From: Andrew Johnson
Date: 2008-03-13 10:05:22
www.checktheevidence… 9/11 and The Hutchison Effect The Chips Have Fallen Andrew Johnson (ad.johnson@ntlworld….) 11 March 2008 It was approximately 1 year ago that I felt there was a need to document the circumstances surrounding the break up of the original Scholars for 9/11 Truth group, which became 9/11 Scholars and Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice. After the split, the 9/11 Scholars group was headed up by Prof. Jim Fetzer and Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice was headed up by Prof. Steve Jones, who had already been connected to the Cold Fusion cover up and Los Alamos National Laboratories and who had been caught using faked or massaged data in his presentations. At the time of the split, I was still puzzled by certain aspects of what happened, and others in the group that were corresponding with one another at that time still had misgivings about being involved in either camp. However, I felt that the evidence was clear about Prof Steve Jones – and that Jim Fetzer had been able to see problems with the way Steve Jones was acting and the way he was presenting data, therefore I had only minor reservations about being associated with Fetzers 9/11 Scholars group. Jim Fetzer Commends Andrew Johnson On Mar 24 2007, following the split in the Scholars Group, Jim Fetzer sent an e-mail to several people, including me, inviting them to join the Scholars Groups steering committee. In this e-mail he said: I have been impressed with your integrity and dedication and efforts to promote truth and exposed falsehoods about the events of 9/11. I need people like you to advise me in relation to the future of Scholars and to offer comments, criticism, and critique as appropriate. This seemed like a good development, and when someone makes a statement such as this, one is more likely to consider the request seriously. I agreed to be on this committee. However, there was very little activity and the only question Jim Fetzer asked us during the time that I served on this committee was whether he should take action against Alex Floum over intellectual property issues. At that time, I suggested Jim not do this, because it was not really specifically related to the study, research or exposure of 9/11 issues and so did not seem worth expending any effort on. The next discussion of any significance that I had with Jim Fetzer came in late September 2007, I had compiled a study of NYC First Responder witness accounts in an effort to find out how they described the impact of the second plane on WTC 2. Jim Fetzer invited me onto his radio show The Dynamic Duo to discuss this. On 02 Oct 2007, he sent me an e-mail saying: Your summary is excellent. We can go thorough it–you can lay it out–and we can go from there. Examples of witness reports are very effective. On 3rd October 2007, I spoke with Jim on his radio show. We had a good discussion about this study and some interesting questions were discussed and analysed. At the end of the broadcast, Jim Fetzer said: Andrew Johnson, I cant thank you enough for your excellent work Im really proud to have you as a member of Scholars, and Im very grateful for all youre doing. Keep up the good work. So, from these messages and statements, it would seem that Jim Fetzer valued my opinion, my methods, study and conclusions. The Hutchison Effect on Jim Fetzer In late December and early January Dr. Judy Wood posted her study comparing the damage at the scene of the destruction of the WTC Complex with the effects observed in Hutchisons experiments. Dr. Wood and I had also appeared Ambrose Lanes show We Ourselves on Mon 14th Jan and Fri 18th Jan. (Links to audios of these interviews are here [1] [2] please download and share. Links to videos of these interviews are on this website and Dr. Woods website.) Dr. Judy Wood explained to me that Jim Fetzer was advised directly about this new study on approximately 20 Jan 2008. On 30 Jan 2008, I posted a press release about this study on PR Log and OpEdNews. During this time, I received no communication at all from Jim Fetzer. Surprisingly, the first comment I heard from him came via Judy, in an e-mail, where he offered to smooth the Press Release I had written. Why did Fetzer not contact me directly, as author of the Press Release? Why had it taken him almost 2 weeks to contact Judy regarding the Hutchison Effect study? This situation was strange to me. Fetzer had previously complimented me, I was on the steering committee. Why had Fetzer not contacted me first? One might have thought that if he was unhappy that I had written the press release (as a matter of urgency, as I saw things), he might have even chastised me for not involving him in the process. However, I did not attach the press release to the Scholars group but it obviously mentioned Dr. Wood. Jim Fetzer and Ace Baker and Video Fakery On 27th Feb 2008, Ace Baker appeared with Jim Fetzer on the Dynamic Duo. They discussed how Ace was sure that John