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