This Kafka Crap’s Getting Old

So I got an e-mail thanking me for “helping to expose the truth” about the government’s involvement with 9/11, and thought, “What?” Based on a few things the e-mail said, it took me no time at all to run a quick online search and discover that Steven Jones, a bigwig in the Truther movement, just had an article published in a “peer-reviewed journal” (that’s an exact quote from multiple blogs I don’t feel like linking to). I’m quoted in Jones’ article, and that section of the article's been quoted on many of the blogs I’m not linking to here.

The offending section deals with Jones’ claims that he found explosive residue in the World Trade Center debris. By contrast, the National Institute of Standards and Technology says it did not find any such residue, and never looked for any.

And here’s what Jones’ paper says:

Perhaps NIST will explain why they have not looked for these residues? The code specifies that fire-scene investigators must be prepared to justify an exclusion. NIST has been asked about this important issue recently, by investigative reporter [name redacted, like it actually makes a difference at this point]:

[Me] : ” … what about that letter where NIST said it didn’t look for evidence of explosives?”
Neuman : “Right, because there was no evidence of that.”
[Me] : But how can you know there’s no evidence if you don’t look for it first?
Neuman : “If you’re looking for something that isn’t there, you’re wasting your time … and the taxpayers’ money.”

The evident evasiveness of this answer might be humorous, if not for the fact that NIST’s approach here affects the lives of so many innocent people. We do not think that looking for thermite or other residues specified in the NFPA 921 code is “wasting your time.” We may be able to help out here, for we have looked for such residues in the WTC remains, especially in the voluminous toxic dust that was produced as the buildings fell and killed thousands of people, and the evidence for thermite use is mounting.

Great. I’m still looking for a steady writing gig, and potential employers doing searches to check the blog response my past work’s inspired will find that the most recent posts are praise for the investigative journalist who helped prove 9/11 was an inside job.