Monday, August 3 2009   -   Anthrax

By Tom Burghardt
August 2, 2009
Antifascist Calling

The 2001 anthrax attacks underscore the dangers posed to our health and safety by the Bioweapons-Industrial Complex.

The killer(s) employed a military-grade version of the deadly pathogen, a four-mutation blend of anthrax prepared at the government's test site at the remote Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. Based on available evidence it's a near certainty that the weapon came from stockpiles at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Ft. Detrick, Maryland.

Before the dust cleared prominent opposition politicians had been attacked, five people were murdered, 10,000 more were exposed and representative government ground to a halt as panic set in.

According to multiple media reports, federal investigators concluded that the anthrax spores in the letters addressed to former Senate leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) could only have been produced in a state-run lab. The weaponized version of the pathogen contained as many as one trillion spores per gram, a concentration sufficient enough to kill half the American population if widely distributed.

But rather than giving pause to Pentagon weaponeers, Big Pharma who profit handsomely from vaccine production, the $100 billion agribusiness empire that drives research and the politicians who do their bidding, decades-long U.S. biowar programs have miraculously morphed overnight into a new growth industry: "biodefense."

What had once been Washington's dirty little secret has now blossomed into a $50 billion cash-cow for academic and corporate grifters, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

As the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists pointed out last year, "massive U.S. biodefense spending and a buildup of high-containment laboratories throughout the country might have created an internal security risk that no outside terrorist group could ever duplicate. Nearly two dozen new federal and many more new private biosafety level 3 and 4 laboratories have been built in recent years, meaning a large cadre of scientists has access to extraordinarily lethal material."

 

Monday, August 3 2009   -   Accountability

By Stephen C. Webster
August 2, 2009
RawStory.com

CIA director and Democratic appointee Leon Panetta, in an article published Sunday, said Democrats must recognize the "reality" of 9/11 is what drove the conduct of George W. Bush administration in the months following September 11, 2001, which somehow justifies not looking into suspected crimes.

He added, in an apparent warning to the House Intelligence Committee, that that "focusing on the past" could hurt the CIA's core mission amid a climate of recriminations over its practices.

"I've become increasingly concerned that the focus on the past, especially in Congress, threatens to distract the CIA from its crucial core missions: intelligence collection, analysis and covert action," Panetta opined in the online edition of The Washington Post.

"In our democracy, effective congressional oversight of intelligence is important, but it depends as much on consensus as it does on secrecy," he continued. "We need broad agreement between the executive and legislative branches on what our intelligence organizations do and why. For much of our history, we have had that. Over the past eight years, on specific issues -- including the detention and interrogation of terrorists -- the consensus deteriorated. That contributed to an atmosphere of declining trust, growing frustration and more frequent leaks of properly classified information."

Several paragraphs later, he appears to offer a blanket excuse for torture, CIA black sites, kidnapping, indefinite detention, the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and warrantless spying, among a litany of other notable scandals.

 

Sunday, August 2 2009   -   Anthrax

By Daniel Tencer
August 1, 2009
RawStory.com

Until the US holds a "broader inquiry" into the investigation of the 2001 anthrax mailings, US House Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) won't be satisfied that there isn't a mass killer on the loose in his home town.

Holt -- whose 12th Congressional district of New Jersey includes a postal facility from which some of the anthrax letters were mailed during the 2001 biological terrorism scare -- says that the FBI "suffers from a credibility gap" because of the many mistakes made by the bureau during its long investigation into the first serious case of biological terrorism on American soil.

"If the technical and scientific procedures [used by the FBI] are as flawed as the non-technical procedures, they certainly deserve a look," the Frederick, Md., News-Post quoted Holt as saying.

At the FBI's request, the National Academy of Sciences has convened a 15-member panel to review the scientific soundness of the FBI's eight-year-long investigation into the anthrax mailings. According to Elie Dolgin at Nature magazine, the FBI believes the scientific review of its own investigation to be "unprecedented."

 

Sunday, August 2 2009   -   In the Media

By Peter Phillips
8/1/09

The corporate media in the United States are ignoring valid news stories, based on university quality research. It appears that certain topics are simply forbidden inside the mainstream corporate media today. To openly cover these news stories would stir up questions regarding "inconvenient truths" that many in the US power structure want to avoid.

