hit piece

The 9/11 'Truth' Parlor Game

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2011/011511.html

By Robert Parry
January 15, 2011

It seems that I have upset some folks on the Left again, this time by mentioning – deep inside a story about Sarah Palin’s proclaimed victimhood over the Tucson massacre fallout – that groups like the 9/11 “truthers” also have contributed to America’s crazed political environment.

(Last October, I angered some on the Left by noting that the four previous examples of progressives trying to punish Democrats by sitting out elections or supporting third parties – 1968, 1980, 1994 and 2000 – didn’t work out very well, either in the short- or long-term. I meant the piece to be a historical review of these tactics but it apparently touched some raw nerves.)

Similarly, my brief criticism of the “truthers” prompted a wave of angry e-mails and blog postings. In part, I was accused of showing inadequate respect for the “truther” research and was scolded for not delving deeply enough into the intricate arguments behind their claim that 9/11 was an “inside job.”

Monterey County Weekly Cover Story - 9/11 Truth Hit Piece

(Letters to the Editor: letters@mcweekly.com. Be sure to include name, email, phone, and city, state. Only name and location will be published)

The Truth, Only Censored: The list of Project Censored stories for 2009-10 comes during a weird media moment.

By Rebecca Bowe

http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/archives/2010/2010-Oct-28/the-list-of-project-censored-stories-for-200910-comes-during...
(or go to http://www.montereycountyweekly.com and click on "browse this weeks issue")

The world was a different place in 1976 when Carl Jensen, a professor of communications at Sonoma State University, founded Project Censored to highlight important national news stories that were underreported or outright ignored by the mainstream press.

UQÀM staff denounce 9/11 Truthers speech

Comments are permitted here: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/05/04/montreal-911-conference-uqam.html

UQÀM staff denounce 9/11 Truthers speech
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 4, 2010 | 11:56 AM ET Comments1Recommend10
CBC News

Administrators at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQÀM) say they will develop a formal policy for outside groups renting campus space for events after a controversial lecture about 9/11 drew fire by academic staff.

But the French-language university defended its right to have contentious speakers lecture on campus as part of free speech, saying it was appropriate to debate ideas, as long as events don't incite riots.

The Monday night lecture, hosted by World for 9/11 Truth, drew about 700 people who came to hear from two U.S. academics who deny the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were carried out by terrorists.

The researchers – David Ray Griffin and Richard Gage – believe the U.S. government played a major role in orchestrating the deadly attacks on New York City's Twin Towers and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Griffin and Gage are lobbying for an independent inquiry into the attacks, which killed 3,000 people. Their theories – part of the self-titled Truthers movement that formed after Sept. 11 – have been repeatedly discounted by scientists and civil engineering experts.

Griffin is giving a second lecture on the same topic at UQÀM on Tuesday night.
U.S. experts at UQÀM upset

Some professors at the school argue conspiracy theories have no place at UQÀM.

An otherwise laughable hit piece against Jesse Ventura has one very bizarre paragraph

I was reading the following hit piece against Jesse Ventura by Fox News, and as I was thinking that this has got to be the most ridiculous hit piece I've ever seen (so over-the-top that it almost reads like something out of the Onion, such as when he says he was there and saw with his own eyes WTC7 fall "silently"), I did a major double take when I read this part:

Shortly before the building collapsed, several NYPD officers and Con-Edison workers told me that Larry Silverstein, the property developer of One World Financial Center was on the phone with his insurance carrier to see if they would authorize the controlled demolition of the building – since its foundation was already unstable and expected to fall.

Now, of course, the author's claim is that the building just so happened to collapse before any controlled demolition could actually take place.

I don't think the 911blogger community needs to be reminded that a controlled demolition could not have been set up in the few hours after the attack.

Hit piece from Southern Methodist University (home of the George W. Bush Presidential Library)

I'm reminded of how the halls of academia were poisoned with pseudoscientific propaganda in Nazi Germany. This guy also defends the official JFK story. Fortunately this guy leaves us his e-mail address. Let's blitz him folks!