Hutchison had faked his videos and how Ace was therefore greatly concerned that Dr. Judy Wood had associated herself with a fraud. The problem with Aces analysis then became the subject of an article I wrote, describing why his conclusions were ill-founded as they were based only on a limited set of evidence. Dr. Judy Wood and John Hutchison on Dynamic Duo On 28th February, Dr. Wood and John Hutchison appeared on the show with Jim Fetzer. Fetzer introduced John as follows: JF: John I want to welcome you to the Dynamic Duo. JH: Hello-o JF: John could you tell us a little bit about yourself ye know – your background and your education especially your training in science and technical subjects? Rather than, say, asking John how he started to perform his experiments, or perhaps what he thought of the intriguing data that Fetzer and Wood had just been discussing, Fetzer chooses to ask a question about Johns training and/or education. Why did Fetzer seem more interested in this than in the bizarre data and effects that had also been touched on, both on Fetzers previous show with Ace Baker and with Dr. Judy Wood only moments earlier? Regardless, John replied candidly, and cheerfully. Fetzer then asked about him going to High School and pointed out that John did not matriculate to a university or have a university degree. John agreed, without any reservation or hesitation. Fetzer, still not asking about the anomalous data or effects, then said How have you made your living, John? What was unclear to me was how this was relevant to the study of the WTC evidence – which was the subject of discussion at the time John came on. How exactly was Jim Fetzers line of questioning relevant to the Hutchison Effect evidence itself? As I mentioned in the previous article, during the broadcast, Jim Fetzer seemed noticeably quiet and there were a number of longer silences as Judy waited for Jim Fetzers reaction. He made no points of science and did not specifically query or re-interpret any of the points of evidence in relation to the WTC that Dr. Wood presented. When Jim Fetzer asked John Hutchison for an explanation of the Hutchison Effect, John Hutchison gave a summary describing how it may be caused by a poorly understood interaction between Radio Frequency (RF) fields, Electrostatic Fields. Did Fetzer not consider it significant that the Hutchison Effect was actually named after John? If Prof Stephen Hawking had been on the program, because someone in the 9/11 Truth Movement had referenced Hawking Radiation for example, would Fetzer have asked about Hawkings background in the same detail as he did of John Hutchison? Dr Wood first learned of Hutchison’s work in October 2006 and she has said that she felt she could not endorse it or deny it without additional information and/or studying. It took well over a year for her to feel confident enough about the science of John Hutchison’s work, and to fully appreciate the striking parallels with what happened on 9/11. She reached that point, very carefully and methodically, by conducting research in that area of science. Jim Fetzer, though has written a number of books and has studied and taught courses in the Philosophy of Science, is not an engineer, and not a scientist per se, and hasn’t studied the science. However, he seems to have few reservations about the methods employed by Ace Baker to mimic and by inference discredit John Hutchisons work. Is this a credible position for Jim Fetzer to adopt? After the Dynamic Duo Show It seemed to be that Jim Fetzer had drawn the same conclusion as Ace Baker that John Hutchison was a fraud, and he seemed to think that Ace had essentially demonstrated this beyond reasonable doubt. To make sure I had read the situation correctly, I sent an e-mail to Jim Fetzer asking him 6 specific questions about what had been discussed in the broadcast with Ace Baker. His initial response did not answer my questions. In it, Fetzer said: You have taken for granted that Hutchison’s research is well-founded or at least sincere. This was incorrect. I had known of John Hutchisons work since around 1998 or 1999, having come across it in a book by UK Author Albert Budden and also having heard it discussed by Lockheed Martin Scientist Boyd Bushman and UK Defence Journalist Nick Cook on a programme called Billion Dollar Secret. I had audio recordings of John Hutchison on my own Website from 2004 and 2005. So I had certainly not taken Hutchisons research for granted! Fetzer stated this, even though I had previously advised him that I had researched into areas related to black projects, as well as free energy technology. If Jim Fetzer had looked at my Website in a little more detail, he would have found the research and presentations I had already posted there. I had included a segment about John Hutchisons experiments and experience in a presentation I had originally put together in March 2004. Fetzers message was overall, rather negative, leaving only a little leeway for his own error. For example he said: I don’t know enough to resolve it, but I’m very troubled. Hutchison’s work does not look right to me. It appears to me to be fake, phony, and staged, something we might expert from some high school student who is contemptuous of authority–especially academic!