http://activistnyc.wordpress.com/2007/12/17/the-adventures-of-max-photon...

In her typical "see how calm and reasonable I am" style, Diane the New York Activist gives a lengthy review of some guy named Max Photon, who sells himself as MAX-MIHOP and seems to spend a lot of time arguing with OCT shills on the JREF forums.

The theory that Diane and Mr. Photon are trying to give credibility to is that explosives weren't used in the WTC demolitions, just thermite, to weaken the columns enough to precipitate a "natural" gravity based collapse. Mr. Photon even goes so far as to say that Bazant (a hardcore OCT spinner) is "the man when it comes to column failure".

Like a lot of what fake truthers point out, it is all presented in a way that makes the relative newbie say "hmmm, these people seem like they're onto soething." Diane and Max make a great tag team because Max is a "character" who refers to himself in the third person (Max is hungry--Max is going to eat that sandwich) while DIane is a "seasoned activist" who likes to "resolve conflicts" and "promote tolerance". That pen on her blog is the kicker for her image--it is, I'm sure, the pen that she uses to fill out her New York Times crossword every day--in INK!

So what's the problem? Well, suggesting that explosives need not have been involved is the first step to suggesting that a "collapse" of the sort that occurred could happen just with gravity, so long as the columns were weakened. Now, this is clearly BS. Much of the work done to date on the destruction makes it clear that gravity based collapse, no matter HOW the columns may have been weakened, cannot possibly be the explanation--the speed of the destruction, the pulverized concrete, the squibs--none of these can be explained with a thermite/gravity explanation. Not just that, but Diane and Max also promote Frank Greening, a sort of bridge shill between the NIST report and the truth movement (he acknowledges some problems with the NIST report but does not endorse any kind of foul play scenarion.)

One of Greening's claims apparently is that there could have been aluminothermic (like thermite) reactions caused by interaction between the aluminum in the planes and the rust in the towers.

To me the strategy is clear here--dismantle the truth step by step. First suggest that thermnite alone could have done it (no explosives, yeah right) and THEN suggest that "oh, well it need not have been thermite--clever and trustworthy scientists everywhere say that a similar effect could have resulted from the plane crashes".

Warning to the truth movement--Diane the activist is apparently frequenting meetings of New York 911 Truth. She is one of the most obviously fake truthers I've seen come out in a while, and she has been very productive in the few weeks she's been active. In effect, if not intent, she seems to be working to (you guessed it!) protect Silverstein by trying to explain away the demolition of the towers as a freak accident, thereby paving part of the road to the ultimate goal of the LIHOP limited hangout escape route for the perps.