For example, current research indicates that public schools in the United States are more segregated today than they have been in more than four decades. According to a new Civil Rights report, published at the University of California, Los Angeles, schools in the US are 44 percent non-white, and minorities are rapidly emerging as the majority of public school students in the US. Latinos and blacks, the two largest minority groups, attend schools more segregated today than during the civil rights movement forty years ago. Millions of non-white students are locked into "dropout factory" high schools, where huge percentages do not graduate. The most severe segregation in public schools occurs in the Western states, including California--not in the South, as many people believe. Most non-white schools are segregated by poverty as well as race. Schools in low-income communities remain highly unequal in terms of funding, qualified teachers, and curriculum.

Other taboo stories include civilian death rates in Iraq and questions on 9/11. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and a professional survey company in Great Britain, Opinion Research Business (ORB) report that the United States is directly responsible for over one million Iraqi deaths since our invasion six and half years ago. In a January 2008 report, ORB reported that, "survey work confirms our earlier estimate that over 1,000,000 Iraqi citizens have died as a result of the conflict which started in 2003 ... . We now estimate that the death toll between March 2003 and August 2007 is likely to have been of the order of 1,033,000." A 2006 Johns Hopkins study confirmed that US aerial bombing in civilian neighborhoods caused over a third of these deaths and that over half the deaths are directly attributable to US forces. Iraqi civilian death levels in the summer of 2009 likely now exceed 1.2 million.

 

Saturday, August 1 2009   -   Civil Liberties-Police State

Militarization of public health in the case of emergency is now official

by Michel Chossudovsky
July 31, 2009
Global Research

According to CNN, the Pentagon is "to establish regional teams of military personnel to assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, according to Defense Department officials."

"The proposal is awaiting final approval from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The officials would not be identified because the proposal from U.S. Northern Command's Gen. Victor Renuart has not been approved by the secretary.

The plan calls for military task forces to work in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There is no final decision on how the military effort would be manned, but one source said it would likely include personnel from all branches of the military.

It has yet to be determined how many troops would be needed and whether they would come from the active duty or the National Guard and Reserve forces.

Civilian authorities would lead any relief efforts in the event of a major outbreak, the official said. The military, as they would for a natural disaster or other significant emergency situation, could provide support and fulfill any tasks that civilian authorities could not, such as air transport or testing of large numbers of viral samples from infected patients.

As a first step, Gates is being asked to sign a so-called "execution order" that would authorize the military to begin to conduct the detailed planning to execute the proposed plan.

Orders to deploy actual forces would be reviewed later, depending on how much of a health threat the flu poses this fall, the officials said." (CNN, Military planning for possible H1N1 outbreak, July 2009, emphasis added) 

 

Saturday, August 1 2009   -   Research/Evidence

[See Related Story below]

July 31, 2009
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/07/former-fbi-translator-bin-laden-w...

Before you hear what she has to say, you should know a little about Sibel Edmonds' background.

Edmonds is a former FBI translator, who the Department of Justice's Inspector General and several senators have called extremely credible (free subscription required).

Some of Edmonds allegations' have been confirmed in the British press.

Now, Edmonds is saying that Osama Bin Laden worked for the U.S. right up until 9/11, and that that fact is being covered up because the US outsourced terror operations to al Qaeda and the Taliban for many years.

Is there are confirmation of Edmonds' claim?

Yes.

 

Saturday, August 1 2009   -   Research/Evidence

By Luke Ryland
July 31, 2009
Against All Enemies blog

Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds dropped a bombshell on the Mike Malloy radio show, guest-hosted by Brad Friedman (audio, partial transcript).

In the interview, Sibel says that the US maintained 'intimate relations' with Bin Laden, and the Taliban, "all the way until that day of September 11."

These 'intimate relations' included using Bin Laden for 'operations' in Central Asia, including Xinjiang, China. These 'operations' involved using al Qaeda and the Taliban in the same manner "as we did during the Afghan and Soviet conflict," that is, fighting 'enemies' via proxies.

