Happy Holidays from Vectus PRT

Who says PRT can't operate in snow?

Liar video

I could swear the guy on the right is really the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist in disguise:



Update: Archived video here


gPRT

Mr. & Mrs. McCarthyism

"I would say, what I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look -- I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think the people would love to see an expose like that."

Doesn't that sound familiar? What other Minnesota propagandist has been saying things like that -- for years?

"I would like to see the media investigate why Bachmann, Olson, Vandeveer and Zimmermann promoted PRT" Source

"The next time you read a puff piece... write the publication or Web site and demand a real investigation of the PRT flim-flam." Source

"The next time you read a puff piece... let them know you don't buy their con -- write the publication or website and demand a real investigation of the PRT flim-flam." Source

"As I have said before, there needs to be an investigation of PRT by the major media before the election this fall." Source

"The media in the Twin Cities has let the electorate down by not investigating the role PRT has played in Minnesota politics. I hope there will be an investigation of PRT before next year's election" Source

"I have asked the Star Tribune to investigate the claims of the PRT promoters for years." Source

"Perhaps the best way to sort fact from fiction about PRT is to ask an investigative reporter to verify the claims of the PRT proponents... Perhaps GRIST would consider an investigative article on PRT?" Source

"I've been encouraging publications to assign reporters to investigate PRT and sort out fact from fiction." Source

Kiln Ovendoor probably has all our names on a list in his pocket.

Hypocrisy alert: Kenwood guilt-by-associates PRT to Bachmann at 1:45 pm, Oct. 19.
Then at 2:02 pm he criticizes Bachmann for using guilt by association! (h/t Atren)

Hypocrisy Update (10/23): He posts again about Bachmann's guilt by association -- and then he GBAs Bachmann to Olson. Also GBAs PRT to Olson.

"I'm shocked, shocked to find there is guilt by association going on!"

gPRT
Ken Avidor says PRT isn't pro-America

Rehab

What do you do when you need to hide from your embarrassing past? Why, you "retire," then get someone to write a puff-piece on you to rehabilitate your image!

That's what a blogger named Roz has done, making the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist the subject of the first of a series about "creative people I admire" (Update, 3/6/09. Months later, the only other person she admires appears to be Gumby -- not that there's anything wrong with that).

Roz lists a whole mess of stuff about Kenwood that makes him sound like a modern day Albert Schweitzidor -- down to the interest in parasites and disease! Roadkill Bill, blogging, bicycling, and civic participation are all mentioned.

But wait -- Roz doesn't mention anything about Labridor's greatest claim to fame, that for which he is known on at least two continents. That's right: nowhere does Roz mention Kennel Ration's vendetta against Personal Rapid Transit, and his smear campaign against its supporters. Just like he forgot to mention PRT when he "retired" from blogging in January of this year.

I guess you didn't know about that, Roz. That's OK. Maybe he doesn't talk about it in the meatworld. Here's a secret -- I don't really talk about it either. Anymore. Because when I used to talk about it, people would be flabbergasted at the way Kenmore uses smear and Talking Points like he learned them at the feet of Karl Rove.

That's what your hero has been doing for the last five years, Roz -- making up stuff about a technology about which he knows nothing, and alleging a a decades-long conspiracy he tries to blame for everything from community blight in central England, to the failure to build light rail in Minneapolis in the 1970s.

A "commentator"? His record of inaccuracy is laughable. And yet he has never admitted his mistakes, even when caught.

Then there're the smears. There are lots of them, but for my money the most despicable was the time Ovendoor blamed the wrong company for a multi-fatality rail accident -- simply because the company's co-founder sits on the board of a PRT company.

In second place is Kenny-Boy's repeated use of guilt by association to attempt to discredit Prof. Ed Anderson, whose only sins are that he helped oppose the Reagan administration's MX missile policy, and now wants to improve public transit.

I guess if I had done all that, I'd want to bury it too.

New - Ovendoor is shocked, shocked to find that Smoochy Bachmann uses guilt by association!

gPRT
Ken Avidor -- English for cajones grande

Busted

Slap the truth-cuffs on Kennel Ration the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist, another of his 'conjectures' has come up empty.

Back when the second Podcar City Conference was wrapping up, Labridor was making up all kinds of stuff about it not being a success (without attending in order to see for himself, natch):

"Podcar conference a bust," went one claim.

