Citizens Aware And Asking - harrassing Concerned Scientists

[Oystein]

A new website, set up by a small organisation called "Citizens Aware And Asking" is out to harrass scientists.

Its mission:

What we're hoping to accomplish

The main purpose of this site is to initiate a letter writing campaign, urging The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) to provide the public with an honest evaluation of the recent scientific evidence which sheds new light on the events of September 11, 2001.

As of 2012 a compelling body of research has been accumulated which shows that the real reason the towers collapsed on 9/11, was because they had been rigged in advance with very high-tech explosives, including many tons of something called "nanothermite" (a substance related to the solid propellent used in the Space Shuttle's booster rockets). Additionally, the government’s official technical explanations for the tower collapses appear to be deliberate and obvious efforts to cover-up this fact.
...

And on the page "What's the plan", they state:

Our hope for this website is simply to push toward a definitive answer to the question . . . Was nanothermite the real cause of the World Trade Center collapses?
...
What we're asking you to do

After reviewing the information in our site, we're hoping you will go to our "What's the Plan" page and click on the link; "Active Thermitic Material found in Dust from the World Trade Center catastrophe". Print that page ... mail it to the Union of Concerned Scientists at the address provided. Request that they give you an honest evaluation of that science, as well as, provide real answers to the questions we asked them on June 13, 2012 (see the video at the bottom of this page).

Nano-thermiters, out to harrass people with much better things to do

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is a non-profit organisation of scientists, founded in 1969, concerned mostly with environmental policies and related topics. Apparently respected, apparently perceived by some as "leftist".


But who are "Citizens Aware And Asking"? I find no names, no address, no nothing on their page!

DomainTools.com informs us:
http://whois.domaintools.com/citizensawareandasking.org
Created On:25-Sep-2012
Last Updated On:25-Nov-2012
Admin Nameomain Privacy Service
The domain owner is hiding behind a provider.


Ah, here is some info:
http://911blogger.com/news/2013-01-22/911-free-fall-11713-911-truth-and-union-concerned-scientists

Yaz and Omar are the two activists behind Citizens Aware and Asking

Yaz is Yasmin "Yaz" Manley, a journalism graduate who joined Gage's petition last June. She is introduced starting at 9:00 minutes.
"Omar" is Omar A. Musa - can't find him at AE911T. According to he host, starting at 9:43, he "went to two years of engineering school at USC, then left to join the army in 1982 and served as a medic in the 7th Special Forces Group until 1986. He became a registered nurse after he got out and has remained one since. He's got a degree in history from UCLA.". So he would be approximately 51 years old.
At 11:00, Yaz says that Omar is "also" her brother, and calls both their "conversions" to trutherism "awakenings". Woah!
Here is Omar's media gallery at Photobucket
Here is Yaz, and her husband Richard, saving water in San Marcos, CA.

Here is a letter from september 2012 in which Yaz and Omar describe how they reach out to the ASCE. It's in a Ron Paul Meetup-site. Hmm!

In the radio episode, host Andrew Steele pretty much admits that he is promoting first and foremost AE911Truth.

Could Gage somehow be behind this harrassment drive? I found the following addresses:

Union of Concerned Scientists:
West Coast Office
2397 Shattuck Ave., Ste. 203
Berkeley, CA 94704-1567

Richard Gage:
2342 Shattuck Ave., Suite 189, Berkeley, CA 94704
(That's the AE911Truth office address)

Those two offices are a mere 400 ft apart from one another:
https://maps.google.de/maps?saddr=2...4lnX6FgDGi7nR9E3SkyQ&t=h&dirflg=w&mra=ls&z=19



Soooo ... should we harrass Yaz and Omar and fill up their mailbox?

 

[ElMondoHummus]

Well... a lot of us have been criticizing conspiracy peddlers for doing precious little to actually advance their views. I guess this is simply them deciding to do just that.

On the other hand, this seems to nothing more than trying to gain more advocacy instead of actually "solve the problem". Sure, they're saying that they want "definitive" answers... but they continue to commit the mistake of trying to get scientific consensus outside of established scientific processes of legitimate (not "Bentham-like") peer review and acceptance in the relevant chemical and engineering fields. That is establishing findings.

The operative conspiracy myth pretending to be theory is that there's much evidence the government was responsible for 9/11. Gaining more advocacy is not the same as establishing the veracity of their claims. And pushing the work towards the Union of Concern Scientists is going after an advocacy group. It's not the same as, say, getting some physical and/or analytic chemists together to publish a critique of the paper in a legitimate journal. It's very much as if the truthers view working through accepted academic practices is anathema. And they can't seem to get through their heads that that's a fatal problem right there.

