Tuesday, May 5 2009   -   Editorials

The former FBI translator and whistleblower suggests blackmail may be at the heart of Congressional refusal to bring accountability and oversight to its own members - such as both Hastert and Harman - in matters of espionage and national security

Guest Editorial by Sibel Edmonds
May 4, 2009
Exclusive to The BRAD BLOG

I have been known to quote long-dead men in my past writings. Whether eloquently expressed thoughts by our founding fathers, or those artfully expressed by ancient Greek thinkers, these quotes have always done a better job starting or ending my thoughts - that tend to be expressed in long winding sentences. For this piece I am going to break with tradition and start with an appropriate quote from a living current senator, John Kerry: "It's a sad day when you have members of Congress who are literally criminals go undisciplined by their colleagues. No wonder people look at Washington and know this city is broken."

The people do indeed look at Washington and know that this city is 'badly' broken, Senator Kerry. The public confidence in our Congress has been declining drastically. Recent poll results highlight how the American people's trust in their Congress has hit rock bottom. A survey of progressive blogs easily confirms the rage rightfully directed at our Congress for abdicating its role of oversight and accountability. Activists scream about promised hearings that never took place - without explanation. They express outrage when investigations are dropped without any justification. And they genuinely wonder out loud why, especially after they helped secure a major victory for the Democrats. The same Democrats who had for years pointed fingers at their big bad Republican majority colleagues as the main impediment preventing them from fulfilling what was expected of them.

 

Saturday, May 2 2009   -   Civil Liberties-Police State

A new EFF report pulls together everything that's now known about the FBI's monster internal records system.
By Jon Stokes
April 30, 2009
arstechnica.com

Earlier this week, the EFF published a new report detailing the FBI's Investigative Data Warehouse, which appears to be something like a combination of Google and a university's slightly out-of-date custom card catalog with a front-end written for Windows 2000 that uses cartoon icons that some work-study student made in Microsoft Paint. I guess I'm supposed to fear the IDW as an invasion of privacy, and indeed I do, but given the report's description of it and my experiences with the internal-facing software products of large, sprawling, unaccountable bureaucracies, I mostly just fear for our collective safety.

The idea behind the system, which the FBI has been working on since at least 2002, is that the Bureau can dump all of its information in there so that it can be easily searched and shared. IDW contains more documents than the library of congress—a stew of TIFFs with OCRed text, multiple Oracle databases, news streamed in from the Internet, reports and records in various in-house data formats, watch lists, telephone data, and an alphabet soup of smaller databases and records repositories—all accessible as one sprawling system that processes batch jobs, runs queries, and issues alerts.

 

Saturday, May 2 2009   -   9/11 A/V Galleries

On May 2 we will stream the convention from 10AM to about 1:30PM Pacific, then at 4PM we will live stream Richard's talk at the Westin Hotel, before a large group of convention architects. http://www.justin.tv/ae911truth (Also linked at www.AE911truth.org

Thanks again to all our supporters!

 

Thursday, April 30 2009   -   Get Involved

Dear Friends Around The World,

Thanks to your generous support and ongoing efforts to keep 9/11 front and center, NYC CAN eclipsed the milestone of 35,000 signatures on Sunday, April 26, 2009.

We continue to charge ahead collecting hundreds of signatures everyday, but we can only continue with YOUR support.

 

Thursday, April 30 2009   -   Truth Movement News

AE911Truth.org Press Conference/Speaking Engagement Saturday 5/2 at 4pm, Westin Market Street Hotel

Live coverage available via a link at www.ae911truth.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Berkeley, CA, April 25, 2009 -- More than 640 Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911Truth) are calling for a new, independent investigation into the destruction of the World Trade Center high-rises. These building professionals cite evidence of explosive demolition at all three WTC high-rises on 9/11 and document the evidence at their website. Michael Heimbach, assistant director of the FBI's counterterrorism division, wrote that their claims and conclusion were "backed by thorough research and analysis."