More guesswork: "I'm sure they also expected to see some national publicity come out about the conference. In the last few days... (crickets)." [ellipsis in original]

Is this supposed to mean "elitism"? "The Ithaca Podcar Conference Charging Students $60 (no food)"

And: "Only a handful of Ithacans showed up at the State Theater"

Well a photo record of the conference has finally been posted, and nothing refutes empty lies like some pictures:

Banquet

Day 1

At the press lunch

These are students! (Maybe $60 was a lot when Humidor was a student, back in the Coolidge Administration)

And how about these for media coverage? Do these qualify?

Rep. Hinchey Visits C.U. For Podcar Convention 9-15-08
Can PRT, or Podcars, Replace the Automobile? 9-18-08
Ithaca takes a hard look at podcars 9-20-08 (NY Times)
Ithaca, NY, wants to be America's 1st podcar city 10-10-08 (AP, which is therefore picked up all over the place)

More news hits

Far from a bust, then. Any comment, Kenwood? Kenwood? (crickets)

Also: "over 100 people" attended the State Theater event

gPRT
Ken Avidor used to be Ken Weiner, but decided to give up his meat name

That Was Fast (or, This Also Sounds Familiar)

A mere two weeks after writing --

I'm not going to be wasting time following the pathetic antics of... the Personal Rapid Transit pod people anymore.

Source

(In other words:)

Now lo and behold, here comes Kiln Ovendoor out of retirement with more of his reheated anti-PRT propaganda Talking Points.

This time his smears -- innocuously titled A Brief History of PRT in Minnesota -- are on the site of Minnesota 2020, a progressive think tank. Why Minnesota? I thought Kennel Ration said he lives in Alameda.

This time he's again trying to fool people into thinking that because some PRT supporters hold certain political positions on transit, all PRT supporters in the whole wide world must believe the same things.

The result is Kenwood's usual slanted and biased view of PRT. It's sad that someone with his record of willful, repeated distortion and inaccuracy (documented by multiple writers) has the nerve to call anything he writes about PRT a "history."

Welcome MN2020 readers: debunking the "PRT promoters helped to block the MTC proposal" lie

gPRT
Ken Avidor can't afford to retire -- his karma is bankrupt

What grade is a slippery slope?

This looks like fun. All these little guys need are elevated rail, automation and offline stations. Could Little Railroad Pods are a Joke be in our near futures?




gPRT
The Good, the Bad, and the Ken Avidor

It sounds familiar, somehow...

Yes, it's another end of another era for Kiln Ovendoor the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist:

The Dump Mark Olson Blog Going Back Into Mothballs

...I'm not going to be wasting time following the pathetic antics of Rep. Mark Olson or his pals the Personal Rapid Transit pod people anymore.

Source

I know, he's declared victory so many times that his latest announcement of retirement from blogging is more underwhelming than usual.

The last time was when A Transportation Enthusiast and I called Kenwood on his kid-glove treatment of conservative Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg. This followed on the heels of his embarrassment over the Ray Cox Affair, as well as Poolgate and a smear on Cornell University.

Kennel Ration needed to lay low for a while, so he claimed a New Year resolution (more then 2 weeks after Jan. 1) to spend less time on the internet, and made himself scarce.

It lasted until June.

As for the newest 'retirement,' I had several premises to choose from for this post. There was:

"Regulators seize Dump Mark Olson - Value of
blogger retirement sinks on repeated erroneous prediction
of foes' demise"

Topical -- but too wordy. I could also have gone with:

"End of the Propagandist - A Transportation Enthusiast
orders flags to be flown at 99.999-hundredths staff"

Or:

"A&E starts 15-year countdown clock to
Propagandist's where-are-they-now retrospective"

Or even:

"Propagandist quits to spend more time with Michele Bachmann"

But I think one image is all we need:



Will he be back? Of course he will! He's gonna be bogged down in his ill-conceived War on Gadgetbahn for a hundred years!

Read Part II

gPRT
You won't have Ken Avidor to kick around anymore

Against it before he was for it

Now he's an urban planner.

The city of Alameda (Kenwood claims he lives there) is working with the developer SunCal to redevelop Alameda Point, the site of the former Alameda Naval Air Station. Good idea? That's for the community to decide.

The Point is a sprawling 770 acre brownfield at the west end of Alameda's island.

One version of SunCal's proposal, option "B," was designed by reknowned planner Peter Calthorpe. The concept calls for 6,000 homes on 700 acres of the Point. This translates to 13,056 people on just over 1 square mile, nearly the density of San Francisco (16,634). Alameda's current density is on the order of 2500-ish per sq mi.

