by Aidan Monaghan
August 25, 2009
911blogger.com

The capability to remotely transmit altered aircraft flight plan data via remote data link transmissions directly into Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft Flight Management Computers (FMCs) for use by aircraft auto-pilot functions, was technologically available circa 2001.

Developed in 1999 and technologically supported by the FANS-capable (Future Air Navigation System) Honeywell Pegasus Flight Management System (FMS) for Boeing 757s and 767s by 2000, Dynamic Airborne Reroute Procedure (DARP) technology enables aircraft course changes via modified flight plan waypoints remotely transmitted and installed into aircraft FMCs by VHF or SATCOM (satellite communications) transmission uplinks.

"Dynamic Rerouting, meaning the ability of controllers ... to change a filed routing once the flight is in progress ... "The new flight plan with all new waypoints goes into the data link to the comm satellite and is then downlinked into the FMSes of the individual aircraft," ... "And 'Wow,' say all the old pilots, 'Untouched by human hands!'" ... Our [dispatch] computer uplinks a route into the FMS that is identified as 'Route 2.' [You're already flying 'Route 1.']" [1]

On Monday, August 10, NYC CAN began a comprehensive review of the nearly 26,000 signatures invalidated by the New York City Board of Elections and City Clerk. With 26,003 signatures accepted as valid by the City, at least 3,997 additional signatures were needed to exceed the threshold of 30,000 signatures. 10 days, 50 volunteers and 1,000 man-hours later, we are thrilled to report we have so far discovered 6,924 signatures we will argue were wrongly invalidated.

In addition, the Court has granted an extension allowing us to complete our review of 6 unfinished volumes. We anticipate having well over 7,000 additional valid signatures once the review is complete. The 50+ individuals who helped conduct the review take great pride in knowing their work has stopped the silencing of 7,000 New York City voters and allowed their voices to be heard.

On Friday, August 28, we must serve a Bill of Particulars listing all signatures we argue should be deemed valid by the Court. Special Referee Louis Crespo will begin a line-by-line review of the disputed signatures on Tuesday, September 8, and is scheduled to complete his review by Friday, September 18.

Pending the outcome of the Court's review of the disputed signatures, lawyers for NYC CAN and the City will begin arguing the legality of the petition's proposed amendment to the City Charter.

Sibel Edmonds finally gets to tell her story

August 24, 2009
Newsdemocrat.com
The newspaper of record for Brown County, Ohio

Ohio Second District Congresswoman Jean Schmidt, R-Cincinnati, filed nine election complaints against independent candidate David Krikorian concerning the 2008 election in May this year.

Krikorian opposed Schmidt in the Second District Congressional race as an independent in 2008 and is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2010 race in April. The complaints focus on Krikorian's statements during the election stating that Rep. Schmidt was taking money from organizations related to the Turkish government in exchange for denying the occurrence of what Krikorian called the Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Turks during World War I.

The complaints also relate to Election Commission records on campaign contributions Schmidt received from the Turkish American Heritage PAC and the Turkish Coalition USA PAC.

Since filing the complaints, Schmidt's counsel has withdrawn four complaints, and an Ohio Elections Commission three-person panel decided there was probable cause to hear the remaining complaints on Thursday, Aug. 13. The five remaining complaints will be reviewed by the entire Commission on Sept. 3.

In a highly contentious move, Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday appointed a special prosecutor to take a fresh look at whether US officials violated the law through harsh treatment of detainees during the Bush administration's war on terror.

Mr. Holder said he was authorizing John Durham, a career Justice Department prosecutor, to conduct a "preliminary review into whether federal laws were violated in connection with the interrogation of specific detainees at overseas locations." He did not identify those detainees by name or where they were allegedly mistreated.

"I fully realize my decision to commence this preliminary review will be controversial," Holder said. "In this case, given all the information currently available, it is clear to me that this review is the only responsible course of action for me to take."

The announcement came shortly after the administration released a redacted version of a 2004 CIA Inspector General's report on harsh interrogation tactics.

The report said CIA interrogators threatened to kill the children of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khaled Shaikh Mohammed, and threatened another detainee with a power drill and suggestions that if he didn't talk his mother would be brought into the room and raped in front of him.

By Debra Sweet
August 24, 2009
Worldcantwait.org

CIA Torture Report to be Released

The release of the long-anticipated CIA report, quashed since 2006 by the Bush regime, and then postponed several times by the Obama administration, is set for Monday August 24. It's been leaked. Newsweek and the Guardian UK, "Bombshell report on CIA interrogations is leaked" report the CIA used mock executions to terrorize detainees through threatening the use of pistols and electric drills.

It's reported that the Attorney General will make a decision in the next few days on whether to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of torture.  The New York Times analyzed the problem Eric Holder is up against, having been instructed by Barack Obama not to look "backward" while saying "we do not torture":

In any kind of major transnational event, there is the historical truth, what actually happened, and the political truth, what must have happened for the nations involved to continue on as before.

Sometimes, these accounts match; other times, these "truths" are wildly divergent, which appears to be the case with the Lockerbie bombing.

