Yes, in a free country you have to put up with that sort of fear-mongering nonsense, but you don't have to participate in it or lend it any air of respectability by appearing in its venues as though they are similar to the "mainstream media" that Mr. Jones constantly keeps referencing. I've simply known too many good souls who've lost their lives over the years to protect the rights of people like Mr. Jones to engage in free speech, and to me, appearing on that sort of show is a genuine betrayal of their sacrifice. I don't choose to be in the business of fear mongering, even as I understand its marketability to the public.

Today I offer another review. This one is from Public Governance Institute in Alexandria VA. Itís a interesting review in its easy-to-follow format. Following the review, hereís todayís catch:

■GOP discipline versus ìreverse the curseî

■Why Turkey and Indonesia are Seam States

■Putinís gearing up for real international economic leverage

■Chinaís new rules all come in good time

■Iraqís funniest homebuilding videos

■Why DoD needs to stop funding wars na levo