Alex Jones: Descent into Tyranny

I came across this copy of Alex Jones' book (and I use the term loosely) "Descent into Tyranny" on the Internet and decide to give it a perusal. Now I know debunking Alex Jones is low hanging fruit, shooting fish in a barrel, pick your cliche, but as long as he is a prominent member of the 9/11 denial movement, I will not feel guilty picking on this Texas blowhard, no matter how unsporting it may be.

I was not expecting a Putlizer level work, but even Jones managed to surprise me with his level of idiocy. The book does not appear to be a final published version, it only has notes for the publisher where the pictures will go, but even for a draft it is replete with errors, typos, illogical leaps, and outright lies. I am not going to debunk the whole book, mainly because I don't have a month to spare, but I will probably make a few posts.

This part especially annoyed me. I have heard Jones and others make repeated claims that Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared Martial Law (which Jones like many conspiracy theorists usually spells "Marshall") before 9/11. Now aside from the fact that this is pretty illogical, why would he risk giving away the plot with this entirely needless act, there is absolutely nothing to substantiate the claim. Here is the section from Descent into Tyranny, page 54:

Jeb Bush Declares Martial Law on September 7, 2001
On the homefront, President Bush’s brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush signed an unprecedented emergency State Executive Order (01-261) laying out new guidelines for setting up military rule (martial law) in Florida. Governor Jeb Bush signed his Executive Order on September 7, 2001 despite the fact that there were no major natural or man-made disasters at the time of its drafting.

“I hereby declare that a state of emergency exists in the state of Florida… The
Authority to suspend the effect of any statute or rule governing the conduct of state business, and further authority to suspend the effect of any order or rule of any government entity… The authority to seize and utilize any and all real or personal property as needed to meet this emergency… The authority to order the evacuation of any or all persons from any location in the State… The authority to regulate the return of the evacuees to their home communities… I hereby order the Adjutant General to activate the Florida National Guard for the duration of this emergency.” Florida Governor Jeb Bush, September 7, 2001. (Associated Press, September 9, 2001, State of Florida Website Listing State Executive Orders)

In this book most of his claims, no matter how obscure or outrageous, have no source, making it nearly impossible to check his claims, but this time he actually does actually give a source. Since he lists the number of the Florida State Executive Order, it is a simple matter of going to the state website to look it up. Unsurprisingly, it does not say what he claims it does.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 01-261
WHEREAS, the Florida National Guard has the statutory responsibility to provide support to law-enforcement personnel and emergency-management personnel in the event of civil disturbances or natural disasters; and

WHEREAS, the Florida National Guard has the responsibility to provide training support to law-enforcement personnel and community-based organizations relating to counter drug operations; and

WHEREAS, the Florida National Guard must train to meet such responsibilities; and

WHEREAS, the Florida National Guard is funded for any such training by budgetary appropriation or grants before any such training; and

WHEREAS, the Florida National Guard must conduct such training in active service of the state, as defined by Section 250.27, Florida Statutes (also known as active military service and state active duty) for members of the Florida National Guard to be covered by Section 250.34, Florida Statutes; and

WHEREAS, as Governor, I may delegate the authority contained in Section 250.06(4), Florida Statutes, to order training to help respond to civil disturbances, natural disasters, and counter drug operations to The Adjutant General of the State of Florida; and

This executive order does not declare a state of emergency or martial law, it merely provides for the training of National Guardsman to prepare for the event of a disaster, a completely different thing. I have no idea where Jones got his version, it was probably passed on to him from a separate declaration of a state of emergency, and the fatman was too lazy to look it up. He lists the AP also as a source, but a Lexis/Nexis search shows the only AP article which even mentioned Jeb Bush from September 7th, to September 9th, 2001 was one titled, "Bush Orders Statewide Standards on Reading", which quite clearly has nothing to do with this.