Calthorpe has designed it to have a PRT network, and SunCal wants to connect it to BART in Oakland. Therefore, Kenmore hates the "B" plan.

Kennel Ration says PRT is being put forward to get around environmental regulations that limit density, instead of offering "real solutions" for transit:

Is PRT also an Environmental Regulation-Busting Tool?[*]
. . .
PRT is being used to bamboozle citizens in Alameda into scrapping Measure A, a ballot initiative aimed to regulate development...

...The 1972 ballot initiative regulates lot size and forbids construction of housing units that would accommodate more than two families. The developer has put forward two potential options, both of which would require a ballot initiative, likely in 2009, that would waive Measure A at least at Alameda Point.

Instead of offering a real solution to the transportation needs of the people who move into those additional 2,000 units, Suncal offers an imaginary, snake-oil solution - PRT... CLEVER!!! Source

In other words, he is complaining the Point "B" plan ought to be using light rail. Here's his contradictory logic: with light rail, plan "B" would still be 13,056 people per sq mi. Hold on -- is that density "regulation-busting," or isn't it? Note also that Lubridor misrepresented Measure A's purpose -- it is not primarily to protect the environment, but to keep density low (no more than 2 families per lot). The slogan of the Keep Measure A campaign is "No Overcrowding."

But if the regulations aren't busted, that low density is not cost effective for light rail. And if you don't have density, the alternative is sprawl somewhere else. Humidor is either supporting Measure A against Smart Growth and higher densities that help any mass transit work better, or is fine with busting regulations if it is light rail doing the busting.

He's against Smart Growth before he was for it! He was a NIMBY until he wasn't!

Thermidor always thinks light rail is the solution and ignores the urban planning context. Now, I'm not an urban planner either. But I've looked at enough MUPs to notice some realities at Alameda that would render conventional, large-vehicle transit problematic, although not impossible.

It has to do with distance and cost. The most direct route for a light rail connection to BART is to go north about 1200 yards, to the West Oakland BART station.

Except there's something in the way: the Oakland Inner Harbor. This is a 300 yard wide navigable waterway. An expensive high bridge would be needed to cross it, in order to allow ocean-going freighters and the San Francisco ferries to pass beneath.

The alternative would be to run the light rail line east through the built-up area of Alameda. Not only would this create a beneficial transit connection to and for the rest of the city, but it would also allow light rail to cross the Inner Harbor channel at its narrowest point in the Fruitvale Bridge area, and then on to the Fruitvale BART station. These would be good results.

The problem is that it's about 4.8 miles to Fruitvale Bridge, and through the heart of town. Do you think Alameda or SunCal have $250 millionish for such a disruptive project? Light rail in this situation would be a non-starter politically. No redevelopment, no "busting" of regulations -- no Smart Growth. "CLEVER!!!"

* Notice his longtime and frequent use of the question mark. It's a classic cheat used by ignoramuses and propagandists -- a question mark turns a smear into a question. They don't really answer the question, they just present distortions, so to the casual reader it appears the smear is the answer to the question. Plus, if fact-checkers catch them lying, propagandists can use the excuse 'I was only asking a question.'

Update (11/23): Developer chooses the 4,000 home option

He's green until he's not (2012)

gPRT
Someone's knockin' on my Ken Avidor, somebody's ringin' the bell

Thursday 16:35 PDT

I just posted the following on one of Kennel Ration's YouTubers:

Oh Ken. Ken, Ken, Ken. The "not feasible" statement has been retracted by the Irvine Director of Public Works: "We regret any misunderstanding that may have resulted due to our characterization of the availability of PRT to meet the City's criteria". [ link ]

That's the truth. Delete this comment and you're suppressing it.

Let's see how long it takes for him to hit the Delete!

Answer (9/20): about two days!
You know who else puts out smears and repeats them even after they're exposed?



gPRT
Ken Avidor + Karl Rove = Ken McCainidor

Propagandist lets loose with Cheney-like aim

The 2nd Podcar City Conference -- this time in Ithaca, New York -- has just concluded, which can mean only one thing: a Surge of anti-PRT propaganda from Kenthorpe Thermidor the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist.

If you get Google Alerts on PRT you've no doubt laffed at Kennel Ration's frantic, scattershot antics in the LA Times, Treehugger and the Cornell Sun. Therefore I won't do a detailed recitation here of his lame smears. Instead, I'll interpret (term from my museum NGO days) some of his Talking Points where they touch on broad PRT-related issues.