AE911Truth will host exhibitor's information booth #2609 at this year's annual convention of the prestigious American Institute of Architects (AIA). The convention, with more than 800 exhibitors and more than 20,000 participating architects, will take place in San Francisco's Moscone Center, April 30-May 2.

 

Thursday, April 30 2009   -   Truth Movement News

STEVEN JONES, PhD, Professor Emeritus from BYU with a doctorate in physics, co-editor of the peer-reviewed Journal of 9/11 Studies, and member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice, will give presentations in Sacramento, CA, on April 30th, and in Davis, CA, on May 1st.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HIGH-TECH EXPLOSIVE MATERIAL DOING IN THE DUST CLOUDS GENERATED ON 9/11/01?"

Janette MacKinlay, a wonderful artist who lived across the street from the Towers on 9/11 and has been an active, persistent advocate for 9/11 ever since, will also give a powerful 10-minute presentation entitled "Together we CAN." She'll also speak on "Getting the Dust to Where it Needed to be" -- the journey of the dust from her apartment and beyond.

Details follow.

 

Thursday, April 30 2009   -   In the Media

April 29, 2009
Posted at 911video.de/news

In Germany the daily newspaper Junge Welt on March, 4 2009 published following article on the new petition.

9/11 - Today's Project of Investigation

At long last politicians from several countries succeeded to unite in calling for a "new, really independent investigation to find out what happened on 9/11." In the petition 12 politicians from seven countries call on US president Barack Obama to authorize such an investigation.

The investigations until now were conducted only by people who "were closely connected with the Bush/Cheney administration, or where even working in it."

 

Wednesday, April 29 2009   -   Other Important News

28 April 2009
by Rachel Williams
guardian.co.uk

Three British Muslims were today cleared of helping the 7 July bombers choose their targets by carrying out a reconnaissance mission in London seven months before the attacks that killed 52 people and injured almost 1,000.

A jury at Kingston crown court unanimously found Waheed Ali, 25, Sadeer Saleem, 28, and Mohammed Shakil, 32, all from Beeston, Leeds, not guilty of conspiring with the four bombers to cause explosions, after deliberating for eight days.

. . . Survivors of the attacks and family members of those who died said today's verdicts strengthened the case for an independent inquiry into the bombings.

The end of the trial clears the way for the publication of a long-awaited report into whether the attacks could have been prevented, which is expected to be critical of the way MI5 and West Yorkshire police responded to earlier intelligence linking some of the suicide bombers with a group who were plotting to explode a series of huge fertiliser bombs.

 

Wednesday, April 29 2009   -   Other Important News

Threatened Federal Sanctions Against NYPD, Secret Service, FBI & Mayor's Office If Secret Ever Got Out
Furious Obama Apologizes: "It Will Never Happen Again"

April 28, 2009
by Marcia Kramer
wcbstv.com

NEW YORK (CBS) -- A furious President Barack Obama ordered an internal review of Monday's low-flying photo op over the Statue of Liberty.CBS 2 HD has discovered the feds will have plenty to question.

Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and Air Force One to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but they still ordered the photo-op kept secret from the public.

In a memo obtained by CBS 2 HD [Ed: posted below] the Federal Aviation Administration's James Johnston said the agency was aware of "the possibility of public concern regarding DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft flying at low altitudes" in an around New York City. But they demanded total secrecy from the NYPD, the Secret Service, the FBI and even the mayor's office and threatened federal sanctions if the secret got out. (Emphasis added)

 

Monday, April 27 2009   -   Other Important News

April 27, 2009
Reuters

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -- Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari said on Monday that the whereabouts of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden remained a mystery and there was a suspicion that he could be dead.

Speaking to international media, Zardari said U.S. officials had told him that they had no trace of the al Qaeda chief, although they habitually say he is most likely in Pakistan.

Pakistan's own intelligence agencies were no wiser, either, Zardari said.

