Wednesday, January 28 2009   -   Other Important News

by Michael Hasty
Sunday, January 25, 2009
RadicalPantheist.blogspot.com

Although I was as happy as most Americans that Barack Obama took the oath of office last week, rather than his Republican alternative, there is a major reason that he did not get my vote in November, which went instead to Cynthia McKinney: Obama is unlikely to re-open an investigation into what really happened on September 11, 2001--an investigation that needs to happen.

According to polls, about four in ten Americans are suspicious that the Bush administration was complicit in the 9/11 attacks--either by deliberately ignoring intelligence that warned an attack was coming and allowing the terrorists to strike, to gain public support for the neoconservative foreign policy agenda of increasing American military power in the Middle East; or by actively coordinating the attacks themselves, for the same reason. As Time magazine, in a rare acknowledgement of the 9/11 truth movement, said: "This is not a fringe phenomenon. It is a mainstream political reality."

 

Wednesday, January 28 2009   -   In the Media

Muriel Kane
January 27, 2009

RawStory.com

The super-secretive National Security Agency has been quietly monitoring, decrypting, and interpreting foreign communications for decades, starting long before it came under criticism as a result of recent revelations about the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. Now a forthcoming PBS documentary asks whether the NSA could have prevented 9/11 if it had been more willing to share its data with other agencies.

Author James Bamford looked into the performance of the NSA in his 2008 book, The Shadow Factory, and found that it had been closely monitoring the 9/11 hijackers as they moved freely around the United States and communicated with Osama bin Laden's operations center in Yemen. The NSA had even tapped bin Laden's satellite phone, starting in 1996.

 

Wednesday, January 28 2009   -   9/11 A/V Galleries


WeAreChangeLA
January 25, 2009

This video is dedicated to my neighbor, Greg, who woke me up to the Truth About 9/11 and to all of the givers around the world who wake up others.  

Wednesday, January 28 2009   -   9/11 Consequences



WeAreChange would like to recognize the leadership of George Martin, NFL star and SuperBowl Champion with the NY Giants in 1987. George raised over two million dollars for the first responders of 9/11, raising money and awareness by walking all the way across the country, from New York to California. See http://www.ajourneyfor911.info

WeAreChange also caught up with some of the SuperBowl Champs from 2008. On the video is the messages they had for the first responders. As we watch another SuperBowl pass let's remember who the real heroes in our country are, and how badly they're in need. Support H.R. 7174 (James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act) Visit www.fealgoodfoundation.com for updates on this bill as it's introduced into the current Congress (with a new bill number). [911Truth.org will also post this information as soon as we learn details.]  

Tuesday, January 27 2009   -   Accountability

John Byrne
January 27, 2009
RawStory.com

A little-noticed twist in an order issued by President Barack Obama the day after his inauguration may present problems for former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and other Bush Administration officials that have been targeted for their alleged role in various scandals.

Rove was subpoenaed Monday afternoon by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI). When the dogged Democrat subpoenaed him last year, Bush Administration lawyers invoked "executive immunity" to prevent Rove from testifying.

This year, however, George W. Bush is no longer in the president's chair. Determination of executive privilege must now also be examined by President Obama's lawyers. In fact, Rove's lawyer made direct reference to Obama's role in any future decision to enjoin Rove's appearance on the congressional witness stand Monday night.

 

Monday, January 26 2009   -   Letters to the Editor

Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel
1/26/2009

Machiavelli wrote, "There are many who think a wise prince ought, when he has the chance, to foment astutely some enmity, so that by suppressing it he will augment his greatness."

This tactic has often been used or considered. Germany was blamed during World War I for an unprovoked attack on the "Lusitania," which was carrying arms to the British, and the Vietnam War was expanded based on a false report on Aug. 4, 1964, of an attack in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Operation Northwoods, a 1962 military plan to fake a Cuban attack on the U.S., proposed shooting down a civilian plane with Americans onboard.

 

Monday, January 26 2009   -   Accountability

For immediate release
January 23, 2009

The Guantanamo Bay Detention Center continues to be an enormous stain on America's reputation. Newly elected President Obama has taken the first step in removing this stain by keeping his campaign promise to the American people.

The temporary halting of proceedings at Gitmo gives us the "audacity to hope" that President Obama will be able to restore America's good name, which has been repeatedly tarnished during the past eight years.

We appreciate the tough decisions that President Obama has been forced to make and admire him for taking these difficult tasks on. We look forward to hearing his plan for closing Guantanamo Bay forever, finding a just way to try the detainees and putting an end to this horrific chapter in America's history.

# # #

Patty Casazza
Monica Gabrielle
Mindy Kleinberg
Lorie Van Auken

 

Friday, January 23 2009   -   9/11 Consequences

January 23, 2009
By Michael Doyle
McClatchy Newspapers

...As one of his first acts, President Barack Obama issued an order reversing his predecessor's approach toward the release of government documents. Scholars, journalists, farmers and the simply curious now await the reopening of federal information taps tightened since 2001.

