The whole “Bush is an evil genius” meme is idiotic.

Ya gotta wonder how Bush got Bin Laden to do this tape. Maybe he promised to submit to Islam?

http://donsurber.blogspot.com/2006/10/911-blue-dress.html

Free speech looses its value when used as the raionalization for sanctifying and enshrining falsehoods. A liberal institution should promote the confrontation of ideas, the testing of beliefs and the progress of human understanding. What we’re witnessing with this kid glove approach to Fetzer, Barret and fellow conspiracy “theorists” is pluralism at its worst parading as liberal inquiry. Free speech is not founded on the principle that all ideas are created equal. The purpose of free speech is the promotion of civil society via the peaceful confrontation (and competition) of conflicting ideas. If we shield Barrett and Fetzer from rational, principled debate, what do we hope to accomplish? Do we seek a world where fantasy is deemed as practical as fact, or are we are paying delusional individuals to publicly display their neuroses? From what I’ve seen so far of Barrett and Fetzer’s work, it is not a thoughtful dialogue whose goal is a better understanding of the truth - it is a sensational Springer-esque exploitation of the mentally ill.

Folklore is the perfect way to describe this nonsense. Clearly the hiring and tenure process has failed if morons like these still have employment in public universities.

He doesn’t have tenure you dumbass. He’s not even an associate professor, he’s a goddamn lecturer who gets paid less than minimum wage (like $9,000) for the semester. That’s all this asshole deserves.

EXCLUSIVE 9/11 Pentagon A3 Skywarrior Wreckage Photos

http://home.att.net/~carlson.jon/PentagonA3wreckage1.htm

Lets face it…the only reason why these guys are given an audience is because they’re tenured professors and can’t be fired. Otherwise they’d be stewing off on their own in the woods in the property that used to belong to the Unabomber.

Just because someone’s a professor doesn’t mean they’re smart or learned or erudite or even right.

Too bad these guys can’t be fired. In the real world people do get fired for being wrong, telling lies, and spreading untruths. Ask Dan Rather.

Barrett is not tenured. If you are going to make a statement, try to make a correct one!

ok

“Ask Dan Rather.”

Yeah, ask Bush and Cheney too while you’re at it.

“The purpose of free speech is the promotion of civil society via the peaceful confrontation (and competition) of conflicting ideas.”

I would just like to point out how hypocritical this is. You suggest that ideas are to be debated and you obviously have refused to do so. At no point in your colorful soliloquy do you actually cite any evidence for or against either story. Your critism of the character of Barrett and Fetzer then appears to be the limit of what you are capable of and this quite possibly is inane blather which is a technique of propaganda. By giving a soapbox speech about the values of free speech being violated…by free speech you are doing diservice to the principle itself. I would even suggest that you never observed any of the evidence presented in any form which infers that you have no factual basis to refer to their presentation as, “..a sensational Springer-esque exploitation of the mentally ill.” Maybe you should actually listen to the arguement before you deny it’s merits without justification you boorish twit.

some members of scholars for 9/11 truth don’t “believe the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by the Bush administration.” it is heavy-handed of you to say so, joanna. be very careful how you represent views of a group, however tempting to do so off-handedly. this group in particular has organized not for the purpose of sharing positive beliefs on the attacks but rather in order to search for the truth about them. they can therefore only be said to be united by the belief that the 9/11 commission report is a lie. you go too far by ascribing to them uniformly a belief as to the truth of that important, tragic day, and show your disdain for those who merely doubt the story put out by the government. would it be of interest to you to note that the director of the commission was not impartial but closely allied with the current administration? i think you would do well, as would the 9/11 truth movement, to do as david ray griffin has done: focus on the 9/11 commission report. that is, after all, the text of the official story. i encourage you, and anyone else reading, to locate and read the text of griffin’s “9/11: the myth and the reality” speech, which he gave in oakland, california on march 30 of this year. thank you. jerit, seattle.

Big words, like boorish, very scary.

This guy is exercising his free speech rights. No one is lamenting that. To say that we’re violating his 1st ammendment rights is a red herring and is false.

We’re lamenting the fact that this dweeb gets an audience. He shouldn’t. His ideas are wrong. He shouldn’t be put on the same level as many of the other people who have spoken at UW—except maybe to laugh at him.

It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic.