–and is out to make fools of them. Fetzer didnt discuss any specific points of evidence, he merely offered feelings and opinions and seemed to suggest that because John had no academic background, his experiments and work were bogus. Fetzer completely ignored the evidence that the Hutchison Effect was real. This evidence included documents, metal samples and witness testimony. Neither Ace Baker or Jim Fetzer directly addressed any of this evidence. Why? Fetzers focus was primarily on the idea that videos of the Hutchison Effect could be faked easily (but even that point is debateable, as Ace had clearly gone to some trouble). I sent an e-mail back to Jim Fetzer pointing out that he had not answered any of my 6 questions and I said: For you to support fakery and subterfuge over diligent research and analysis now forces me to resign from the 911scholars group, regardless of what anyone else on this list chooses to do. So I decided that because his emphasis was on the idea that it was likely a fake, because the fake video produced by Ace Baker looked too similar to the videos made of Johns experiments (which, in most cases, were not filmed by John anyway), I could no longer see how Fetzer was interested in looking at the evidence that this view was inadequate and incomplete. Fetzer responded with a message saying: I hope you understand that, in rejecting Hutchison (in the tentative and provisional fashion characteristic of science, where new evidence and new hypotheses might revive an old theory or impugn a new one), I am not rejecting Judy. This was not what I had stated to him. I had stated to him that I could not support his conclusion, as he had not criticised Ace for putting out a fake story about buying coils on e-bay and then making a fake video to explain away the Hutchison Effect. Fetzer had ignored evidence. Fetzer continued: If there is something to Hutchison’s “effects”, it would mean that he has discovered laws of nature (anti-gravity, unusual forces, etc.) the existence of which has heretofore been unrecognized (unsuspected, unconfirmed). This is correct but the conclusion that Hutchison has, indeed, discovered anti-gravity can only be drawn once the evidence is evaluated. Fetzer ignored this evidence as already mentioned above. Fetzer continued: I most certainly do not “support fakery and subterfuge over diligent research and analysis” and I cannot imagine what has given you that impression. I was given the impression in Fetzers earlier e-mail, in which he said: I think Ace’s point was that it is easy to simulate “Hutchison-like effects” and claim they are valid when they are not. That seems to me to be perfectly appropriate and I do not fault him for that. Ace had produced a fake video and sent round a fake story about it. Fetzer did not fault him if Fetzer didnt support Aces approach to 9/11 research, then why did he say the opposite of this? This same e-mail also contained a message Fetzer had sent to another person in our small group who had questioned Fetzer in a similar manner. To this other person, Fetzer wrote: Andrew Johnson posed questions to me, which implied that, unless I disavowed Ace, he might have to consider withdrawing from Scholars. Technically, this interpretation was not accurate. I had not suggested Fetzer disavow Ace for me to continue my association with the Scholars group rather, I had said I could not support the groups founder if he supported the methods that Ace had used. This was a subtle, but important difference I said that I could not continue to be a member of the 911 Scholars group if its founder wasnt significantly more critical of Aces approach based as it was on a lack of evidence. Jim Fetzer Answers Key Questions! I further clarified my feelings and position that I wished to resign from the Scholars group in follow-up e-mails to Fetzer. Fetzers support of Aces approach was confirmed in the next e-mail I received from him, in which he had chosen to answer the questions I posed, thus: 1) Do you think it is a good way to assess the validity of a study by making a fake video, after initially giving out a false story about that video? i.e. Ace Baker said he had obtained Tesla Coils from e-bay to attempt experiments related to the Hutchison Effect, then he posted a video saying he’d reproduced it. In reality, he put out a false story and sent a later e-mail suggesting we should have detected this and commented. What are your views on this, coming as it did from a respected researcher? Come on! He’s pointing out how easy it is to fake this stuff. There was nothing wrong in his doing what he did. You should be more open-minded. Fetzer says there was nothing wrong with what Ace had done he had made a fake video, but initially lied saying he had used Tesla coils