On August 21st, The National Institute of Standards and Technology released their report regarding the collapse of World Trade Center Building number 7 that occurred back on September 11, 2001. NIST Lead Investigator Dr. Shyam Sunder stated:

"Our study found that the fires in WTC 7, which were uncontrolled but otherwise similar to fires experienced in other tall buildings, caused an extraordinary event. Heating of floor beams and girders caused a critical support column to fail, initiating a fire-induced progressive collapse that brought the building down.

"Video and photographic evidence combined with detailed computer simulations show that neither explosives nor fuel oil fires played a role in the collapse of WTC 7."

"We conducted the study without bias, without interference from anyone. We have only one single-minded goal in this effort ... The public should really recognize the science is really behind what we have said."

The conclusions reached in the report, based on science and evidence, have turned up the heat in the wacko 9/11 conspiracy realm. Unless you have lived in a cave since September 10, 2001, you know that the collapse of WTC-7 has been championed by the "9/11 conspiracy" crowd as part of the greater "truth" that the US federal government was behind all of the events of that day. Here is a mere smattering of comments concerning the NIST report from the ugly, reality-challenged side of humanity:

"Glad that's over. Now I can go back to sleep, after I drink my Kool-aid! They must think we are a bunch of freaking idiots!"

"So the government is now able to change the laws of physics to cover its own ass?"

"NIST, a once reputable scientific center, has created a scenario unsupported by the physical evidence and history of building collapses. The Bush Administration tarnishes another once-great government agency. (Over my career in the Aerospace industry, I had the opportunity of working with NIST scientists. Such times were rich and professional experiences.) Unfortunate occurrence."

"The government goes to some non-white scientist when it wants to make sure the scientist says what it wants? FBI has hired Muslims as its top scientists."

"There were probably thermite charges planted in the WTC buildings as well, but according to Mr. Lear the main source of demolition for all three buildings was a high-energy particle beam weapon fired from a secret military satellite in geosynchronous orbit above Manhattan (this explains why the metal stayed molten for so long -- only a particle beam weapon can heat up molecules to that degree.)"

"LYING ASSHOLES......the only steel framed building in the world to fall in it's own foot print NO FUCKING WAY ASSHOLES......911 was an inside job!"

"This new "explanation" would be hilarious if it did not harbinger the end of civilization as it does: people stupid enough to believe this absurd drivel will happily submit to, and cooperate with, the transformation of America into the Fourth Reich -- a process 90% complete already."

"The Israeli Mossad Demo Experts, Took care of it. That's why the Mossad agents in the white van were there to record it."

"Uh-oh! This is bad news for anyone working in high rise buildings. Beware!! If you building catches fire it will fall down in less than 10 seconds! Groundbreaking new info from the George Bush science team!"

"Magnetometer data from alaska.edu shows the earth's magnetic field shifted with every 9/11 "event". This includes the plane-shaped holes appearing in the towers! The World Trade Center was destroyed with directed energy weapons."

"Dr. Sunder and his group of patsies should have their professional credentials cancelled for gross negligence or misfeasance!"

"Occam's razor states that NIST's report is pure BS."

"I mean what secret? Rumsfeld admits the Pennsylvania plane was shot down. He even admitted that the pentagon was hit with a missile. Silverstein admits they pulled the building. There IS no secret. Just a complicit press and government."

"The govt should be embarassed at the ridiculous cover up they are trying to pull. This "theory" is outrageous... thermite (or thermate) caused the collapse of this building as well as the twin towers. If ANY govt. official signs off on this total lie and fabrication, they too will be duplicitous in the crime of the century. 9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB."

"The same people who took down WTC 7 totally control the internet. *Nothing* gets blogged or posted without their consent. The messages you never know about are the ones you *must* consider. You'll probably never see this one, unless they get lazy. Wake up and see the obvious. Just ask anyone. Don't be Cheney's tool."

"The building was loaded with explosives, watch the frikkin video closely and trust your own eyes!"

And here is one of my favorites:

"JFK and Governor Connelly were both shot by the same 6.5mm bullet, which passed right through both their bodies (and the car seat, if I recall), before being found, almost undamaged, on Connelly's ambulance gurney. An incredible coincidence.

Flight 800 was brought down by a spark that occurred in the center fuel tank of the 747, something that had never happened before and has never happened since, despite literally millions of 747 flight hours over about 40 years. Dozens of witnesses who saw a missile fly from the sea upward that ended in a white flash (high explosives), not the yellow flash of a fuel explosion, must have been mistaken. An incredible coincidence.

WTC Building 7 is brought down by limited structural damage and, in a new theory, that structural beams, which were buried in feet of concrete and swathed in asbestos, expanded and failed due to office fires, although this has never happened before in thousands of fires in steel-framed high-rises. An incredible coincidence."

I am certain the report will be analyzed, examined, and pulled to pieces by both the scientific and the anti-scientific communities. I am curious to see if the science and the logic in the report becomes accepted as consensus by the scientific community, though my guess is that they will. But one thing is for sure, that people seem to be ensconced firmly in one camp or the other, so I do not anticipate that this report will do anything to convince people one way or the other.

Dana McQuillan, spokesperson for Larry Silverstein (leaseholder for The WTC), placed the report in its correct context when quoted as saying:

"Hopefully this thorough report puts to rest the various 9/11 conspiracy theories, which dishonor the men and women who lost their lives on that terrible day,"

Not a chance, Dana. But you are right, 9/11-conspiracy lunatics, by their very nature and actions, continue to dishonor each and every victim of 9/11.