What makes Kevin Barrett tick?- like a cuckoo clock

Uncle Jimbo | 7/24/2006 9:24 am | ...

The Capital Times is well known as an activist publication as opposed to a news source. It's masthead proudly proclaims "Wisconsin's Progressive Newspaper". What I can't figure out is what complete fruit bat Kevin Barrett and his deranged 9/11 conspiracies have to do with Progressivism, and why Aaron Nathans got a front page piece with picture to try and make this nut seem normal titled What makes Kevin Barrett tick?

Does the Cap Times now believe that among the myriad crimes that W and the neo-con cabal have committed is a conspiracy to fake 9/11 and blow the towers by explosives? I mean they have plenty of other editorial positions that are well around the bend, i.e. Bush Lied, Plame Cried etc., but this was front page of section one, purportedly a news section. In almost 2400 words Mr. Nathans is unable to craft a single sentence that questions Mr. Barrett's amazing crackpottery, the only reason he is newsworthy at all. Instead we get gardens of cultivated fluff about how he was beloved of librarians and a challenger of teachers about Vietnam while only a 7th grader.

I realize that this piece was a character study and that all this biological and historical info provides context but Nathans gave us the context and skipped the substance. He quotes Barrett freely discussing his silliness:

"During the speech, Griffin made the case that it was implausible the Pentagon could be hit by an airplane, since it is "surely the best defended building on the planet." The U.S. military has the best radar systems in the world and "does not miss anything occurring in North American airspace," he added."

If somehow a tiny doubt lingers in your mind about whether this was Islamists who hijacked planes rather than an unfathomably impossible conspiracy, watch this simulation about the hit on the Pentagon. Heck watch it period, it is amazing. Now my wife's brother was a member of the Old Guard and as such responsible for Pentagon security in the event of an attack. He described all kinds of aircraft-related debris as he got there mere minutes after the explosion he felt. But in the interest of free discussion we should treat the jibberings of free range moonbats like Doctor (as he corrected me) Barrett as worthy of examination in what is nominally a serious University.

Since Mr. Nathans felt it was vital we know every bit of trivia he could glean from this nuttah, he had no room left for the only interesting thing about this clown, his looniness. Fortunately I elicited a little better look at just what a silly man this is in an email exchange last February when he first put on the big shoes and red nose in an Op-Ed piece.

"Mr. Barrett,

Read your piece in the Cap Times today. I double-checked to see if you were a humorist or satirist, but sadly you appear to be serious.

Good luck with your theorizing, and definitely keep an eye out for the black helicopters. Just out of curiosity, did the planes actually hit the buildings or was that BS too?

Cordially,

Uncle J "

I received a fairly prompt reply:

"Jimbo,

It's DOCTOR Barrett to you ; )

Every statement in that op-ed is thoroughly documented, which is why they published it after it checked out. See footnoted version below.

Denial is not a river in Egypt.

Cheers

Dr. K"

"I'm enjoying the illiterate opprobrium from Uncle Dumbo, the self-appointed CapTimes Rightwing-Moron-In-Residence. Get a load ofthis guy's literary talent:

"This ultra-maroon and his far-too-many compatriots think a conspiracy his involved actually occurred." LOL! see: http://www.madison.com/post/blogs/militarymatters/index.php?
ntid=72738&ntpid=2#

With enemies like these, who needs friends?"

Hint: Start by trying to explain the "Fatty Bin Laden" in the
"confession" video.

Kevin"

Now I don't want to explore Mr. Barrett's preferences for either a Fatty or a Skinny bin Laden, I just think that in a piece as extensive as this one, some look at what a complete nuttah this guy is ought to have made an appearance. He believes the evidence of a conspiracy to fake 9/11 is so overwhelming that anyone who fails to grasp it is crazy. I am back to my initial wonderment about what possible interest an advocacy journal such as the Cap Times could have in advancing the cause of lunacy. You are judged by the company you keep and apparently the conspiratorial stylings of profoundly silly people forms a plank somewhere in the Progressive platform. That is a sad statement, but I don't know what other conclusion could be drawn from such a prominent placement of this love fest.

I believe the UW can hire whoever they want and teach whatever they want. We can also judge them based on those two items. The same goes for the Cap Times and now both have chosen to ally themselves and the reputations of their organizations with a deranged, anti-American activist. I wonder why this surprised me?

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