As Sibel has previously described, and as she reiterates in this latest interview, this process involved using Turkey (with assistance from 'actors from Pakistan, and Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia') as a proxy, which in turn used Bin Laden and the Taliban and others as a proxy terrorist army.

 

Saturday, August 1 2009   -   Get Involved

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

9/11 Family Members and Survivor File for Re-validation of Citizens' Signatures with New York State Supreme Court, following rejection of NYC CAN petition by the City Clerk and Board of Elections

New York City -- On Wednesday, several 9/11 victim family members and a survivor took the first step in challenging the City Clerk's rejection of the NYC CAN petition for a new investigation in New York City. The group filed a Verified Petition/Order to Show Cause with the Supreme Court of the State of New York requesting a review of Board of Election documentation and a 'special referee' appointed to re-validate the over 52,000 signatures filed by NYC CAN on June 24th.

The NYC CAN petition was rejected by the City Clerk on Friday, July 24th, a week ago, certifying less than the minimum of 30,000 qualified signatures of electors. This benchmark, according to the Clerk's office, was not met. A "qualified elector" is a registered New York City voter who was eligible to vote in the last election. According to the letter sent by the Clerk to the City Council, the NY Board of Elections validated 26,003 signatures and invalidated 24,664, leaving 1,333 that were not certified.

 

Friday, July 31 2009   -   Research/Evidence

by Kevin Ryan
July 30, 2009
911blogger.com

The Journal of 9/11 Studies has published a new paper by Dr. Frank Legge, entitled "What Hit the Pentagon?", available here: http://journalof911studies.com/volume/2009/WhatHitPentagonDrLegge.pdf

Here are some excerpts:

"The most logical inference from the Pentagon attack evidence is that the perpetrators of 9/11 knew that there would be many members of the public who would become suspicious for one reason or another. The perpetrators realized that a powerful technique for weakening the arguments of the skeptics would be to have them arguing against one another."

 

Thursday, July 30 2009   -   First Responders/Health Effects

Washington, D.C. -- Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Michael McMahon (D-NY) today applauded the House passage of $70,723,000 in funding for the World Trade Center Health Programs for Fiscal Year 2010. The funding was included in the FY2010 Labor and Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill, which passed the House today. The lawmakers, along with Rep. Peter King (R-NY), are sponsors of the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (H.R. 847), which would provide long-term, comprehensive health care and compensation for those sickened or injured in the aftermath of 9/11.

"The heroes and heroines of 9/11 deserve a helping hand from the federal government --it's the least we can do as a grateful nation. This $70 million in federal funding will keep the doors of 9/11 health clinics open until we pass comprehensive 9/11 health legislation, hopefully by the eighth anniversary of the attacks," said Rep. Maloney. "I thank President Obama and my colleagues in the House for their continued support of the men and women who came to the aid of the country after 9/11."

"This $70 million for the World Trade Center Health Programs will directly benefit the first responders and community members who are living with 9/11-related illnesses," said Rep. Nadler. "These funds are critical for ensuring that those who sacrificed -- or who were innocent bystanders -- on or after 9/11 are taken care of until we pass comprehensive 9/11 health care legislation. Thanks are due to President Obama, Congresswoman Maloney and my colleagues for supporting this crucial
program."

 

Tuesday, July 28 2009   -   Get Involved

A CALL TO ACTION -- PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

www.NYCCAN.org

July 27, 2009

9/11 FAMILIES, FIRST RESPONDERS AND SURVIVORS TO TAKE NEW YORK CITY TO COURT OVER NYC CAN PETITION

SEVENTY THOUSAND New Yorkers signed the NYC CAN petition, raising their voices in support of NYC CAN's demand for accountability. They have chosen to place the decision to create a new 9/11 investigation -- a REAL 9/11 investigation -- exactly where it belongs: before the voters of New York City this November. The voices of SEVENTY THOUSAND Americans who believe in democracy and believe that government exists to serve the people -- and not the other way around -- have been GAGGED by ONE so-called "PUBLIC SERVANT" -- The New York City Clerk -- who denied the petition and the voice of the people.

Welcome to America. Democracy denied.