Hints of Dark Forces
"Who are the 'generous sponsors' funding this Podcar Conference?" he asks, linking to a page with no sponsor names at the website of conference organizer Podcar.org, the Institute of Sustainable Transportation (IST). In another example of his habitual or intentionally poor research, the list of sponsors is on a different page. The names on the list is further evidence of how PRT's support does not come from Dark Forces. The non-PRT sponsors are:

• SIKA, a think tank under the Swedish Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications
• Visit Ithaca, a tourism organization
• Cornell University
• Ithaca College Sustainability Program
• Eco Village at Ithaca
• Apricon, a Swedish project management firm
• Chemung Canal Trust of Elmira NY
• WNYY 1470AM Progressive Talk Radio
• NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
• Sustainable Tompkins
• Alternatives credit union
• C&S, a construction company with offices in seven states (four offices in New York)
• Ithaca Carshare
• Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit, the Ithaca-area transit agency and a nonprofit company

Look at the number of progressive and/or environmental state and local organizations on the list! This is homegrown interest in PRT, not some outsider, top-down conspiracy -- which Kenwood claims when he alleges a shadowy "they" (unspecified) "were here in Minnesota four years ago." But IST was not in Minnesota in 2004; and Vectus PRT was not even on the map yet (POSCO didn't start it until 2005).

Rodiva also asks "Why are traditional transit organizations and professionals not participating?" -- well isn't TCAT, the Ithaca transit agency, 'traditional' enough for him?

Notice what group was not at the conference: the Discovery Institute. Fact: Discovery is trying to get Diesel Mobil Unit rail on King County's Eastside, which is a conventional rail technology!

Elitism
"Ithaca Podcar Conference Charging Students $60," reads another Kenweed headline. Ignoring that it's a professional conference renting the Historic State Theater, so costs must be recouped. And it must have been OK since Cornell is a sponsor (see above); the $60 student price was a $30 discount.

Implications of corruption
Kenmore has had this in his toolbox for a while. He trial-ballooned it when he tried to tie Ed Anderson to a conman in the Cabintaxi era, and later tried to make PRT part of the Zimmermann bribery case, though PRT was never part of the case. This time he has locked onto progressive sustainability activist Jake Roberts. Roberts is the host of the Podcar Conference, and because he recently had to step down as executive director of the Ithaca Festival, Kenwood hinted there must be some PRT responsibility. Except that was a cheap and empty smear: I found out (by reading Ithaca news for 5 minutes) that PRT had nothing to do with the Festival's fiscal problems, and corruption isn't even at issue. The organization was simply overextended.

Selective attention"Debbie Cook does not appear at the Ithaca Podcar Conference," screams the headline at the Dump Mark Olson blog (motto: No one posts comments since I banned Mr_Grant and A Transportation Enthusiast). "Congressional candidate Debbie Cook will not appear at the Podcar Conference as the Podcar website claimed," writes the Louella Parsons of the Luddites, trying to claim the Conference is "a bust." While it is mildly disappointing Cook chose to appear by video, I am encouraged that she chose to stay home to campaign against Dana Rohrbacher and have a presence in Ithaca. It's the New Millennium -- Cook telecommuted.

And like we did above with the list of organizations, let's look at the prominent individuals who were at the conference:

• Councilman Gus Ayer, California (D)
• Councilman Ed Porter, California (GP)
• Mayor Carolyn Peterson, Ithaca (D)
• U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, New York (D-22)

Liberals! Progressives! They were all there, and one can only assume that Amnesidor simply forgot to mention Rep. Hinchey (who only sits on Appropriations). Because their participation is more evidence PRT is not a right wing plot -- that Talking Point is effectively dead*: Peterson is well-known as an environmentalist, and even declared a Grateful Dead Day for god sake.

Add to the list officials who are participating in PRT in some way, such as John Garamendi (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) -- the last two enthusiastic about Masdar -- and we can say that PRT-friendly liberals not only outnumber Michele Bachmann and Mark Olson (neither of whom were in attendance in Ithaca)...

We can also say the liberals are more effective about PRT. When was the last time Bachmann or Olson did anything effective for PRT? Or even attend a PRT conference? Hinchey speaks of a new federal transportation bill that includes PRT -- why hasn't Bachmann done that? Why didn't the Resmuglicans propose PRT bills in all the years they controlled Congress?