to produce the effect. Fetzer saw nothing wrong with this. 2) Ace, on his blog, has declared John as a fraud and that his videos are 100% fake. How much do you agree with his conclusions? What do you think of the considerable amounts of other documentary evidence that John has been visited by Los Alamos National Labs (which Steve Jones has been connected with)? For reasons I have explained already, I also think Hutchison is a fraud. But I stand behind Judy’s research, which I extoll as extremely important. Again, Fetzer was agreeing with Ace and ignoring the documentary and physical evidence that Hutchison was not a fraud. Fetzer seemed to be saying everything else apart from this Hutchison stuff that Judy had posted was good. So Fetzer was disregarding my view someone he invited onto the committee. More importantly, he was disregarding the significantly more qualified view of Dr. Wood. Instead, he decided that Ace was on the money simply because Ace was an expert in Digital Processing (but with unknown qualifications) and Ace had produced a video which mimicked some (not all) of the characteristics of Hutchisons experiments. Why was Fetzer saying this? 3) I have been checking Ace’s blog and one of the file names he used was “judy-wood-falls-on-her-sword.html” (see acebaker.blogspot.co…) Do you have any thoughts on the fact that he has used this particular filename? Why do you think he has done this? You are making a mountain out of a molehill. He thinks Judy has made a blunder. You think she and Hutchison are “right on”. I agree with Ace. Fetzer doesnt specifically answer my question here but he still agrees with Ace who says Judy has made a blunder. In any case, I thought this debate was primarily about the Hutchison Effect, not Judy Wood why didnt Fetzer make this distinction himself? 4) One would think that Ace might have made a single video to point out the possibility of video fakery, but I think he has now made 4 or 5 different ones, and seemingly he’s gone to quite a bit of trouble to do this. Do you have any thoughts on the reasons behind this? This stuff is very easy to fake. Why don’t you at least admit as much. What in the world justifies you in thinking Hutchison is on the up and up? This answer from Fetzer is very surprising and again he completely ignores the other documentary and physical evidence, as well as witness testimony and many videos shot by different film companies. I had already pointed this all out to Fetzer. Dr. Wood and I had already discussed this 6 weeks previously on Ambrose Lanes radio program. Why did Fetzer ignore all of this, and what Id previously said? Also, making a fake video proves nothing in of itself this is precisely why other evidence must be evaluated before drawing conclusions! 5) Do you think that Ace has managed to reproduce any or all of the effects that John Hutchison has? (I noted on your show that Ace discussed the Red Bull Can experiment and described the can flexing and bending throughout the length of it, yet his faked video did not duplicate this phenomenon – therefore Ace had noted these anomalies, but had not reproduced them.) They are close enough to raise serious doubts in most minds–indeed, in every serious scientific mind, in my opinion. I know we disagree. OK? Again, Fetzer just thinks close enough is good enough. He suggests every serious scientific mind would have serious doubts, in his opinion. I myself have been described as having a scientific mind, but because I have evaluated the evidence I have little or no doubt that the Hutchison Effect is real. 6) Ace says he is sure the Hutchison Effect is not real, but he can’t explain the evidence that Judy has collected. Why would he attack Judy for giving an explanation that involves a well-documented, almost 30-year old phenomenon? Appealing to the Hutchison effect to explain Judy’s work is to appeal to a mystery to explain an enigma. There is no explanatory benefit here. This statement by Fetzer is almost meaningless and is based on no evidence only his own opinion. The comparison of the WTC evidence and Hutchison Effect evidence is obvious to those who see the photographs side by side. Fetzer, at this point, ignores this evidence too. Jim, some chips seem to have fallen here and I, as a fellow member of 911 Scholars am keen to get your views on “where they now lay”. I need to work out if I can continue to be aligned with the 911 Scholars group, or whether it’s founder would support the idea that guests on his show can, without criticism, use “debunking tactics” to attempt to discredit perhaps the most diligent research that the group might be associated with. The answer to this question is especially important to me now that that researcher has definitely used deception as part of his approach. There was nothing wrong with what Ace has done. I applaud him for showing how easy it is to fake this stuff. You haven’t shown it is genuine, but, for reasons I do not understand, are swallowing it hook, line, and sinker! Again, Fetzer