January 2009

From The National Archives Legislative Branch – The Center for Legislative
Archives
January 14, 2009
FAQs on the 9/11 Commission Records
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, known
as the 9/11 Commission, was an independent, bipartisan commission created by
Congress. The Commission’s mandate was to provide a “full and complete
accounting” of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and to provide recommendations
as to how to prevent such attacks in the future. The Commission, extant from
2003 – 2004, held hearings, conducted interviews, and produced a report.
When the 9/11 Commission closed on August 21, 2004, it transferred legal custody
of its records to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The
Commission encouraged the release of its records to the fullest extent possible
in January 2009. Because the Commission was part of the legislative branch its
records are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Approximately 35% of the Commission’s archived textual records are now publicly
available. Due to the collection’s volume and the large percentage of national
security classified files, NARA staff was unable to process the entire collection
by January 2009. Review and processing focused on the portion of the collection
that contains unique documents created by the Commission and those that reveal
the most about the scope of the investigation and the internal workings of the
Commission and its staff.

Michael J. Fox to play paraplegic on FX series
By DANIEL FRANKEL
January 14, 2009
It’s been a hot-potato even for the most heavyweight of political pundits
in recent years, but the fifth season of the FX series “Rescue Me”
will intrepidly delve into the controversial theory that the 9/11 attacks were
aided or perpetrated by the U.S. government.
Season five will find the men of Engine 62 divided over the polarizing theory
after a journalist working on a 10-year-anniversary story delves up painful
memories.
“I think there are a lot of well-thought-out ideas and theories (about
9/11) that to me make more sense than has been popularly espoused, and I’m
glad we could explore it in the context of the show,” said cast member
Daniel Sanjata, addressing tube journos at the Television Critics Assn. confab
in Universal City Tuesday.

by Reprehensor
911blogger.com
January 14, 2009

Yesterday, (1.12.2008), Rep. Kucinich explained why he voted
against a resolution endorsing Israel’s over-the-top aggression in Gaza. Also,
please take a moment to sign this petition at AVAAZ.org;
GAZA: STOP THE BLOODSHED
Kucinich Part 1 of 2

At 10am EST tomorrow morning, General Eric Shinseki, President-elect Obama’s choice for VA Secretary, will try to convince Congress he’s the right person for the job.
In advance of the hearing, IAVA released ten crucial questions that Congress needs to ask the nominee. And I’m going to be live-blogging about the hearing straight from DC, watching to see what issues are addressed.
Click here to follow along with my commentary in real time.
If he’s confirmed, General Shinseki will be facing an urgent and critical fight to improve support for our nation’s veterans. As a wounded and decorated combat veteran, and the first Asian-American in US history to be a four-star general, he has the potential to lead the second-largest bureaucracy in the US government into the 21st century.

January 12, 2009
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSISby Meg WhiteAs Bush gives his final press conference today, lamenting the "mistakes" of his presidency, some are wondering if he and other members of his administration will get a chance to tell such tales to a special prosecutor."History will look back,” he told reporters, most likely hoping the next administration’s Justice Department will solely look forward. Judging from the most recent comments from his successor, that may very well be the case.It all started when Bob Fertik, progressive writer and co-founder of Democrats.com, posed this question to President-elect Barack Obama:"Will you appoint a special prosecutor — ideally Patrick Fitzgerald — to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?"Fertik submitted the question to Change.gov, the official transition Web site for the incoming Obama Administration. The site has a forum called "Open for Questions" where people can post items of particular concern for the Obama team to review. Fertik’s question got so much attention and approval from other users on the site that it made its way to the top of the Change.gov list and onto the Sunday talk shows, finally garnering this response from Obama when George Stephanopoulos asked the question directly: