Yesterday afternoon, Justice Edward Lehner of the State Supreme Court rubberstamped Referee Louis Crespo's recommendation that the decision to establish a local commission to investigate the events of September 11th not be put before the voters on November 3rd.

After showing interest in weighing both sides' arguments in the hearing, the Judge's short decision gives no indication of having considered the arguments put forth in the Petitioners' memorandum of law, nor any acknowledgement of the need for a new investigation, which the City of New York callously dismissed as "irrelevant".

On a dark day for democracy, the patriotic call for answers by hundreds of 9/11 families, first responders and survivors has been stifled, and the will of the people of New York City once again denied.

Judge Lehner ruled that modifying the petition to make it "legally permissible" would result in it being "inconsistent with the law sought by the signatories of the Petition" despite the fact that all 80,000 signatories agreed by signing the Petition that "If any provision of this law is held to be unconstitutional or invalid for any reason, the remaining provisions shall be in no manner affected thereby but shall remain in full force and effect."

RELATED NEWS COVERAGE

Four-city Tour Down Under - November, 2009

November 14-15 - Sydney ~ November 17 - Melbourne ~ November 19 - Brisbane ~ November 21 - Wellington

Upcoming Sydney Conference to Demonstrate the Three Building Collapses on 9/11 Were a Controlled Demolition

Sydney, Australia, September 14, 2009 - Truth Action Australia and 911oz.com will host the international conference The Hard Evidence to critically examine the three building collapses in New York on September 11, 2001. The official explanation of these building collapses 1, 2 and 7 of the World Trade Center Complex have been attributed primarily to fire damage causing a "global collapse" which independent scientific research has found an entirely insufficient explanation. A group of architects and engineers, approaching one thousand members, is demanding a new investigation of these building collapses based on hard physical evidence, witness testimony, video evidence and strict structural analysis using the original blueprints.

The one day event will be comprised of two presentations and an expert panel discussion inviting members of the press and public to ask hard technical questions of the relevant experts. The morning lecture will be from experienced Architect Richard Gage AIA representing Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth presenting 9/11: Blueprint for Truth - The Architecture of Destruction. The afternoon presentation will be from Steven Jones Ph.D., presenting research based on his scientific team's recent published findings asking What is Nanothermite, a high-tech explosive material, doing in the dust from WTC building collapses on 9/11? A late afternoon panel discussion will follow, comprised of highly qualified experts including Structural Engineer Paul Mason, Chemist Dr. Frank Legge and Dr. David Leifer, a senior lecturer in architecture at Sydney University.

Date: Saturday, November 14th 2009.

Photo credit: AP File | Firefighters make their way through rubble after terrorists crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center. (Sept. 11, 2001)

Thousands of sickened 9/11 recovery workers whose legal claims have been barred because of missed deadlines can now join a massive group suing New York City under a law signed by Gov. David A. Paterson, officials said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation claims that surveillance tapes of the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995 have not been edited, despite the fact that all of the more than two dozen tapes released fail mysteriously to show the moments just before the truck bomb exploded.

Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue obtained the tapes through a Freedom of Information Act request as part of his investigation of the bombing. All of the tapes feature blanks just before the bomb went off at 9:02 a.m., but "the interesting thing is they spring back on after 9:02," Trentadue said. "The absence of footage from these crucial time intervals is evidence that there is something there that the FBI doesn't want anybody to see."

The Associated Press reported on September 30 that FBI spokesman Paul Bresson told them in an e-mail the Bureau didn't edit the tapes before releasing them. Bresson said the FBI responded to Trentadue's request by turning over 26 videos taken from surveillance cameras in 11 different locations. The agency did not report finding any tapes from the Murrah Building itself.

Supreme Court Justice Edward Lehner has begun consideration of NYC CAN's motion to reject Referee's Louis Crespo's recommendation that the NYC CAN 9/11 petition not be submitted to the voters on November 3. The petition would ask whether or not there should be an independent New York City investigation into 9/11.

Responding to a motion brought by NYC CAN attorney Dennis McMahon, a hearing was held Tuesday September 29 at the New York State Supreme Court, and concluded with the understanding that the Court will likely render a decision on the petition's legality by Friday, October 2.

The City's previously assumed deadline of September 30—spurred by the printing deadline for military absentee ballots—was brushed away by Judge Lehner as he suggested the printing of absentee ballots would likely not be ordered on Wednesday, September 30, since runoff elections were being held while the Court was in session. Even if the ballots were ordered on Wednesday, Lehner indicated, this should not prevent the referendum from being put before the vast majority of the electorate who would be voting in New York City.

A key senior figure in a Bush administration covert Pentagon program, which used retired military analysts to produce positive wartime news coverage, remains in his same position today as a chief Obama Defense Department spokesman and the agency’s head of all media operations.