 

Monday, April 27 2009   -   9/11 Commission

April 27, 2009
History Commons Groups

A recently released 9/11 Commission memo highlights the role of government "minders" who accompanied witnesses interviewed by the commission. It was added to the National Archives' files at the start of the year and discovered there by History Commons contributor paxvector.

The memo, entitled "Executive Branch Minders' Intimidation of Witnesses," complains that:

• Minders "answer[ed] questions directed at witnesses;"
• Minders acted as "monitors, reporting to their respective agencies on Commission staffs lines of inquiry and witnesses' verbatim responses." The staff thought this "conveys to witnesses that their superiors will review their statements and may engage in retribution;" and
• Minders "positioned themselves physically and have conducted themselves in a manner that we believe intimidates witnesses from giving full and candid responses to our questions."

 

Saturday, April 25 2009   -   Accountability

April 25, 2009
by Ray McGovern
GlobalResearch.ca

Well, well. The New York Times has finally put a story together on the key role that two controversial psychologists played in devising the Bush administration’s torture policies. Guess we should be thankful for small favors.

Apparently, a NYTimes “exposé” requires a 21-month gestation period; just by way of pointing out that the substance of the Times “exposé” appeared in an article the July 2007 issue of Vanity Fair.

Katherine Eban, a Brooklyn-based journalist who writes about public health, authored that article and titled it “Rorschach and Awe.” It was the result of a careful effort to understand the role of psychologists in the torture of detainees in Guantánamo.

She identified the two psychologists as James Elmer Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, who she reported were inexperienced in interrogations and “had no proof of their tactics’ effectiveness” but nevertheless sold the Bush administration on a plan to subject captives to “psychic demolition,” essentially severing them from their personalities and scaring them “almost to death.”

 

Saturday, April 25 2009   -   9/11 Consequences

April 23, 2009
by Prof. Marjorie Cohn
Global Research

Hayden had confirmed that the Bush administration only waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zabaydah, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashirit for one minute each. I told Franks that I didn't believe that. Sure enough, one of the newly released torture memos reveals that Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times and Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times. One of Stephen Bradbury's 2005 memos asserted that "enhanced techniques" on Zubaydah yielded the identification of Mohammed and an alleged radioactive bomb plot by Jose Padilla. But FBI supervisory special agent Ali Soufan, who interrogated Zubaydah from March to June 2002, wrote in the New York Times that Zubaydah produced that information under traditional interrogation methods, before the harsh techniques were ever used.

 

Saturday, April 25 2009   -   Truth Movement News

April 24, 2009
by Heiner Buecker
http://www.911video.de

Yukihisa Fujita, a member of the Upper House of the Japanese Parliament has recently published a book titled:
"Questioning 9/11 in Japan's Parliament - Can Obama Change the USA?"

Co-authors of book are David Ray Griffin, Yumi Kikuchi, Akira Dojimaru and Chihaya.

 

Friday, April 24 2009   -   9/11 A/V Galleries

9/11: Blueprint for Truth -- The Architecture of Destruction
Richard Gage, AIA LIVE presentation at Sonoma State University

Live Video-Cast & Radio Broadcast Tonight, April 24th: 7pm Pacific - 10pm Eastern - 03:00 GMT

Richard Gage, AIA, a San Francisco Bay area architect, gives a convincing multi-media scientific based presentation showing that the principle cause as to why all three World Trade Center Towers on September 11, 2001 collapsed was due to "controlled demolition," not by fire or jetliner impact as the official government theory holds. Richard is the founder of AE911Truth.org, where he is joined by over 600 architectural and engineering professionals. You can visit Richard's site AE911Truth.org for more information and to sign his petition for a new investigation.

You can choose either to watch the live video-cast or listen to the radio broadcast on No Lies Radio...either way we got you covered. Click Here To Watch The Live Broadcast or to Listen -- http://noliesradio.org