On Thursday, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of planting a bomb aboard Pan Am Flight 103 which exploded over the hills over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988, was released. The Scottish authorities said they were letting al-Megrahi go free on "compassionate grounds" because he was terminally ill from cancer.

This decision caused an uproar in the United States. Obama administration officials lodged angry protests; family members of the victims decried the move, and TV pundits joined in the lamentations. But what do they really know about the Lockerbie bombing, beyond what they've read in the last few days?

The truth about what happened at Lockerbie appears quite a bit more complex than the cookie-cutter version presented by the mainstream media. Several longtime observers of the al-Megrahi case have concluded that it has always been weak, at best.

Federal judge rules detainee's lawyers can question 9/11 mastermind Mohammed _ in writing

DEVLIN BARRETT
AP News
Rawstory.com

Aug 23, 2009 05:22 EST

Lawyers for a Guantanamo Bay detainee will be allowed to question -- in writing -- accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a federal judge has ruled. The decision is a setback for government lawyers who had sought to limit the scope of detainee lawyers' challenges to the detention and prosecution of terror suspects.

In a written ruling, Judge Ricardo Urbina says lawyers for detainee Abdul Raheem Ghulam Rabbani can submit written questions about their client to Mohammed. Prosecutors say he worked for Mohammed, but Rabbani's lawyers contend he was just a menial servant, not a part of any terror network.

The ruling says prosecutors may review the answers before delivering them to Rabbani's lawyers to remove any national security information.

Government lawyers had unsuccessfully sought to convince the judge that any questioning of Mohammed by Rabbani's lawyers would risk exposing details of sensitive intelligence programs.

This took place at the Anthony Wayne Movie Theater in Wayne, PA. Thanks to everyone that came out tonight, and thanks to Betsy Metz for making it possible. Correction: The news about NORAD lying, and the 9/11 Commission came out around the time this movie was released.

By Brad Knickerbocker
August 20, 2009
The Christian Science Monitor

For those who had their doubts about the politics behind the Bush administration’s “war on terrorism,” Tom Ridge’s new book will fuel long-held suspicions.

The former Republican governor of Pennsylvania, who was the first head of the Department of Homeland Security, says two top Bush officials – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft – pressured him to up the terror alert level before the 2004 election, according to promotional materials by publisher Macmillan.

“Ridge also charges that he was often ‘blindsided’ during daily morning briefings with Bush because the FBI withheld information from him, and says he was never invited to sit in on National Security Council meetings,” reports AFP.

Former Bush officials have been quick to push back on Ridge’s revelation.

Frances Frago Townsend, who coordinated homeland security matters at the National Security Council under President Bush, said Ridge is “absolutely wrong” in his allegation. “Politics played no part in any discussion” of the Homeland Security Council, Ms. Townsend insists in The Atlantic.

Nine Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Eric Holder Wednesday saying the U.S. could face a terrorist attack if the attorney general appoints a special prosecutor to investigate the CIA's use of torture against “war on terror" suspects.

Holder is under pressure to resist launching a criminal probe, even one limited to rogue CIA interrogators. At the same time, he is facing mounting pressure from some prominent Democrats and civil liberties and human rights groups to not only sign off on a criminal investigation but to expand it to include top Bush administration officials.

The latest correspondence came on Wednesday, in a letter to the attorney general that said an investigation into the CIA’s interrogation practices, no matter how limited in scope, would jeopardize the “security for all Americans, “chill future intelligence activities,” and could “leave us more vulnerable to attack.”

The senators resorted to fear-mongering, invoking the terrorist attacks on 9/11 to try and dissuade Holder.

PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Distribution
August 17, 2009

Movie screening: "9/11: BLUEPRINT FOR TRUTH"

Friday 09/11/2009, 5:20 PM, at Riverview Theater in Minneapolis (8th anniversary of 9/11)

In this 60-minute director's cut edition of "9/11: BLUEPRINT FOR TRUTH, The Architecture of Destruction," San Francisco Bay area architect, Richard Gage, AIA, provides a series of abridged versions of the full research copy. The stunning multimedia presentations will deliver myth-shattering scientific evidence surrounding the explosive demolition of all 3 World Trade center buildings.

This free screening is sponsored by the family of Patricia J. Statz, who died in the Pentagon on 09/11/2001. This screening is endorsed by the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers (MAP), the War Resisters League MN, Veterans For Peace, Ground Zero Minnesota, MN 9/11 Truth and We Are Change Minnesota.

By John Bursill -- Australian Activist and Engineer
August 15, 2009

As the anniversary of 9/11 approaches once again it leads us to reflect on what we have achieved and what is yet to be achieved by the 9/11 Truth and Justice Campaign. One thing we all might agree on is that a more "focused" and "deliberate" media campaign is in order this anniversary.

In this last year we have received some very powerful tools to use in our battle against those who would see us fade away as a movement. The most powerful is arguably the "Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe" paper provided, peer reviewed and published by our hard working scholars internationally. While this world-changing evidence has received press in parts of Europe and Asia, it has not been reported on within the corporate media of the "Coalition of the willing", being predominantly the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. It is important to note these countries are also the major supporters of the "War on Terror" having direct military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan to this day.