I win

Editor's note: We continue beta-testing the change to one of the oldest editorial policies of "PRT is a Joke" IS A JOKE. For a limited time, The Name of the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist will be shown -- although special formatting will be used.

I've finally found the final, ultimate, conclusive, definitive proof that PRT Is a Joke IS A JOKE is vastly superior to Ken Avidor's PRT Is a Joke.

As you know, Ken went to art school and became a cartoonist.

Whereas, I studied Public Policy -- and guess who has left Hollywood (at least temporarily) to study Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School? Yeah, that's right:



How many big-time movie stars have decided to take a break from Tinseltown to study cartooning? No, I can't think of any either.

New-Used Today--

Kena Wei has a new-used blog, The PRT Moondoggie! Surf on over and say Aloha, Haole!

Go ahead, Kena, get it out of your system

gPRTPRT Boondoggle ?

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

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"?

Glitch in the anti-PRT propaganda machine

Kiln Ovendoor said he was going to spend less time on the internet, but that doesn't mean he can't talk through others -- such as this new article in Thisweek Online out of Minnesota. Excerpt:

PRT critics argue the technology is unproven, expensive and systems that have been built or conceived have a history of failure.

Ken Avitar, a Minneapolis cartoonist and self-described transit advocate, calls PRT a boondoggle.

Avitar said he opposes the technology because the idea of it is a “silly pie in the sky thing” that distracts conversations about traditional transit systems.

He holds PRT responsible for holding up light rail proposed for Minnesota in 1973, when funding was given to study the concept [debunked here, --Ed.].

“We would have had a (rail) network a long time ago. Now everything is more expensive, Avitar said. “People blocked rail transit in the early ’70s and continue to do that now.”

More

Pretty sad when someone who repeats their own name so often still can't get it spelled right in print.

I guess this means the Anti-PRT Propaganda Machine is still unproven technology. It does fit his criteria: controversial and with a long history of failure!


gPRT
Ken Avidor's talking points don't get better with age

Just Perfect (Mock Journalist, Part IV)

The Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist's body of work finally bears some fruit. But as a debunking tool; probably not what he had in mind. Read on.

He's still doing his best (one assumes) to make video reports on the Uptake online channel. In the new one, he interviews Elwyn Tinklenberg (1/11/08), who is running as a Democrat for the Minnesota 6th congressional seat currently held by Smoochy Bachmann. I say "as a Democrat," because the last time he ran for Congress he was against gay marriage and pro-life.

And against gun control. Because what Democrats want is to go for a stroll in their quiet urban villages, armed. Wait-- not Democrats/urban village. Resmuglicans/Old West village.

It would be wrong to call this video an interview. It's more of a campaign ad -- Tinklenberg gives his stump speech, and when he pauses to take a breath Kenmore slips in a few words.

Kenwood loves ol' E.T. A little over two years ago, in the Seattle P-I Transit Forum, he sneered that I probably didn't like Tinklenberg because he supported the Twin Cities' Hiawatha light rail (see table). That was the time he wrote that a candidate gets his vote just by having a picture taken with a train.

Watching the interview, it appears Tinklenberg knows his questioner, criticizing Smoochy's support for PRT like he had spent the night before studying Labridor's webpage and blogs. I wouldn't be surprised if Tinklenberg exited the interview with his backside covered with Humidor's lipmarks.

It's interesting, though, because of this description in Tinklenberg's Wikipedia bio:

Elwyn Tinklenberg was the Minnesota state transportation commissioner under former Governor Jesse Ventura. In that role, Tinklenberg worked with Ventura to support aggressive construction of highways, particularly serving the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, and a new light-rail system. Source

What??? The author of Roadkill Bill pitched softball questions to a member of the (aggressive) highway construction lobby? Worse still, suburban, sprawl-promoting highways! In Kenthorpe's universe, the highway lobby is supposed to be for PRT, surely that inconsistency alone must have counted for something.

What's more, in that same universe there's an interesting trail from Tinklenberg right to Bachmann. Turns out, Tinklenberg's transportation consulting firm is associated with SEH -- Short Elliott Hendrickson -- in an old controversy about no-bid contracts he obtained:

S.E.H. and the Tinklenberg Group will collaborate and put together a Public Involvement Plan whereby a newsletter or brochure will be sent to Albertville residents and specific business owners that would be assessed and affected by the proposed I-94 Project. In addition to the newsletter or brochure, the Albertville website can be used to convey project information. Several public information meetings will be held to inform the public. S.E.H and the Tinklenberg Group will put together a budget to accomplish this business. Source

Kenweed might love E.T., but he hates SEH. They were the engineering firm on the "35W Excess" project he opposed. They also used to be part of the group working with Taxi 2000 Corp. So, a connection from Tinklenberg, to SEH, to highways and PRT. You'd think that would set off alarm bells.