re-asserts his support for Ace promulgating a bogus story and making fake videos. He says he does not understand why I am swallowing the Hutchison Effect hook line and sinker. Again, Fetzer completely overlooks or disregards all the evidence presented here. Is Fetzer trying to make me feel stupid? This seemed to be the approach he would now adopt, but in the next e-mail, Fetzer expressed concern that I would offer a very unflattering portrait of him, as I had mentioned I was going to compose this article. The reader must decide whether Fetzers view on this is fair or accurate all I can do is present all of the evidence for review. My intent is simple: to analyse the evidence, draw conclusions and find the truth. I am not at all comfortable with how this matter has unfolded. A War of Credentials and The Logic Quiz Following this exchange, Fetzer then decided he would start to debate my methods of reasoning, based on his own 35 years teaching students how to think responsibly. He also stated that this appeared to be a lesson that you [Andrew] need to learn. I had sent several messages to Fetzer where I stated I claimed no credibility for myself, only that I collected evidence, analysed it and posted conclusions. Fetzer suggested I seem to believe that all opinions are equally good! I never said this. Those reading this article and my website will quickly gain an impression of how credible the information and analysis is, so you might like to consider this as you read on below and you might also like to consider carefully Fetzers earlier messages to me, documented near the beginning of this article. Here, he seemed to be comfortable that my analyses were credible. In Fetzers next e-mail, he decided to test me on aspects of methods of reasoning and logic, based on his knowledge of the Philosophy of Science. I decided I would accept his challenge even though I questioned (for myself) his motives – for 2 reasons. Firstly, why didnt he set me such a quiz in order to gain entry to the Scholars group? Surely it wouldve been better to ensure that members thought logically and responsibly before disputes over evidence arose? Secondly, what did these questions such as What is the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning? have to do with WTC or Hutchison Effect evidence specifically? I have to confess, that at this point, I no longer took the debate seriously. In such instances, I defer to my sense of humour to carry the matter forward as I have found this method is far more useful and it can occasionally precipitate useful information, which is harder to obtain using the anger/accusation/ridicule approach. Fetzer, however, had started to use the ridicule approach. In the message referenced above, he wrote: Creating a fabricated video to demonstrate that a video can be fabricated is not deceitful but appropriate. It is actually a form of replication. Ace did that to show how easily it can be done. You are holding that against him? Really, Andrew, you can’t be that dumb! Again, Fetzer ignores the aspect of Ace putting out a fake story and then he suggests I am dumb for not agreeing with him. Is this evidence, or an attempt at debunking and ridicule? Other elements of this message contained a similar comment. In my response to Fetzer, I pointed out his earlier praise for my NYC Witness Study. Why was he now suggesting I was dumb for disagreeing with him? Total Evidence and Special Pleading I found some of the questions in the Logic Quiz that Fetzer had set for me were quite tricky I had never studied the theory of logic. In researching answers to the questions Fetzer had set for me, I came up with some interesting terms, and I sent him my answers in another e-mail. For fun, I set Fetzer some questions related to software and programming (but he declined to answer them). Fetzer asked: What is the requirement of total evidence? It seems that this consideration applies to this very case of the Hutchison Effect (HE), Ace Bakers evidence and the WTC Evidence. In researching the definition of total evidence, I found this link: One crucial respect in which inductive arguments differ from deductive arguments is in their vulnerability to new evidence. I would suggest this applies precisely in this case. I also found this link, where it is suggested that the confirmation function must use all the available evidence and not an arbitrary subset So, I responded to Fetzers question about total evidence thus: It is that ALL the evidence is evaluated! Perfect! Yes! HE and WTC do have a total evidence requirement and Dr. Wood in her study is MUCH closer to it than Ace Baker, so even by your own knowledge and teachings, you are not adhering to the standards of logic you teach. What Ace Baker has done (and you have supported him) is use an *arbitrary subset of evidence*! A perfect expression! Thanks! Another question Fetzer posed was: What is special pleading? I found a definition at this link: The informal fallacy of special pleading is committed whenever an argument