I'm continually disappointed that 9/11 conspiracy advocates continue to take legitimate criticisms of the way they do things and run in precisely the wrong direction with it. But, it just seems to be par for the course for them. After all these years, what else can we expect?

 

[Scott Sommers]

We'll see how long this lasts. I've seen a dozen or so of these kind of things circulating around. One of the reasons I make a big deal out of We Are Change and not AE9/11T is that Gage doesn't have a group. He has a couple of minions, like our own Tony Szamboti and some Tea Party drops outs, writing webpages and crap for him. But he couldn't get anyone to show up for a demonstration if he tried.

Let's see how far Ol' Dickie can get on this one. Maybe after it fails he'll just shut up and blow away. Check back and see if any of those scientists even notice that that crazy guy knows their names.

On the other hand, if this fails, he or some of his groupies may turn violent. You know I've been predicting that for a long time.

 

[ElMondoHummus]

I don't see Gage shutting up, ever. Even if 9/11 weren't his gravy train, I'd think he'd want to remain associated just to have something to put to his name that's out of the ordinary.

And if the UCS rejected their queries - something I see as a distinct and strong possibility - all folks like Gage would do is add them to the list of folks who's suppressing the "Truth". It would barely make a dent on their consciousness. Not this far into their personal Wonderland.

 

[Redwood]

Typical conspiracists. They're always demanding that someone else investigate their accusations. They almost never do their own investigating. When they do, they wind up debunking their own notions, e.g. Harrit and Jones.

 

[ElMondoHummus]

Typical conspiracists. They're always demanding that someone else investigate their accusations. They almost never do their own investigating. When they do, they wind up debunking their own notions, e.g. Harrit and Jones.

Well to be fair, I wouldn't mind them getting independent analysis and/or critique. It's just that I don't think they understand that there's a difference between that and trying to garner more advocacy. I think they may be viewing the UCS as an established advocacy group as much as they're viewing them as scientists, if not more so. Hence my critique above.

 

[cjnewson88]

Well at least they're doing something..

 

[Scott Sommers]

Why isn't Gage writing firefighter's unions? In fact, let's sponsor a trip for Gage to speak to firefighters in NYC. I'll donate to that.

 

[DGM]

What is this statement all about?

........... including many tons of something called "nanothermite" (a substance related to the solid propellent used in the Space Shuttle's booster rockets).

 

[fitzgibbon]

Why isn't Gage writing firefighter's unions? In fact, let's sponsor a trip for Gage to speak to firefighters in NYC. I'll donate to that.

Hell, I'd drive 'im to the engagement, make sure he got comfortably ensconced in a chair and stay with him through the talk; I'm that committed (or has that crossed the line into 'should be committed' territory?)

Fitz

 

[Scott Sommers]

Hell, I'd drive 'im to the engagement, make sure he got comfortably ensconced in a chair and stay with him through the talk; I'm that committed (or has that crossed the line into 'should be committed' territory?)

Fitz

We should try and arrange this. It should be no problem getting money and volunteers. I bet Gage would agree. have someone there with a video camera. We'll need guards and maybe a Plexiglas shield for him. It would be great.

Seriously - who's up for this?

 

[thedopefishlives]

What is this statement all about?

My guess is that they're trying to emphasize the energetic and explosive nature of their imaginary super-duper-magic-nano-thermite. If you tell most normal people "thermite", unless you're talking to a pyro geek or a chemist, you'll probably get a blank stare. If you tell them "solid rocket fuel", well, most people know what a rocket launch looks like.

 

[Oystein]

Well... a lot of us have been criticizing conspiracy peddlers for doing precious little to actually advance their views. I guess this is simply them deciding to do just that.

On the other hand, this seems to nothing more than trying to gain more advocacy instead of actually "solve the problem". Sure, they're saying that they want "definitive" answers... but they continue to commit the mistake of trying to get scientific consensus outside of established scientific processes of legitimate (not "Bentham-like") peer review and acceptance in the relevant chemical and engineering fields. That is establishing findings.
...

Yeah I guess I should have given them credit for being sincere, and doing something.

However, how do Yaz and Omar figure that they (a voice-over artist and a registered nurse) have any clout approaching an assiciation of scientists? They are in for a major embarrassment!

The best that could happen is that the UCS leadership passes the Harrit paper, with which they are supposed to get bombarded, to actual scientists knowledgeable in relevant fields of expertise (forensic analysts, polymer and mineral chemists...) for a thorough review, and then reply - publicly. I think I'll recommend to them they do just that



In the meantime I have listened to a few minutes of the videos where Yaz and Omar speak, and it seems they first went to a UCS West Coast event, unrelated to any possible contact with Gage's office, and that the proximity of both offices may indeed just be coincidence. Omar related how he asked if AE911T could dispatch an "expert" to the event, but that they couldn't.