But there's more. Kenthorpe himself has done the work showing that Taxi 2000 uses a lobbyist named Edwin Cain, whose picture is on the wall of Bachmann's virtual office! Tinklenberg -> SEH -> Taxi 2000 -> Ed Cain -> Bachmann!

"Maybe he didn't know about Tinklenberg and SEH."

Yeah, I considered that. Except that he covered it himself in 2006.

And yet not one peep about it in the Uptake video. What could possibly cause him to ignore his own blogging on these issues?

Update (5/22/08): Nedken still promoting Tinklenberg

gPRT
What's so funny 'bout peace, love and Ken Avidor?

Witness his sensitivity

The Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist is cutting-and-pasting his usual talking points on the forum at the Ithaca Journal -- the usual stuff, so I won't go into it here. But this excerpt made me look twice:

Imagine that slim guideway packed with pods each filled with standard-sized, 300 lbs [sic] Americans. Imagine the centrifugal force as the pods whipped around a corner at 40 mph. Without bracing, the slim poles would either bend or fall pulling the entire guideway down.

That is why the Raytheon PRT had massive posts and a big pipe for a guideways [sic].

Source

Ignore his made-up claims about structural engineering and Raytheon, and focus instead on this part:

filled with standard-sized, 300 lbs [sic] Americans

This jogged my memory about a graphic he did a few years ago:



What's his freaking problem with large people?

gPRT
Ken Avidor -- always Klassy with a K

Why does he hate Shakespeare?

The Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist is trying his hand at cultural criticism, sniding at the Vectus brochure, "Really bad marketing blooper," with regard to the company's new brochure:



We know what he wants you to think: PRT = Huxley = Soma = dehumanized future.

That is the superficial, knee-jerk interpretation. As the rest of us know, Huxley's title refers to the line from Shakespeare's "The Tempest"--

"O brave new world, that hath such people in it." -Miranda

Huxley's story posits a nightmarish society in which many of the things that make us human have been banned, things like family, the arts,* books, science, religion, and philosophy.

PRT, a technology verified by scientific research, is therefore one of the things that would be banned in such a dehumanizing utopia.

Allow me to quote from the Wikipedia entry on Brave New World:

Additionally, stability has been achieved and is maintained via deliberately engineered and rigidly enforced social stratification. Source

Now, I'm not saying which is which, BUT-- which is the transit system of the Brave New World in Huxley's story: one that tells you what time you can travel, and that you tend to get better service if you live and work in redeveloped, gentrified areas? Or the one that includes a technology that lets you travel whenever you want, to and from anywhere you want, no matter who you are or where you live?

Obviously, Vectus would not want the negative comparison. PRT clearly adds to freedom of movement, choice and convenience, i.e. individuality. Therefore, the reference is meant to evoke Shakespeare, not Huxley; hope, not the nightmare. And any linkage to Huxley occurs in a context that Kenwood (again) shows he is oblivious to: irony.

Also today: People are asking about the Propagandist's new Upchuck video: "Has he purchased a tripod?"

* including Shakespeare, Kenmore-- this means Huxley's title is ironic
gPRT
'Tis he, Ken Avidor, that hath done thee wrong.

November 16, 2006

The last time the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist had one his "Specials" published in the Twin Cities Daily Planet -- where he's still listed as "Transportation Editor."

PRTista Update (6/20): Not any more!

gPRT
Anagrams of "KEN AVIDOR" include RAVED OINK, KINDA ROVE, KINDA OVER, NAIVE DORK, RANK VIDEO.

Mixed signals - is the Propagandist MIA from TCDP?

This is interesting.

The Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist's bio is no longer on the Twin Cities Daily Planet's Transportation page, and that page no longer lists him as Editor -- although he is still on the masthead page.

What's more, a search of the Planet's archive reveals no Avidor-authored pieces since December 2006. More significantly, a recent series on light rail (1, 2) was authored by Jane McClure, not you-know-who. And amazingly, it was followed by presentation of an actual opposing viewpoint -- by no less than Ed Felien, publisher of the Pulse weekly and Southside Pride community paper -- and defender of Nedken nemesis Dean Zimmermann.

The editorial message introducing Felien's piece carries the byline "TC Daily Planet" -- not Avidor.

It is difficult to believe these editorial decisions could have been made by Avidor. Can we hope the Planet has finally acted on his long record of inaccuracies and misrepresentations that we have documented?



gPRT
Weather today is partly cloudy, high in the mid-50s with chance of Ken Avidor in the afternoon