includes some double standard. For example, if someone criticizes science for not producing all of the answers to life but excuses their religion for not having all of the answers about life, they are engaged in form of special pleading. I therefore responded to Fetzer thus: Ah – this is also a good one. It’s when an argument includes double standards. This applies very well here. Ace Baker produced a fake video, in his search for the truth. He is engaging in “special pleading” – by claiming he has mimicked a real process, therefore the real process must be fake – he has ignored “total evidence” and adopted a double standard. In the same e-mail, I made several other points which, based on the research I did to try and answer the questions he posed, were significant in debating the way Fetzer and Baker had treated this whole business. Fetzer Responds In trying to answer the Logic Quiz, I felt I had least got some things right, even though it was, for me, a 2-hour crash course in Philosophy and Logic Theory (subjects I have never formally studied at any level). I eagerly awaited his response I am sorry, Andrew, but your standards of credibility and mine simply do not coincide. I suppose that having a Ph.D. in the history and the philosophy of science and having devoted my professional life to logic, critical thinking, and scientific reasoning have given me a different perspective than your own. Again Fetzer does not debate specific points of evidence and he also ignores my answers to the quiz, which, I contend, expose how weakly he has applied his own standards of thinking to this case. Fetzer then went on to make another bold statement: I find it fascinating that you infer that, because Ace Baker and John P. Costella and I disagree with you, we must be suppressing, distorting, or otherwise fabricating evidence! Whilst I had suggested Fetzer was trying to cover up the Hutchison Effects relation to the destruction of the WTC, I never accused him of fabricating evidence. Neither had I accused Ace Baker of fabricating evidence. Ace himself admitted faking a video so I wasnt accusing him of anything other than what he had already admitted doing! Fetzer also said: Make sure that you observe in this article or yours that I stand behind Judy’s research but not Hutchison’s. And be sure to explain our reasons for thinking as we do. That called playing fair by laying our cards on the table as well as your own. So, here is all the evidence all the cards, and all the chips for the reader to consider. Fetzer sent a short follow up e-mail, where he responded to my note that I thought the quiz hed set had been fun, fun, fun. Since I mentioned there were three differences between inductive and deductive reasoning and you (wrongly) mention a common misconception, I presume you already know you are wrong on that one. I’d love to offer you a tutorial, but you are not a very promising student. In any case, thanks for your good work of the past. All my best! So again, Fetzer makes disparaging remarks, rather than replying to the specific points Id made about the evidence and the way he had analysed and criticised it or rather, the way that he and Ace Baker seemed to have agreed that ignoring evidence completely was the best policy in this case. By this point, of course, I knew what Fetzer was doing and so again, I deferred to my sense of humour and responded thus (in reference to my earlier fun, fun, fun comment): Can’t you at least “mark” my attempts at “special pleadings” and “total evidence” [answers] – go on, please!!?! Or “has the Daddy Taken the T-bird away, then?” Fetzer didnt seem to see the humorous side here, and responded thus: I had no idea I was dealing with a child! Thanks for clarifying that! I had perhaps taunted Fetzer somewhat, during the exchange of e-mails, but I had not insulted his intelligence nor had I made disparaging remarks I tried hard to stick to points of evidence, both regarding the Hutchison Effect and the WTC and his own analysis of these things. He responded without addressing the evidence and he suggested I was either dumb or childish. Is this an effective way to debate the truth of an issue? Summary and Conclusions Here are some observations. Prof Jim Fetzer, is an author or editor of multiple books, and he repeats this fact at regular intervals. Fetzer said he was impressed with my sticking to the truth but completely ignored my analysis of the Hutchison Effect evidence and he never sent any comments up until Ace Baker had been on his show. Fetzer claims he is more credible, due to his PhD and experience, yet he gives more credibility to Ace Bakers analysis regarding the Hutchison effect rather than that of Dr. Wood. He never disclosed Aces qualifications yet he takes Aces view as more credible than Dr. Woods and my own even though he asked Dr. Wood and myself, but not Ace Baker, to be on the Steering Committee. Fetzer does not take exception to the fact that Ace Baker put out a false story about his video. (Message over 64 KB, truncated)
