He's back! Last week I lamented the extended absence of Jack Perdue, whose mother of all websites, "Bill Gates Is Dead," has been down for "maintenance" since I don't know when. But late last night as I was online posing as a 14-year-old girl in chat rooms (wait... did I say that or just think that?), I got an e-mail from Jack letting me know that the site was up again. And it turns out that this "maintenance" Jack referred to was really a total overhaul and remodeling effort. Now the most comprehensive Gates-assassination website in existence is even more thorough, and for once it's actually easy to navigate (sorry, Jack, but that old site made my eyes cross sometimes).

Jack, of course, hasn't actually been gone. He's kept up his weekly e-mail newsletter, which is still the blood that pumps through the veins of the assassination-research community. And to clear up some confusion as evidenced by recent e-mail to me... the e-mail newsletter on this site is NOT Jack's newsletter. The newsletter available here, which I highly recommend, is nonetheless strictly for news about the documentary film that is currently in post-production. Jack's newsletter is much broader in scope and includes news about any and all topics related to the Gates assassination. Jack is the Liz Smith of the Gates-assassination world, and to miss his weekly newsletter is to be out of the loop.

Which brings me to the disclaimer portion of my celebration of Jack Perdue. Whenever I mention Jack in a positive way to a group of people in the community, someone always pipes in with criticism of him. So, to fend of the e-mails sure to be coming... no, I don't agree with everything Jack says. Jack has a tolerance for rumors that I don't have. Jack tends to jump excitedly on whatever the latest hot topic is, even if it's a dead-end issue like Hidell's involvement with the CIA (yeah, yeah, I know about the rumors) or the bizarre notion that Gates planned his own assassination. Do I approve? Well, I don't really feel that it's my place to approve or disapprove of a freewheeling discussion of assassination theories. Certainly I'm not planning to include the crazier notions in the "MacArthur Park" documentary, but at the same time, I appreciate that Jack's site has a spirit of inclusion--a spirit sorely lacking in some quarters of our community, where bickering and infighting are the norm. In his site's "Links" area, Jack even includes some anti-Gates sites that I know he personally finds distasteful. I think Jack sincerely believes in his mission to be an "archivist" of many points of view.

Which is not to say that I'm going to take him up on his recent offer to sell "MacArthur Park" T-shirts on his website. Probably the most unsettling thing on the Bill Gates Is Dead site is not the loonier articles about conspiracy, but rather the rampant merchandizing of BGID-branded items and even Citizens for Truth (!) products. Yikes. I know Jack needs the revenue to keep his giant site up and running, but this kind of commercialization of Gates's death creeps me out just a little bit. (That said, I didn't refuse Jack's offer to put up a banner ad for "MacArthur Park" on his site. The best slogan we could come up with for that ad was "A year in the life of Citizens for Truth." We're still hoping to come up with something better.)

To wrap up the Jack Perdue portion of this diary entry, let me recommend a couple things on the site. Jack follows up the "hero120299" issue I discussed last week with his own interesting take. And Jack has asked me to steer readers of this site over to his revamped "Discussions" area. Jack apparently lost all of the archives of the old discussions, and sometimes it takes a little push to get a discussion board going from scratch. So don't be afraid to get over there and speak up.

Other items... Not much response on the John Vanderslice issue from last week. A reader named "Bruce" writes, "Let Larry handle the music! He aint gonna like this one." Well, Bruce, Larry O'Keefe, the composer for "MacArthur Park," hasn't weighed in yet (he's too busy scrambling to finish his work on the off-Broadway show Bat Boy: The Musical), but I will certainly find out if he is or ain't gonna like Vanderslice's song. Another Bruce, this one named Bruce Sinclair, writes, "The song doesn't suck that bad. Might be good to play during the credits." Thanks, Bruce #2, for that ringing endorsement.

If you missed the whole brouhaha last week, won't you go download the "Bill Gates Must Die" mp3 and weigh in on whether it's appropriate to include in the movie? Brian Clark, the producer of "MacArthur Park," is still on my back about it and claims I didn't fully represent his POV in my last diary entry. Mr. Clark is on my back about a lot of things, but I suppose that's what producers do.

Finally, I have to brag on the continued press exposure for "MacArthur Park." Entertainment Weekly printed a brief item about the movie this week (Jan. 12 issue). A website called TechTV published a little something. And Brian Clark hogged the spotlight over there in Orlando.

That's all for now. Keep those cards and letters coming.