You are browsing the archive for September 2009.
Posted September 30, 2009
by Jon Gold
9/29/09
NYCCAN.org
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.
September 29th, 2009
by Brad Jacobson
RawStory.com
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 agencys 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 programs senior participants and an active member.
Whitmans 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.
Barstows 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. Barstows 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.
BREAKING: 9/11 Families March on City Hall As City Seeks
to Stop Fresh Probe of Attacks from Going on November Ballot;
NY Supreme Court Hearing 9:30AM Tuesday Will Determine Fate of Referendum
March For Answers 9/27/09
See
The March (more below)
New York City — Yesterday, The New York City Coalition for Accountability Now
(NYC CAN), a group comprising 9/11 family members, first responders and survivors,
led 300 New Yorkers from Battery Park to City Hall in protest of the City’s attempt
to block the referendum for a fresh probe of the 9/11 attacks from going on the
November ballot.
Today, the Court ordered litigants to present arguments before Judge Edward
Lehner at a hearing scheduled for 9:30AM, Tuesday at the New York Supreme Court,
Room 252, 60 Centre Street.
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.
September 28th, 2009
by Philip Giraldi
AmConMag.com
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.
9/11 Widow Jane Pollicino Speaks About Getting Involved With NYC CAN:
http://www.youtube.com/bridgeheadproduction
__________________________________________
1
Day Until The Historic
MARCH FOR ANSWERS
September 27, 2009 2pm Battery Park (State Street) to City Hall
List of Speakers:
Bob McIlvaine – 9/11 Family Member
Manny Badillo – 9/11 Family Member
Daniel Sunjata – Star of FOX’s "Rescue Me"
Eileen Coles – 9/11 Survivor and Whistleblower
Major Mike McCormack – 9/11 First Responder
Mark Crispin Miller – Professor of Media Studies at NYU
*Live Feed of March Likely! Check Website Before March!
__________________________________________
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.
The gagged whistleblower goes on the record.
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.