My concern about the Barrett / Fetzer show is not that their ideas are being given an audience at all, but that the forum wasn’t prepared as one of debate, and therefore failed to accomplish any goal of the University of Wisconsin. There was no formal point-counterpoint at the recent 9/11 folk fest, just a panel of fellow conspiracy theorists being showcased as art (folklore). Barrett and Fetzer’s hypotheses-cum-theories have not been tested in any rigorous manner. They simply flow from a political view - that the current Administration is corrupt - and take a flying leap to the notion that the current Administration orchestrated an attack on the American people. Barrett and his ilk don’t challenge the 9/11 commission’s findings, they simply propose an alternate point of view and then, this is important, fail to defend it. If Barrett simply wants to address society and exercise his first amendment rights, there’s a nice concrete pulpit in Library Mall. If he’d like to earn a living from Wisconsin taxpayers and students, then he needs to demonstrate skill as an educator and/or researcher.

Leary made the choice to commit resources of the University to give Barrett a stage. In doing so, he lends Barrett’s theories a credibility they haven’t earned - an association with the University of Wisconsin. By giving Barrett a microphone and an auditorium, Leary didn’t promote free speech - he created a space for protected, priviledged speech.

A University lecture hall is not a free speech zone. It is a venue for academic pursuit, and is controlled by the University pursuant to its mission of research and education. We shouldn’t put gadflies on the payroll just to be “inclusive” of individuals with big ideas if those ideas are unburdened by logic and reason. That doesn’t make us “cool” or “liberal” or “avant garde.” When a professor gives a failing grade, he’s not being “intolerant” of your answers to the test, he’s just evaluating them against objective standards, and communicating that evaluation to you. that’s what you’re paying tuition for - the evaluation, and hopefully, the standing evaluation of accreditation (graduation). Relegate people like Barrett and Fetzer to venues where participants are required only to concieve an opinion, not research or defend it. I believe daytime TV has created wonderful opportunities for such pursuits. And there’s always Library Mall…

I suppose some of those posting here and calling Dr Barrett names actually know how it happened that molten steel dripped out of the south tower before it collapsed, and was found in pools in the rubble piles not just of the twin towers, but also of building #7, a massive 47 story skyscraper that was never hit by an airplane yet somehow collapsed at 5 pm that day in about 7 seconds. It’s just unfortunate that they prefer insults to actual facts.

So Fetzer is still claiming that the A-3 Sky Warrior is a “small jet” capable of firing missiles? Even though he’s been proven wrong, publicly, by J.R. Dunn, former editor of the International Military Encyclopedia?

This makes him a liar as well as a fool.

The A-3 Sky Warrior was a 45-ton bomber decommissioned in March 1991 (that means the U.S. military hadn’t been using them for over ten years on 9/11). Never capable of firing missiles (they were only armed with bombs and a pair of 20mm cannons in the rear). 76 feet long with a 72 ft. wingspan (sound like a “small jet” to you?). Powered by J57-P10 engines (never JT-8D ones, as Fetzer claims).

The fact he builds his case around the claim of A-3s and clearly knows nothing about them is all the proof necessary to show that these “Scholars” haven’t the foggiest notion what they’re talking about.

Point this out any time one of them brings it up, and watch them scramble their own brains.

http://aeroweb.brooklyn.cuny.edu/specs/douglas/a-3a.htm

http://www.globalaircraft.org/planes/a-3_skywarrior.pl

UW has gone nuts. This Barrett thing is turning them into a nation farce.

there is also a similar article on the CNN website worth looking at: http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/10/11/instructor.sept.11.ap/index.html the only problems I have with either article is that Bush v. Hitler’s IQ differential is only placed at about 30 points; it’s probably closer to 60. Hitler was a psychotic genius. and Bush isn’t smart enough to come up with the convoluted ideas which are resulting in his army buddies and army provider buddies making a LOT of money. who do you think is receiving all of those trillions of dollars that are currently shown as “the National Deficit”? follow the money, guys… and don’t think there isn’t another reason why our govt isn’t building up our national “human resources”.

I am posting this comment anonymously because I am not going to register for your message board. My name is Lee Bowles from Charlotte, NC and I want to say that I feel badly for any student who is wasting their tuition funds by being forced to listen to Mr. Barrett. I will not refer to him as a doctor because he is trash in my eyes. I first heard about this story on the O’Reilly Factor. I know that the tragedy of 9/11 brought out many emotions ranging from outrage to heartbreak and everything in between. I think that the publicity that this Barrett idiot is bringing to the University of Wisconsin and the state of Wisconsin is horrible. This man needs to be relieved from his post as a teacher. By his slanted stance on this subject, he shows his political agenda, his ignorance, and his lack of respect for his students by telling them lies as if they were truth. Which is worse: Barrett’s opinion of 9/11 or the Iranian leader denying that the Holocaust ever happened?? Congratulations Wisconsin. The rest of the country sees this man as your mouthpiece until he is removed from his post.