 

[Scott Sommers]

However, how do Yaz and Omar figure that they (a voice-over artist and a registered nurse) have any clout approaching an association of scientists? They are in for a major embarrassment!

This is the really part of the act. Because they have a group that's making a really important claim, you have to listen to them. Right? I mean, if it were true, the whole world would stand on its head. So like, really important guys must take them seriously...right?

The more I watch these guys, the more I think this is their reasoning. Because the claim they make is so great, the tenuous nature of their evidence is not important. Important people should be dealing with it. so it attracts people with no standing to make the claim who couldn't possibly attract the attention of leading scientists on their own merit.

A long way back, Myrias suggested the idea that 9/11 Truth may some kind of art performance. Fits in well with the idea of an artist and an RN leading a great scientific protest.

 

[ElMondoHummus]

Yeah I guess I should have given them credit for being sincere, and doing something.

Yeah, but at the same time, they deserve only partial credit. I mean, 2013... my God, it took them long enough.

However, how do Yaz and Omar figure that they (a voice-over artist and a registered nurse) have any clout approaching an assiciation of scientists? They are in for a major embarrassment!

I view this as an opportunity to engage in a healthy dose of schadenfreude.

The best that could happen is that the UCS leadership passes the Harrit paper, with which they are supposed to get bombarded, to actual scientists knowledgeable in relevant fields of expertise (forensic analysts, polymer and mineral chemists...) for a thorough review, and then reply - publicly. I think I'll recommend to them they do just that

That'd be awesome. And I hope they do that too. Unfortunately, being scientists themselves, I think what they'll actually do is read the proposal, snort, and move on to their morning coffee. But hey, we can dream...

In the meantime I have listened to a few minutes of the videos where Yaz and Omar speak, and it seems they first went to a UCS West Coast event, unrelated to any possible contact with Gage's office, and that the proximity of both offices may indeed just be coincidence. Omar related how he asked if AE911T could dispatch an "expert" to the event, but that they couldn't.

... resisting the obvious joke about not having any "expert" in the first place...

 

[Oystein]

Yeah, but at the same time, they deserve only partial credit. I mean, 2013... my God, it took them long enough.

The road to Damascus is long...

I view this as an opportunity to engage in a healthy dose of schadenfreude.

I'll see if I can get in contact with Yaz herself, and ask if she plans on publishing any and UCS replies - or announce the lack thereof!

(In a similar harrassment move, non-law, non-insurance related professional Mark Graham has witten to several insurances that had to pay out on Ground Zero damages to notify them about "about controlled demolition evidence" - that apparently happened two months ago. No news on any replies yet, and no one seems to wonder if there have been any replies. Perhaps I'll ask Mark if there really were no replies, or if he just didn't like them. Perhaps the insurers informed him that they had top-notch investigators review all the available evidence, and they came up 100% satisfied with the NIST and 9/11 Commission Report findings, as related to the manner in which damage was caused and who was responsible? Just a suggestion!)

That'd be awesome. And I hope they do that too. Unfortunately, being scientists themselves, I think what they'll actually do is read the proposal, snort, and move on to their morning coffee. But hey, we can dream...

And that's where we could come in: Inform them in brief about the main flaws of the thermite evidence, inform the about Millette's replication and refutation, and advise them to politely inform Yaz and Omar that they are gullible for buying snake oil, and should stick to voice-over and nursing henceforth.

 

[jaydeehess]

they want to harrass a group of enviromental scientists for an opinion on a supposed demolition?
why not just ask a group of tv meterologists, or supermarket butchers?

 

[JayUtah]

...or supermarket butchers?

Oddly enough my local butcher used to work as an engineer for Lockheed Martin. Butchery is his retirement profession. I love swapping stories with that guy, and he makes the most amazing bacon ever.

But I digest digress. UCS strikes me more as a left-wing political group than a scientific organization. Why don't they try the NSF or the AAAS? You know, real scientific organizations.

 

[Horatius]

But I digest digress. UCS strikes me more as a left-wing political group than a scientific organization. Why don't they try the NSF or the AAAS? You know, real scientific organizations.

I'll suggest you just answered your own question right there.

 

[ElMondoHummus]

... and he makes the most amazing bacon ever.

SAMPLES, or I don't believe you!!!

But I digest digress. UCS strikes me more as a left-wing political group than a scientific organization. Why don't they try the NSF or the AAAS? You know, real scientific organizations.

That's what I was thinking up above. Again: Truthers are making the mistake of trying to garner further advocacy. Which may be in line with their political advocacy mindset, but it does nothing to improve the reputation of their supposedly "scientific" findings. And I don't think they realize this.