Supporters are the ones who do things. Progressives, environmentalists and community-based groups are the ones who are organizing behind PRT, who are doing.



*Although that doesn't mean it won't rise again, zombie-like

gPRT
Tick-tock, Ken Avidor. Tick-tock.

Mock Journalist, Part V - Bonehead Revisited

Remember the Ken Avidor-authored laff riot otherwise known as Was the ULTra test track bulldozed? Journey with me now to the days of yesteryear --

It was February 19, 2007, and Kennel Ration tried to use Google Maps to prove that the Cardiff test track had been removed. The ULTra website shows an aerial photo of the track, but Google Maps shows a vacant lot -- the track must be gone and ULTra a failure! was his line of reasoning. It didn't occur to Kenmore that the Google Maps photo might be -- oh, I don't know -- out of date?

I responded to him, also on February 19, with my own satirical take on his gaffe.

Have you tried our new information resource, The PRT-Centered Universe of...? In the course of doing research for it, I happened upon a posting to a Welsh message board:

Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 12:20 am
Post subject: ULTra Cardiff Test Track... Bulldozed?
Does anyone know if the ULTra Test track at the end of Viking Ln is still there? [ellipsis in original]
Source

Now, over the years I have been critical of Vapidor's lame attempts at journalism, so it's good to see him, the ex-Transportation Editor of the Twin Cities Daily Planet, trying to ask questions, seeking the whole story.

Oh but wait -- notice the date. February 20 -- the day after his original blog post!¹

That wasn't a real reporter's question, it was Labridor desperately trying to get the 'proof' he should have tried to get before publishing the story! Which makes his 'story' a Lie.^®

1. Even accounting for time zones, 12:20am in Cardiff is 6:20pm in Minneapolis, and Kenwood's original blog post was at 10:11am.


gPRT
Ken Avidor got his tit caught in a big fat wringer

It's curtains for the propagandist

The obvious thing about Kiln Ovendoor's Talking Point about cutting down half the trees on the block is this:

Show of hands -- who doesn't have curtains or blinds on their bedroom windows?

Related: LA Times Steve Hymon blog

gPRT
She came in through the bathroom Ken Avidor

Rep. Bachmann gets a promotion

She's now Senator Bachmann. The jump-up is courtesy of Kennel Ration, the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist. Would I lie to you?

In Minnesota, the biggest supporters of PRT are the usual anti-rail transit suspects: Senator Michele Bachmann, Rep. Mark Olson (16b), Phil Krinkie.... and Dean Zimmermann [ellipses in original]. Source

Too bad no other Los Angeles Times readers know or care who Olson, Krinkie or Zimmermann are. People less concerned with Guilt By Association and more into finding additional transit alternatives probably care more that PRT has been endorsed by the World Wildlife Fund* and the EU.

Related: LA Times Steve Hymon blog

Also today: World Premiere!
New Feature!

* Click Skycab thumbnail

gPRT
Ken Avidor, the human cut and paste hot key

Missed it by THAT much

Post #200!

What is the margin of error for the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist? For instance, one of his 'proofs' that PRT is a hoax and a scam is that a felon proposed a PRT test track before he was a felon. Well, ATS proposed and built a test track in Wales, for a PRT system that is now under construction at Heathrow -- was that test track a scam too? Did ATS succeed in hoodwinking Cardiff County, the UK government and the EU into funding . . . . something that proved PRT works?

So no -- proposing a PRT test track does not prove PRT is a hoax or scam.

That's a pretty huge error though. Has Roadkill Bill International no Quality Control Division?

Here's another one, it comes from that golden age of anti-PRT propaganda known as 2004. It concerns this infamous piece of disinformation:


Truthtellers have long since debunked it based on what can actually be seen in the image. First, the 'ugly' guideway is the late-90s Raytheon version that was canceled years before Ovendoor created the image. Therefore, he was asking people to judge PRT on the basis of how it was not going to look.

Second, Wikipedia editors determined he was showing the guideway disproportionately large -- out of scale. Meaning he was asking people to judge PRT on the basis of how it was really not going to look!

Despite these truths he keeps on using this image. Hey Kenwood: repeating something over and over until the truth sinks in, catapulting the propaganda, doesn't make something true. Until now, the PRT community's counter-propaganda troops have relied on these facts to Fight The Photo.