Wacky theories show poor judgment

By Nathan Mitzer, Staff Columnist, nmitzner@smu.edu

Published: Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Updated: Tuesday, February 23, 2010

One week from today, Texas voters will select the Democratic and Republican party nominees for governor, concluding a seemingly endless primary campaign. The contest has been noteworthy in several respects, especially for the bitter battle for the Republican nomination between the sitting governor, Rick Perry, and an incumbent U.S. senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison. In the last two weeks, however, it appears that Hutchison and her other opponent, Debra Medina, have either come down with a bad case of campaign fatigue or have proven themselves to be the proverbial “six fries short of a happy meal.”

SMH hit piece on Jan Utzon

http://www.smh.com.au/world/utzons-son-signs-up-for-september-11-conspiracy-theory-20091124-jhf7.html

Utzon's son signs up for September 11 conspiracy theory

AS CONSPIRACY theories go, it is up there with the CIA assassination of president John Kennedy and the faked moon landings. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, have spawned a cottage industry devoted to questioning whether they were the work of al-Qaeda and hinting that it was ''an inside job''.

Now a lead figure in the self-described ''9/11 truth movement'', an American architect, Richard Gage, has revealed one of its most high-profile adherents to date: Jan Utzon, son of the world-famous designer of the Sydney Opera House, Joern Utzon.

In a video posted on YouTube during his current visit to Sydney, Mr Utzon is interviewed by Mr Gage and endorses his call for a new inquiry into the September 11, 2001, attacks.

New Hit Piece on KBDI in The Denver Post

The Denver Post would be well served to consider the fate of printed propaganda as it relates to the demise of the now defunct Rocky Mountain News. KBDI has really rattled a lot of cages to be so resolutely attacked by the Denver post here, and now in this bitter and lopsided hit piece by well known Denver columnist Vincent Caroll. Let Mr. Caroll and the Denver Post hear from you in the most articulate and polite way possible. -Michael

PBS Ombudsman Covers KBDI 9-11 Pledge Drives

The Ombudsman Column
PBS, Yes and No

By Michael Getler
September 25, 2009

The Ombudsman2

What follows is more of a grab bag rather than an ombudsman's mailbag.

Included are a couple of unusual but not widely known episodes that unfolded last week that I thought might be of interest more broadly to PBS viewers. They can be seen to have at least some association with PBS in the way they were presented or appeared to the public. Yet PBS, as an enterprise, didn't have anything to do with them.

Todd and Lisa Beamer make a bundle?

Has anyone have any knowledge regarding these claims made in a comment by poster "Henry Kissinger" on a hit piece in the examiner ( http://www.examiner.com/x-17336-Midland-County-Public-Policy-Examiner~y2009m9d12-Charlie-Sheen-is-an-idiot-and-so-are-you ):

"Henry Kissinger says:
Todd Beamer's memorial service was held on 09/16/01 at the Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro, New Jersey. Todd Beamer's wife, Lisa Beamer, a grieving mother of two and four months pregnant with her third child, registers TODDBEAMER.ORG four days later on 09/20/01, incorporates The Todd M. Beamer Memorial Foundation eight days later on 9/24/01 and then applies for the trademark "Let's Roll" ten days later on 9/26/01. Instead of acting like a wife and mother who should be experiencing untold grief, shock, and loss, her behavior turns a catastrophic personal tragedy into a cold and calculating cheap publicity stunt. But then the U S Government's propaganda machine needed heroes as well as villains paraded through the media for their 9/11 conspiracy theory.

Huffington Post Conflates Obama "Birthers" with "9/11 Truthers" and "Fake Moon Landing Idiots"

In addition to this absurd conflation, Ben Cohen blames the 9/11 Truth Movement for not getting Bush and Cheney impeached.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ben Cohen: Why the Birthers Matter

[Beneath a Youtube embed of an Obama Birther passionately making her case at a conference, Ben Cohen writes:]

It's easy to dismiss the woman as a half baked lunatic and lump her in with other conspiracy theorists on the fringes of society. She is of course, and belongs with the fake moon landing idiots and 9/11 Truthers. But the fervor with which she states her case, and the extraordinary reaction of the audience is indicative of a far, far greater problem.

