Debunk This, My Aunt Petunia

This is a series that's getting a fair amount of attention from the Truthers, which goes through fluoride in the drinking water, FEMA death camps, Tim McVeigh, etc. This episode is on the 9-11 Commission and contains the usual quote mining of John Farmer, Tom Kean, Tim Roemer and others, with the predictable conclusion that "we need another investigation."

Of course, the video ignores the fact that the lies the military told to the Commission go against the most popular conspiracy theories. The military tried to claim that it knew about the hijacked planes (especially Flight 93) before it actually did. The video also ignores that the Commission discovered the lies before issuing its report, and, as John Farmer said in an interview:

John Farmer- Well, let me just say that I think the [9-11 Commission] report is, uh, extremely accurate, and- and sets forth the facts of 9/11. And we actually did point out in the report the discrepancies between the accounts that were given and what we actually found.

You won't see Change Duh Channel mining that quote anytime soon.

Are You Ready to Rumble?

My Calgary buddy Rob Breakenridge takes on Jesse "The Truther" Ventura in a steel-cage match, and emerges victorious:

When the subject of 9/11 first comes up, Ventura makes reference to someone with the last name 'Farmer' (Ventura apparently isn't sure about the name), the former senior counsel for the 9/11 commission. Ventura says Mr. Farmer:

"...came out publicly and stated unequivocally that at some point the government decided American citizens would not hear the truth about 9/11"

Well, indeed John Farmer may have said that or something close to it. As you can read here, Farmer believes a CYA mentality set in among several top Bush administration officials.

What Ventura doesn't mention is that Mr. Farmer believes that in the end, the truth was uncovered by the work of the 9/11 Commission.

Indeed, if you read the comments by the "high priest" of the 9-11 "Truth" movement on the Farmer book, you'll find that the Troofers who've actually read the book (and not the cover blurbs) are disappointed that Farmer doesn't back up their crackpot theories:

Even more serious than the book's misleading rhetoric is its one-sidedness. Rather than containing an impartial examination of various types of relevant evidence, this book by Farmer - a former prosecuting attorney - reads like a lawyer's brief: Besides citing a large number of facts that appear to support the Bush-Cheney conspiracy theory and trying to undermine some of the contrary evidence (which supports the alternative theory, according to which 9/11 was an inside job), it seeks to suppress, by simply ignoring, the enormous bulk of this contrary evidence.

Grifter posts a bunch of his "contrary evidence", including, hilariously:

6. Claiming that the alleged hijackers purchased tickets and boarded planes (62, 106), Farmer fails to mention that none of their names - indeed, no Arab names whatsoever - were on the passenger manifests of the flights released by the airlines or on the Pentagon autopsy report (NPHR Ch. 6).

For the 1,000th time, David, the lists released by the airlines were of the victims. By definition, the perpetrators are NOT victims, and thus were not on the lists.

Update: I watched the first episode of Ventura's new TV show, Conspiracy Theory, online here. The show covered HAARP, which crackpots claim is some weather-modifying, earthquake-causing, mind control device. It was definitely a trip. Ventura closes by claiming that as a former Navy SEAL he wouldn't be shut out from a Navy facility. Just for starters, the dolt forgets that he's talking about an Air Force facility:

And anyway, I doubt if Jesse's SEAL trident would get him into lots of naval installations no questions asked. What a maroon!

Next week's episode is on the 9-11 Conspiracy Theories, so I can guarantee I'll be tuning in.

And The Quote-Mining Begins

As I predicted the other day, the nutbars over at 911 Troof dot org are already quote mining John Farmer's new book.

And Rutgers Law School-Newark Dean John Farmer, Senior Counsel and Team Leader to the 9/11 Commission states in his newly released book, The Ground Truth,

"At some level of government,at some point in time, a decision was made not to tell the truth about the national response to the attacks on the morning of 9/11. We owe the truth to the families of the victims of 9/11. We owe it to the American public as well, because only by understanding what has gone wrong in the past can we assure our nation's safety in the future."

Any notion that Farmer's book supports the 9-11 Conspiracy Nutbars call for a new 9-11 Commission should be dispelled by this quote from Farmer's recent interview with Brad Friedman:

John Farmer- Well, let me just say that I think the [9-11 Commission] report is, uh, extremely accurate, and- and sets forth the facts of 9/11. And we actually did point out in the report the discrepancies between the accounts that were given and what we actually found.

9-11 Commission Counsel Farmer Interviewed by Brad Friedman

I cannot recommend this interview highly enough. Farmer overstates, certainly, the earth-shattering revelations in his new book, although it does sound like it is a good book on the commission and on the attacks.

Among other things, Farmer states the following, about 15:15 into the interview:

"Well, let me just say that I think the [9-11 Commission] report is extremely accurate and sets forth the facts of 9-11, and actually we did point out in the report the discrepancies between the accounts that we were given and what we actually found."

He also blames 9-11 on the parties responsible (Al Qaeda and the hijackers); inside the government he blames bureaucracy as the reason the plot was not uncovered beforehand.

You know how the Troofers like to say that nobody was disciplined or reprimanded? Farmer says (24:40) that one Department of Transportation employee (an FAA controller) was disciplined for "failing to be forthcoming with us." But again Farmer highlights that the problems occurred systemically and were largely due to bureaucratic inertia.

Friedman cherry picks a few of the question on the petition Van Jones signed and asks them of Farmer (25:20). This section is particularly highly recommended, as Farmer's answers are probably the same ones I would give.

The Troofers are already claiming that Farmer lied when he said he saw the tapes of the Pentagon crash. If you listen carefully, he says he saw the Citgo gas station tape, but that he did not see a plane crash into the Pentagon; for that he references the eyewitnesses.