Fetzer Bites on Barbara Olson Story

As noted below, Fetzer was definitely trying to avoid the topic of the passengers and what happened to them; so desperately that when the topic of Fox News Commentator Barbara Olsen came up, he jumped on it (about 10:30):

Colmes: Wasn’t Barbara Olson on one of the planes? The one that hit at—

Fetzer: Great, let’s talk about Barbara Olson, we have discovered that those cellphone calls would have been physically impossible at speeds—at altitudes above 2000 feet and speeds above 230. AK Dewadney (sic), who’s a professor of computer science from Western Ontario has discovered that it becomes less and less possible to make those connections at the altitudes and speeds of these planes they would not have been possible. Now, Barbara Olson, according to her husband, called him, but he has given three different versions of her call, and get this, Alan, her name is not listed on the Social Security death index. If she’s dead her name ought to be listed there. It’s not.

Colmes: Are you suggesting Barbara Olson’s not dead?

Fetzer: There have been reports, that I haven’t been able to verify, that she was arrested in Europe, her husband is now retired and he has moved to Europe. You figure it out.

Colmes: Ted Olson’s living in Europe?

Fetzer: That’s what I understand. And Ted Olson’s an interesting guy, you know, even though he was the Solicitor General, he observed that—this is probably his most famous quote—that he could imagine infinitely many reasons why the American government might lie to the American people. That’s a lot of reasons, Alan.

Colmes: So you’re suggesting that Ted Olson and his wife are together, living in Europe?

Fetzer: That would be my best guess, Alan. I can’t claim to know that, but it makes sense with what we do know.

This is sheer, unadulterated nuttiness. First, on the Social Security Death Index, there are several reasons why somebody might not appear:

* The death was not reported to the Social Security Administration (SSA).
* The death occurred before the Death Master File was maintained in a computer database. About 98 percent of the deaths in this database occurred between 1962 and the present.
* The person did not participate in the Social Security program.
* Survivor death benefits were (are) being paid to dependents or spouse.
* A recent death may not be indexed yet.
* Human error. (Before you give up, read the section titled "Missing Entries in the SSDI.")

Did Olson have any minor children? They might be receiving survivor benefits. And anyway, why do CTers latch onto lists like this? If you'll notice, this is similar to the claims that the planes couldn't have been destroyed, because their tail numbers were still on an NTSB list. Do they really believe that the conspirators would put together this vast plot, but forget to retire the tail numbers, or add somebody to the Social Security Death Index? The answer, as best I can tell, is that it buys them another moment or two of having somebody listen to their stupidity.

As for Barbara Olson's arrest in Europe, here's the "report" that Fetzer is referring to. The "story" was broken by Tom Flocco, who's one of the nuttiest of the nutbars. His original version of the story had Olson being arrested at the Austrian-Polish border; that was changed to the German-Polish border when it was pointed out that Austria and Poland aren't contiguous.

Flocco is a fruitcake who has broken other "scoops" before, like:

Bush, Cheney and Blair indicted!

Katherine Harris dead!

Update: Commenter Manny was kind enough to point us to this article on Ted Olson from Mid-May:

A former U.S. solicitor general will help Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel appeal his murder conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying Monday the case will focus on when the charges were filed.

Theodore B. Olson has argued 43 cases before the nation's highest court, including representing George W. Bush in the disputed presidential race of 2000.