The Obama Birther Movement claims that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and is not a United States citizen. At a National Press Club session, New York preacher James Manning declared Obama "the most notorious criminal in the history not just of America, but of this entire planet."

Here we go again.

"Ghost Group"... yet another truth group I've never heard of. Of course, the korporate media brings them front-and-center.

I wonder if we should have a blog entry continuously updated with a list of hit pieces from the media. - kam

Some Suspect Conspiracy in Holocaust Museum Case

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- To most, the evidence against alleged Holocaust Museum shooter James von Brunn may seem overwhelming.

Surveillance camera video.

Eyewitness accounts.

Von Brunn's red Hyundai parked outside.

Ballistics.

But to some people in Von Brunn's e-mail chain and Web circles, there's a darker truth.

They say the June 10 shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum may be a "false flag" operation. The incident could have been staged by one group, perhaps what they describe as the Jewish-controlled U.S. government, to make it appear to be the actions of another group -- in this case, von Brunn and others who believe Jews exercise too much control in the United States.

In other words, von Brunn could have been set up, they contend.

The Inner Worlds Of Conspiracy Believers

The inner worlds of conspiracy believers

Those who subscribe to 9/11 conspiracy beliefs are generally suspicious and inquisitive, a new study suggests.

By Bruce Bower
Web edition : 10:39 am

Shortly after terrorist attacks destroyed the World Trade Center and mangled the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, conspiracy theories blossomed about secret and malevolent government plots behind the tragic events. A report scheduled to appear in an upcoming Applied Cognitive Psychology offers a preliminary psychological profile of people who believe in 9/11 conspiracies.

Esquire hit piece equates 9/11 Truth with Holocaust denial: "Why People Who Love Conspiracy Theories Are Part of the Problem"

Esquire magazine takes a stab at "conspiracy theorists" in a recent piece ostensibly intended to coincide with the release of Angels and Demons.

This article is so jam-packed with nonsense, it's a veritable Hit Pieces for Dummies. The by-line reads:

"The difference between the millions obsessed with Angels and Demons and the whack jobs denying 9/11 and the Holocaust says a lot about Obama's hopes for a new era of responsibility"

Check out the first paragraph, in which 9/11 Truth is equated with antisemitism, the moon landing, and the New World Order:

Alternet Story: Did Paranoid Right-Wing Media Fuel the Pittsburgh Cop Killer's Rage?

http://www.alternet.org/rights/135592/did_paranoid_right-wing_media_fuel_the_pittsburgh_cop_killer%27s_rage/?page=entire

Did Paranoid Right-Wing Media Fuel the Pittsburgh Cop Killer's Rage?

By Max Blumenthal, The Daily Beast. Posted April 8, 2009.

Richard Poplawski, the man who allegedly murdered three Pittsburgh cops, was clearly influenced by Fox News's Glenn Beck and right-wing radio.

On April 6, two days after the 22-year-old Richard Poplawski allegedly murdered three police officers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a radio host named Alex Jones settled in before a microphone in his studio in Austin, Texas to do some damage control. "The mainstream media has certainly enjoyed tying me into this story," Jones complained. "They're attacking me and saying I'm delusional and there's no New World Order The Second Amendment, what the country's founded on--it's all my fault!"

"Yet Another Problem With the 9/11 Conspiracy Theories"

Is this really "another" problem with the "conspiracy theories?" He's using the same tired talking points used by anti-truthers for years. He actually argues that everyone in the intelligence apparatus would know the whole picture. Also notice the whole "I have personally known people in the alphabet agencies and they're not evil" b.s. He just can't seem to accept that Disney-loving, apple pie eating, baseball watching white Americans of Euro descent could be so evil. Yet he has no trouble imagining that 19 Arabs could pull off such an attack.

***
http://www.opednews.com/populum/diarypage.php?did=12518

I was reading Karen Fish's poll when I realized one of the problems with these theories.

Let me preface this by saying, for those of you who do not know, that I lean rather strongly to the official government explanation of 9/11. I acknowledge some real deficiencies with that explanation, and I do not regard people who believe in the conspiracy theories as dumb or the tinfoil hat set (crazy). I simply view the conspiracy theories as several orders of magnitude worse and more deficient than the official explanation.

RSS