In an examination of Pentagon documents the New York Times obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request -- which reporter David Barstow leveraged for his April 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning expose on the program – Raw Story has found that Bryan Whitman surfaces in over 500 emails and transcripts, revealing the deputy assistant secretary of defense for media operations was both one of the program’s senior participants and an active member.

Whitman’s conspicuous presence in these records is notwithstanding thousands of documented communications the Bush Pentagon released but for which names were redacted and an untold number the prior administration successfully withheld after its two-year legal battle with the Times.

Barstow’s Times expose revealed a comprehensive, covert Pentagon campaign -- beginning during the lead-up to the Iraq War and continuing through 2008 -- that shaped network military analysts into what internal documents referred to as “message force multipliers” and “surrogates” who could be trusted to parrot Bush administration talking points “in the form of their own opinions.” Barstow’s reporting also detailed how most of the military analysts, traditionally viewed as authoritative and independent, had ties to defense contractors with a stake in the same war policies they were interpreting daily to the American public.

NY Supreme Court Hearing 9:30AM Tuesday Will Determine Fate of Referendum

March For Answers 9/27/09

See The March (more below)

On Sunday, 9/11 family member Manny Badillo welcomed the crowd at Battery Park, "Today we are marching peaceably to let the world know that the City of NY is defying the will of the people to have one question on the ballot, the question to have a proper independent investigation to answer 100% of the questions raised by the 9/11 families."

Monday, September 28th, 2009 -- 2:45 pm
RawStory.org

UPDATE (at bottom): City's law department tells RAW STORY that a new 9/11 investigation is 'not a proper subject to be placed before the voters' '

A lead actor from the popular FX television show "Rescue Me" joined a large group of 9/11 activists and survivors on Sunday in a march from New York City's Battery Park to city hall.

During an afternoon rally in the park, Daniel Sunjata, who plays the role of Franco Rivera in the firefighter drama featuring actor Dennis Leary, took the stage with an impassioned call for a new investigation.

The march was held to support the NYC CAN coalition, which is currently engaged in a court battle with city hall over the legality of their ballot measure calling for a new 9/11 investigation.

John M. Cole, a former FBI Counterintelligence and Counterespionage Manager, has publicly confirmed the FBI's decade long investigation of the former State Department Official Marc Grossman. Cole worked for 18 years in the FBI's Counterintelligence Division. According to Cole, as in over one hundred cases involving Israeli espionage activities directed against the US government, the Grossman case was covered up and buried despite mountains of evidence that was collected.

Here is the public response from John Cole after the publication of The American Conservative magazine's cover story:

"I read the recent cover story by The American Conservative magazine. I applaud their courage in publishing this significant interview. I am fully aware of the FBI's decade-long investigation of the High-level State Department Official named in this article, Marc Grossman, which ultimately was buried and covered up. It is long past time to investigate this case and bring about accountability..."

Outraged by the police/military repression of protest at the G-20 in Pittsburg? Sign this letter of outrage!

September 27, 2009
World Can't Wait.org READ Cindy Sheehan's letter from Pittsburgh
WATCH video footage.

Breaking News: Court Referee Recommends Ruling in Favor of City;
NYC CAN To File Motion To Reject Referee's Recommendation

Rather than waiting until the scheduled decision date of Monday, September 28, Referee Louis Crespo issued his "report and recommendations" on Friday, September 25, and recommended that the Court rule in favor of the City.

After reviewing the referee's report, we feel he did not give adequate consideration to the extensive arguments presented in our memorandum of law submitted on Monday, September 21. The report seemed more a cut and paste from the City's original motion papers than a balanced weighing of the arguments. In particular, the referee's report failed to analyze the vast majority of NYC CAN's legal points as to why the City's claims were unfounded and its reliance on certain case law wholly inapplicable.

By Sibel Edmonds and Philip Giraldi
September 22, 2009
American Conservative Magazine

Sibel Edmonds has a story to tell. She went to work as a Turkish and Farsi translator for the FBI five days after 9/11. Part of her job was to translate and transcribe recordings of conversations between suspected Turkish intelligence agents and their American contacts. She was fired from the FBI in April 2002 after she raised concerns that one of the translators in her section was a member of a Turkish organization that was under investigation for bribing senior government officials and members of Congress, drug trafficking, illegal weapons sales, money laundering, and nuclear proliferation. She appealed her termination, but was more alarmed that no effort was being made to address the corruption that she had been monitoring.

A Department of Justice inspector general's report called Edmonds's allegations "credible," "serious," and "warrant[ing] a thorough and careful review by the FBI." Ranking Senate Judiciary Committee members Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have backed her publicly. "60 Minutes" launched an investigation of her claims and found them believable. No one has ever disproved any of Edmonds's revelations, which she says can be verified by FBI investigative files.