In fiscal 2007, for instance, the Defense Department completely granted approximately 48 percent of the FOIA requests it processed. In fiscal 1998, by contrast, the Clinton administration's Defense Department completely granted approximately 61 percent of FOIA requests.

The Pentagon was not alone, a review of federal agency reports shows. Percentages are approximate, because of how the reports are compiled, but trends are obvious.

 

Friday, January 23 2009   -   Other Important News

January 23, 2009
Project on Government Oversight

Honorable Carl Levin, Chairman

Honorable John McCain, Ranking Member

The undersigned groups commends you, Chairman Levin, for your decision to wait to evaluate the impact of President Obama's new revolving door restrictions requiring appointees to recuse themselves from work related to their former employer or clients, as well as from matters or issues for which he lobbied. Proceeding with the nomination of William J. Lynn III, a former Raytheon Company lobbyist, to the position of Deputy Secretary of Defense clearly violates President Obama's Executive Order (EO). We believe your cautious approach is an important exercise of congressional oversight. Upon reviewing the President's just released EO and its waiver provisions we urge you to go one step further and reject the nomination of Mr. Lynn.

This letter is not to suggest that Mr. Lynn is not qualified for the position. Before the President issued his Ethics Commitment by Executive Branch Personnel Executive Order, there would have been little ground for questioning the proposed nomination of Mr. Lynn. However, given that the new pledge required by President Obama is written to preclude any appointee from participating "in any particular matter on which I lobbied within the 2 years before the date of my appointment," or accepting "employment with any executive agency that I lobbied within the 2 years before the date of my appointment," the undersigned groups believe that Mr. Lynn simply could not effectively serve as the Deputy Secretary of Defense.

 

Friday, January 23 2009   -   9/11 Consequences

David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Wednesday January 21, 2009
RawStory.com

 

Friday, January 23 2009   -   Accountability

By Scott Horton
January 22, 2009
Harper's

In an interview on Tuesday evening with the German television program “Frontal 21,” on channel ZDF Professor Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Rapporteur responsible for torture, stated that with George W. Bush’s head of state immunity now terminated, the new government of Barack Obama was obligated by international law to commence a criminal investigation into Bush’s torture practices.

"The evidence is sitting on the table," he stated. "There is no avoiding the fact that this was torture." He pointed to the U.S. undertakings under the Convention Against Torture in which the country committed that it would criminally prosecute anyone who tortured, or extradite the person to a state that would prosecute him. "The government of the United States is required to take all necessary steps to bring George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld before a court," Nowak said.

 

Thursday, January 22 2009   -   Truth Movement News

The Dallas 9/11 Truth Group gave out more than 4,000 newspaper-sized flyers ( http://www.911blogger.com/node/18142 ) and over 1600 DVDs during their marches in both Dallas MLK Parades.

There was the Dallas MLK Parade on Saturday, the 17th.

Monday, the 19th, 9/11 Truth also was represented in The Elite News Dr. Martin Luther King Parade-"The People's Parade." This parade is the second largest of its kind in the country, and has always been dubbed "The Peoples Parade." In 2008, it was reported to have had a turnout of an estimated 200,000 people.

 

Wednesday, January 21 2009   -   9/11 A/V Galleries

Obama limits ex-presidents' discretion on records

By MARK SHERMAN
January 21, 2009
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has issued an executive order that limits the ability of former presidents to block the release of sensitive records of their time in the White House.

Obama's action Wednesday in his first full day in office overturns an earlier order issued by George W. Bush.

Obama said former presidents may ask to have certain documents kept private, but they no longer may compel the National Archives to do so.

 

Wednesday, January 21 2009   -   Truth Movement News

Richard Gage, AIA founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth discusses a welcome letter of response from Michael J. Heimbach, Asst. Director in the FBI division of Counterterrorism.
Video follows:

 

Wednesday, January 21 2009   -   9/11 Consequences

January 21, 2009
by Philippe Naughton
TimesOnline

Barack Obama has wasted no time in getting down to the business of government, asking prosecutors to halt controversial military trials at Guantanamo Bay within hours of his inauguration.

The request was issued via the Department of Defence even as President Obama and his wife Michelle waltzed their way through a series of glitzy inaugural balls.

Mr Obama pledged during his campaign to close the prison camp on Cuba set up in 2001 to hold detainees from the 'War on Terror'. The camp's legality has always been questioned, and former inmates and human rights experts said the harsh interrogation techniques deployed inside it amounted to torture.

Last night's request was for a 120-day stay in the trials of five alleged 9/11 plotters - including the self-proclaimed 'mastermind' behind America's worst terror attack - and of a Canadian accused of killing a US soldier in Afghanistan. Mr Obama had been expected to issue an executive order as early as today for the full closure of the camp, but accepts that it might take months to rehouse some 250 inmates still held there.