But recently some additional facts emerged. Thanks to Google Maps and its Satellite and Street View functions, plus my experience in aerial photo interpretation, "PRT Is a Joke" IS A JOKE has determined that the photo was taken at the corner of 36th and S. Grand in Minneapolis. The business at left is a laundromat, and the one in the center is Present Moment Books & Herbs.

By itself, the location is immaterial. However if we look at what Labridor wrote about PRT and this particular location, it becomes yet another example of how you can't trust anything he puts out. Here's what he wrote in Wikipedia:

The illustration shows an actual PRT guideway (Raytheon) on an actual street in Minneapolis (where Dean Zimmermann and the CPRT propose to build a PRT system) Source

Now here's a map of said Zimmerman/CPRT proposal -- with a special enhancement!

Can you spot the enhancement? It's the Green Arrow. If you follow that arrow off the edge of the map and go another 3-and-a-half blocks, you'll come to 36th & Grand.

THAT'S RIGHT: Humidor was claiming Zimmerman/CPRT wanted to PRTify a place that no one was talking about PRTifying.

Kenjob should not take this as a total defeat though -- I've shown that Hippy Paradise is not in danger.

Recently: Leave your car at the Coliseum and take the PRT to campus (Morgantown)

gPRT
Ken Avidor is the world's longest underwater tunnel

The fibber's latest fibs

Bon jour gadgetbahners, I have indeed returned from a great holiday in France. So you can understand if I look down the list of the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist's smelly output of the past two weeks, and simply smile at how trivial it (and he) is.

Ken Avidor has been a busy boy though. For entertainment purposes, the most fruitful of his prating have got to be his contributions to the Action Alameda News blog. The blog about life in that San Francisco Bay Area community¹ had a post about Peter Calthorpe's pitch for redevelopment at Alameda Point (a, b; also here), and Avidor had to chime in with his usual Talking Points.

I'll skip over the old ones that have already been debunked, and focus on two interesting New Fibs. They are just as lame as New Coke.

1. Kenny-Boy wrote a letter to Action Alameda News, and signed it "Ken Avidor, Alameda." He lied so his smear job would gain the added legitimacy of local relevance. What do you call that -- a sock puppet address? But maybe he's really moved there! It's possible I guess. Advice: It's California, Kenwood, wear your sunscreen!

2. After his Minnesota residency is exposed by Atren, the Action Alameda author is intrigued enough to do a follow up. An interview with Ken is recounted, in which he talks about the origin of his PRT hatred:

...says that his opposition to PRT is rooted in his experience in 2004, watching the City of Minneapolis approve a study of a PRT system. Source

Interesting and moving, except for one thing: one of Kennel Ration's biggest claims to infamy, his seminal anti-PRT fearmongering cartoon, dates from April 23, 2003.

But wait -- on his own website, Kenwood wrote:

I first encountered the strange world of PRT in 1989, two years after I moved to Minneapolis from Manhattan. Source

C'mon Ken, which is it -- 1989, 2003, or 2004? Pick one and stick with it. Or are you doing that time-distortion thing you do so well???

Archives: He's ready for warmer climates in his Sonny Crockett blazer --

Related: Some of what I saw in France (@Viropop)



gPRT
Ken Avidor puts the IN in 'inaccuracy'
1. Hey Ken, have you picked up on the fact I was in the East Bay area in mid-July? Coincidence???

See his Right-Wing Connection V: His newest fans

Hey PRTistas, take a gander at who's copying the moves of the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist this time.

Birds of a-feather Photoshop together!

New from FOX News (h/t Media Matters) --



-- compare to this classic by Kiln Ovendoor:

Yes, the right wing Death Star has looked at the contents of Ken Avidor's toolbox, and likes what it sees.

"See his Right-Wing connection" Series

Also today: Q- "Who Will Stop Rep. Mark Olson?"
A- Apparently not the Dump Mark Olson Blog!

And...
Look who's Bachmann-bashing is #1! (hint: it's ours)

gPRT
Dare we hope Fox is planning a new show -- "Avidor & Colmes"?

Like a Pig in Slop, and other bliss similes

Kiln Ovendoor the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist must be in heaven. Not only has his new "Personal Rapid Transit is Bogus" blog rocketed to the top of the Google hit parade, but recent news has given new energy to the guilt-by-association side of his anti-innovation campaign. It's going to be an anti-PRT Surge (©Resmuglican National Committee)!