 

Saturday, July 25 2009   -   Civil Liberties-Police State

By Muriel Kane
July 24, 2009
RawStory.com

According to a story in Friday's New York Times, Vice-President Cheney advocated in 2002 for the Bush administration to send military troops to Buffalo to arrest the so-called Lackawanna Six as enemy combatants.

This would have violated both Fourth Amendment guarantees against search and seizure without probable cause and the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which makes it illegal to use the military for law enforcement.

Despite those prohibitions, Cheney argued that the president did have the power to use the military on US soil, citing an October 23, 2001 Justice Department memorandum co-authored by John Yoo which claimed that presidential power extended to the domestic use of the military as long as it served a national security purpose.

The Lackawanna Six were a group of young Yememi-Americans who had attended an al Qaeda training camp in 2001. They were arrested in September 2002, and President Bush bragged of having broken their "cell" in his January 2003 State of the Union address.

However, an investigation by Salon failed to turn up any evidence that they were actually a "sleeper cell" or that they had been planning any kind of violent attack. Most of them were convicted merely of providing material aid to terrorists.

 

Friday, July 24 2009   -   Endorsements & Support

John Albanese
July 23, 2009
New York City

70,000 signatures. A groundswell of endorsements from some of the most prestigious and well-respected names in and out of the 9/11 Truth movement, anti-war movement, government and military officials, and, most importantly, the victim's families.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with the underlying language, history and personalities of those involved, it cannot be disputed that NYC CAN represents perhaps the most unified and historic groundswell of public support for a 9/11 investigation in the history of the 9/11 Truth movement. We cannot turn our backs on the self-evident nature of this historic collaboration.

For this reason I can no longer withhold my endorsement.

I am well aware of the problems inherent in this initiative. As one of the last few holdouts in the 9/11 Truth community, I too was deeply concerned with various aspects of this initiative. But, in many respects the widespread attention, and unifying character of the many endorsements, and the community outreach associated with the initiative, makes this not just a referendum on the events of 9/11, but also a virtual referendum on the nature of the 9/11 Truth movement itself.

With so much widespread support and exposure NYC CAN will once and for all create a high-profile platform for an open and honest dialogue -- not just about the events of 9/11 -- but about OURSELVES - and our ability to maintain our dignity and credibility as a movement in the face of what will invariably be organized efforts to disrupt our efforts -- from without and within.

At this we cannot fail. We cannot ignore the call of 70,000 New Yorkers, and countless others worldwide, who have taken a stand for creating this unique platform for truth.

It is for this reason that I would like to announce my full endorsement for the NYC CAN, and my intentions to work towards publicly supporting and promoting this initiative.

 

Thursday, July 23 2009   -   Other Important News

123realchange.blogspot.com

Announcing Sibel Edmonds Podcast Show with Co-Host Peter B. Collins - "THE BOILING FROGS"
July 12, 2009
Sibel Edmonds (If you're not already famliar with Sibel, read more about her here)

I am pleased to announce the launch of my Podcast show, 'The Boiling Frogs.'
This site will present two in-depth interviews per month, one-hour each, with well-respected and controversial guests. My guest list will include:

* Investigative reporters
* Authors with controversial and bold track records
* Courageous and legitimate whistleblowers
* Well-respected academic and legal experts on our relevant issues ...

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 - Podcast Show #1

The Boiling Frogs Presents James Bamford

James Bamford discusses the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program, the ties between NSA and the nation's telecommunications companies including the Israeli companies involved in intercepting highly sensitive communications for the U.S. government, the agency's failings pre-9/11 and the relevant information blackout by the 9/11 Commission, the US mainstream media, President Obama's 'no change' so far, and more.

 

Thursday, July 23 2009   -   Get Involved

Dear Friends,

This past week, NYC CAN broke 70,000 signatures. We have now collected over 18,000 signatures in addition to the 52,000 submitted on June 24, 2009. According to the law, we can force the referendum for a new investigation on the ballot by submitting another 15,000 valid signatures on August 25, regardless of what City Council does. To be comfortably above 15,000 valid signatures, we aim to have at least 35,000 signatures by August 23, which means we have 17,000 to go. This is well within reach as our petitioners are bringing in 4,000 signatures per week.

DONATE NOW: http://nyccan.org/donate.php