From: Andrew Johnson
Date: 2006-12-30 01:14:17
All, The situation with Scholars has taken an ominous turn, where we have been frozen out of the Scholars web site and posting and updating has been made impossible, which can only have been done by Fred Burks, who has possession of the domain names, or Alex Floum, who may still control the password. It looks like a nice example of the lack of scruples to which I drew attention in my most recent message to the membership. I find this quite distressing. Alex Floum continues to abuse his position as a former member of Scholars by distributing contrived and misleading characterizations of the issues. To hear him tell it, it is a conflict between the forces of democracy (led by Alex Floum) and those of dictatorship (me). My frank assessment is that his crass and underhanded tactics threaten the continuing existence of Scholars. Here is a summary of the situation, followed by a list of forthcoming events. 1) As the founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth who has acted on behalf of the society to expose falsehoods and reveal truths about 9/11, I alone remain as a member of the society, which former members are attempting to control. 2) The extant Scholars for 9/11 Truth is the rightful owner of the web site, the journal, and the forum as well as their contents, where, in some cases, such as copyrighted articles, that ownership may be shared with the authors. 3) Alex Floum, who obtained the domain names for the web site and the journal on behalf of the society, had no right to transfer what he never owned to Fred Burks, a friend of some ten years who served as a translator for Presidents, who has neither legal, moral, nor intellectual rights to any of these sites. 4) The anonymous email requesting a vote on the future of the society’s sites and membership was unauthorized, illegal, null, and void. The manner in which it was conducted (by creating fake addresses and phony administrators) offers clear evidence that this was an ignoble action taken under cover where those effecting these misdeeds were not even willing to identify themselves by name. 5) Theft of property is not an appropriate remedy for internal disputes over control and content of the society’s website and other properties; and thieves have no grounds to complain about my seeking appropriate legal remedies as the founder of the society on behalf of the society as its sole remaining officer. 6) Former members of the society have no right to determine its future. It is as if a gang of bank employees robbed a bank as they quit or were fired from their jobs, then complained that that the bank manager was not playing fair, because he called the police as they tried to make their escape out the door. 7) Steve Jones has objected to open discussion of possible explanations of the destruction of the Twin Towers other than his preferred thermite/thermate idea, yet the adequacy of his approch can only be assessed in comparison with the explanatory power of the available alternatives, such as mini-nukes, directed energy or HAARP weaonry, which is the only way in which science can progress. 8) Having now siezed control of our web site, they have made it impossible to bring current information to the members of the society. This includes the process of updating our membership, which has taken longer to complete than normal in the wake of recent events. That process has now been frozen. I am taking whatever steps I can to insure that control of the web site is returned to the society and whatever other measures must be pursued in order to deal with this rogue group. In the meanwhile, you are entitled to know forthcoming events of interest as well as what’s going on behind the scenes. Since I cannot have them posted on the web site, which they control, I append the list of forthcoming events. The most interesting for many members may be that I have invited Steve Jones to appear on my program on 2 January 2007 to discuss and debate his thermite/thermate hypothesis with Judy and Morgan: 2 January 2007 Interview: Steve Jones, Judy Wood, and Morgan Reynolds have been invited to discuss 9 /11 with Jim Fetzer on “The Dynamic Duo” 3-5 PM/CT, Genesis Communications Network, gcnlive.com This appears to be especially imporant insofar as Steve has admitted in a recent email, “One cannot rule out the use of thermite or superthermite cutters for the WTC just because it has not been used before for demolition” and that a patent for this process requires placing devices “on either side of the steel”. I have included the original email, along with a few replies to Alex Floum, below, preceding the announcement of our forthcoming events. Please know that I made repeated past proposals to this rogue faction to resolve these matters informally, including giving them the journal and the forum, where they need only create their own web site to bring into existence a society of their own. I offered them the opportunity to show that posting by committee–one of their primary desiderata–works better than having a single site manager. They never responded to my invitation. Moreover, I have offered Steve Jones many platforms to present and defend his research on thermite/thermate, including earlier appearances on radio talk shows, encouraging him to speak at The National Press Club, inviting him to chair a panel at the forthcoming Scholars’ conference in Madison, and appointing him a member of my team for The National 9/11 Debate. He has now declined all of these invitations. The proper way to prevail in scientific research with logic and evidence, not political power plays. Everyone needs to appreciate that Scholars is a relatively young society and that growing pains are normal and to be expected. That I have been the manager of the web site should not be news to anyone, any more than that Steve has managed the journal. With our new steering committee of Kevin Barrett, Richard Curtis, Rick Siegel, and Judy Wood, I am in the process of effecting a transition from an informal structure to a more formal structure, where the society has by-laws and a board of directors. I have created an entity, Scholars for 9/11 Truth, Inc., as a framework for formalizing this new society. But the by-laws, the board members, and all the rest are the very issues we are attempting to work out, and we intend to submit them to the members of Scholars for their comment and review. The board of directors, for example, will supervise the editors of our journal, the moderators of our forum, and the managers of our web site. They can approve or remove any as they choose, including me, if I were to be retained in the position of managing the society’s web site. I have no problem with the creation of another society. If you disagree with the policies and practices of a society, the honorable thing to do is to resign and, if you are so inclined, create a new one of your own. What is going on here, however, is completely different and not at all honorable. It is reminiscent of children playing football, where one of them takes the football and claims it for his own, then passes it off to another when players are closing in, where the new possessor sticks it with a knife so the game becomes impossible. That’s what is going on. I would close by observing that, on 13 December 2006, the attorney for the society I have retained, Jerry S. Leaphart, sent Alex Floum a proposal for binding arbitration: “I am authorized to indicate that Dr. Fetzer would be willing to enter into a mediation agreement concerning the domain names. I suggest mediation under WIPO as per the rules set forth . . .” Alex Floum did not respond to this proposal, but I reiterate it here. I am willing to abide by the decision of binding arbitration through the professional WIPO society to resolve the issues between us and let us get on with our work. If any of you would like to express your opinions about their conduct, the members of this rogue group include Alex Floum