1. Kenwood has been getting in touch with his inner parole officer, tracking the release status and whereabouts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) of former Minneapolis councilman Dean Zimmermann (G-Your Hair Smells Terrific). As long as Kenmore is on the case, we can be sure Zimmermann will not be able to hold a job or live within 1,000 feet of a school -- because isn't bribery the kind of offense you should have to pay for the rest of your life?

2. State Rep. Slappy Olson (R-16 Candles) has decided to go for a promotion to the State Senate -- good news for Labridor's dusty Dump Mark Olson blog, which therefore gets a new lease on life. May that blog's record of accuracy live long and prosper!

Yes, the Zimmermann and Olson PRT-smear threads survive for another election cycle! If Humidor continues to be as successful as he has been at dumping Michele Bachmann, in a few months we should be saying a big hello to Mayor Zimmermann and Senator Olson!


gPRT
It's 11 pm -- do you know where your Ken Avidor is?

Pics of the Day - "Skyweb Express" is all wet!

"Craig Horsfield’s Skyweb Express, USA655 at the St. Francis YC dock after winning the first West Coast Mini 650 Offshore Race. Congrats to Craig and his crew Tom on their achievement!"

Never Sea Land

gPRT
"...the Professor and Mary Ann, here on Ken Avidor's Isle!"

Dear Readers - You did it!

You took my advice, embraced the opposition, and did something to help a propagandist feel good about himself. You helped make Kiln Ovendoor the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist's new blog #1 on Google!

That's right-- type in "personal rapid transit" bogus, hit enter, and Personal Rapid Transit is Bogus is Number One! Even higher than Kenwood's original PRT is a Joke page!

(click to enlarge)

You guys are *sniff* the best *sob* readers in the world! Now I'm all verklempt.



gPRT
Ken Avidor is "Number One" all right

Schmuck To The Future!

Kennel Ration the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist took a break from his new "Personal Rapid Transit is Bogus" blog today -- returning to Dump Bachmann to slam PRT, thereby sapping energy from the effort to unseat Rep. Michele Smoochy Bachmann (MN-666).

For the second post in a row, I have to compliment him. His post is like the old days, as if he hadn't left DB after being caught tossing softballs at social conservative, pro-gun, pro-highway Elwyn Tinklenberg. Some highlights:

• A setup question that goes nowhere. He poses the question, "what happened to Bachmann's plan to get Minnesotans to ride around in pods?" but then proceeds to bury it under a couple quotes from the Advanced Transit Association newsletter. He never really gets around to answering the question.
  
  
• Non-denial denials. The first ATRA quote includes a description of his famous phone conversation with then-ATRA Treasurer Larry Fabian. The reader expects Labridor is going to disprove, after all this time, the account of his profane tirade. Contemporaneous notes? An audio recording? A witness? But no. He doesn't really address this either.
  
  
• Guilt by association. The first ATRA quote also characterizes Humidor's tactics, including "he attacks people more than ideas and is ready to condemn with guilt by association." Kenmore then makes his fans happy by doing exactly that -- mentioning PRT in the same breath as Dean Zimmermann's bribery case and Mark Olson's domestic violence! He also trots out the ultimate tar brush, the Pod Squad cartoon that implies PRT is a crime.

But the best part of the whole post, what really makes it perfecto, molto bene, happens right up front. Just like the time he used Google Maps to 'prove' the Cardiff PRT test track had been bulldozed, today he fiddles with time-space in a way that would make Hawking proud.

After quoting a July 10, 2008 article about Smoochy Bachmann's new 'energy tour' gimmick, Kenwood writes that "While she claims Democrats "refused to address our nation's rising gas cost", this is sort [sic] of legislation Bachmann worked on:"

What did he put after the colon? A quote from a public radio story. Except it was from April 2004 -- over four years ago (when gas was not $4+ per gallon), and more than two years before Smoochy went to Congress in January 2007!

He doesn't address the issue of why Smoochy hasn't put forward a PRT bill in Congress, or why the Resmuglicans didn't either in all the years they controlled both houses. But when liberals like Debbie Cook get involved in PRT, he attacks them.

Wasn't that great? It's another example of why I'm so glad he's back on the internet. It's a blogging style, a presence we can only hope he brings to Personal Rapid Transit is Bogus!

Archives: Hello Minnesota 6th Congressional District! (10/10/2007)
Schmuck To The Future "II": He shadows me again at Viropop (7/12)

gPRT
I'm gonna get me some kibbles and Ken Avidor!