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From: Leroy Ellenberger 
Subject: Fwd: Mars-Earth Wars Challenge
> 
> Dear Emilio,
> 
> I do not recall our ever discussing my refutation of Don Patten's
> "Mars-Earth Wars" model that was published in two parts in 1990 in
> Cat. & Anc. Hist. XII.  Patten and Hatch replied to the first part,
> but to my knowledge he and his "brain trust" have ignored my rebuttal
> to his reply.  Be that as it may, perhaps some truly worthwhile
> purpose might be served by your visit with Patten this week if he were
> to show you our "debate" from 1990 in C&AH so that you might either
> help him frame his long-delayed reply to my rebuttal or else you might
> exercise your analytical acumen and explain to him why my arguments
> disprove his model.  I tried my best to make an ironclad case and
> consulted with many experts whose help is acknowledged at the end of
> my Part 2, but especially I am indebted to Victor Slabinski and Tom
> Van Flandern.
> 
> My arguments are not especially arcane or technically involved.  For
> example, I argue on the basis of "sphere of influence" reasoning [a
> concept that was foreign to Bob Grubaugh and Dave Talbott in summer
> 1993 when I challenged Grubaugh's "polar configuration" model unveiled
> at Scranton] that if even ONE of Patten's alleged Mars-Earth flybys
> happened Mars would now have only one moon in a very non-circular
> orbit instead of its two moons in VERY circular orbits and it would
> NOT have any Trojans, as it does so have.
> 
> Considering that Lynn Rose made similar appeals to common sense contra
> Patten in SIS Review after Bob Bass championed Patten's model over
> Velikovsky's at the Glasgow Conference in 1978, I thought my critique
> was "spot-on".  Yet Patten has continued to purvey his nonsense
> seemingly unchecked, even being invited to speak at world conferences.  
> Is there no one who protests such intellectual laxity?
> 
> However, it has been my sad experience that Velikovskians and related
> neo-catastrophists abhor such negativity and argue _ad nauseam_
> against any such "absolute veto power of negative evidence".  But
> Earth has had only ONE history and we know enough to eliminate
> conclusively many of the speculative alternatives proposed by armchair
> cosmologists whose over-active imaginations overpower common sense,
> logic, and elementary analytical ability.
> 
> So, would you be so kind as to accept my challenge?  If this message
> does not reach you in time to influence your visit with Patten, I
> would be happy to send you a copy of the "debate" from C&AH so you
> might follow-up with him via email when you get back to Bergamo.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Leroy "Per Veritatem Vis"