On June 18, 2009, Fresh Air's Terry Gross interviewed Chip Berlet about his new book: "Toxic to Democracy: Conspiracy Theories, Demonization, and Scapegoating". She was really softball with him, not challenging anything. Here's what I wrote to Terry/NPR:

Today's (June 18, 2009) Chip Berlet interview left much to be desired. Terry, I expected better from you, great interviewer that you are.

Mr. Berlet smears--rather than answers--the 9/11 truth movement with the claim that identifying the perpetrators of the September 11 disaster will, according to the truthers, solve all the problems of American society.

You should have called on him to clearly state who said or made that claim. Clearly Mr. Berlet doesn't want to answer some of the serious questions being raised by serious scientists, academics and politicians. So he resorts to straw man tactics to dismiss them. Again, you should have called him on it.

Better yet, why don't you invite Dr. David Ray Griffin, professor emeritus, to discuss his new book "Osama Bin Laden: Dead or Alive?", or one of his other books such as "Debunking 9/11 Debunking".

The following excerpt is from a Monthly Review magazine article on the Reichstag Fire Trial (and its political aftermath during and after the Nazi era). It is deja vu, all over again. The article is entitled "The Reichstag Fire Trial 1933-2008", written by Michael E. Tigar and John Mage and appears in the March 2009 edition of the magazine.

…

Who Set the Reichstag on Fire?

We begin by examining the evidence. Then, we can examine the trial proceedings.

The night of the fire, German police arrested van der Lubbe, half clothed. He had removed his shirt to use it as kindling while setting one of the fires inside the Reichstag.

Many characterizations of van der Lubbe’s role in the Reichstag Fire have begun by characterizing his political and social outlook and even in some cases his alleged sexual orientation. From these premises, often based on scant evidence, writers leap to a conclusion that van der Lubbe acted alone, or acted with Communists or Nazis depending on one’s perspective. In 1933, writers of the left and right sprinkled their prose with this sort of conclusion-jumping.

Does anyone have video of Rachel Maddow saying that "9/11 has not been avenged yet"? She said it on MSNBC early Wednesday morning, after Obama's acceptance speech.