http://thinkprogress.org/2009/03/31/hersh-cheney-behind/

In an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air yesterday, host Terry Gross asked investigative journalist Seymour Hersh if, as he continues to investigate the Bush administration, “more people” were “coming forward” to talk to him now that “the president and vice president are no longer in power.” Hersh replied that though “a lot of people that had told me in the last year of Bush, ‘call me next, next February,’ not many people had talked to him. He implied that they were still scared of Cheney.

“Are you saying that you think Vice President Cheney is still having a chilling effect on people who might otherwise be coming forward,” asked Gross. “I’ll make it worse,” answered Hersh, adding that he believes Cheney “put people back” in government to “stay behind” in order to “tell him what’s going on” and perhaps even “do sabotage”:

As Washington Escalates Military Operations, American Officials “Discover” ISI-Taliban Nexus

Long considered the realm of “conspiracy buffs” The New York Times, citing anonymous “American government officials,” have belatedly “discovered” that Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence agency (ISI) is aiding the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

That ISI operatives were reportedly involved in planning the 9/11 attacks, the ostensible reason for the 2001 U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan remains as they say, “off the table.” Yet, as The History Commons reports, Operation Diamondback uncovered a 2001 plot jointly-run by ISI operatives and organized crime figures to illegally purchase weapons, including Stinger missiles and nuclear components, for the Taliban and al-Qaeda. According to The History Commons, citing The Washington Post and MSNBC:

WTC-fund 'vampire' stays on

By SUSAN EDELMAN

March 29, 2009 --

Christine LaSala, who announced she was quitting last year as head of the city's $1 billion fund for World Trade Center claims, quietly stayed at the helm -- but with a cut to her $350,000 pay, The Post has learned.

LaSala, president and CEO of WTC Captive Insurance Co., withdrew her resignation several months later after "voluntarily" slashing her salary to $234,500 in 2007, a spokeswoman said.

"She's like a vampire," a stunned congressional staffer said.

LaSala, 58, who also gets health coverage for herself and a daughter, according to her spokeswoman, remained "with the support" of the WTC Captive's board of directors, composed of city officials and others appointed by Mayor Bloomberg.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03212009/news/regionalnews/groud_zerodeveloperseeks_bailout_160623.htm

Mega-developer Larry Silverstein is going hat in hand to the Port Authority to help finance long-stalled projects at Ground Zero, according to a published report.

Under the plan, the agency would put up dough for one of the three office towers that Silverstein is developing at the site, which has languished in a series of costly delays since 9/11, possibly in exchange for a piece of the profits later on, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The skyscrapers will hold the fire exits and ventilation machinery for the planned $3.2 billion transit hub as well as the delivery ramps for the Freedom Tower, and must be finished beforehand.

Silverstein who is having trouble raising the $7 billion required to complete the project while being hamstrung with the site's $79 million a year lease reportedly is seeking cash for a second tower as well.

"We are continuing to discuss with Silverstein Properties how to best meet a changed market while ensuring that the World Trade Center site is rebuilt in the best public interest," a PA spokeswoman told the paper.

Culture of conspiracy: the Birthers
By: Ben Smith
March 1, 2009 06:59 AM EST

Bill Clinton had the Vince Foster "murder." George W. Bush had 9/11 Truth. And the new administration has brought with it a new culture of conspiracy: The Birthers.

Out of the gaze of the mainstream and even the conservative media is a flourishing culture of advocates, theorists and lawyers, all devoted to proving that Barack Obama isn't eligible to be president of the United States. Viewed as irrelevant by the White House, and as embarrassing by much of the Republican Party, the subculture still thrives from the conservative website WorldNetDaily, which claims that some 300,000 people have signed a petition demanding more information on Obama's birth, to Cullman, Alabama, where Sen. Richard Shelby took a question on the subject at a town hall meeting last week.

This is probably a very, very minor story, but apparently the MPAA didn't hold a grudge against Marion Cotillard, the French actress who questioned the collapses of the Twin Towers on 9/11. She presented the award for Best Actress on this year's broadcast.

Please post some words of support for this blogger at HuffPo.

Obama: Re-open the 9/11 Investigation

Patrick Leahy has a point when he urges President Obama to open investigations about the Bush administration. However, he's not pointing at the issue that we need to start with. Namely, September 11th. What really happened? More than a few people know - and I am not alone in calling for those who know to start talking and fess up. Let's not let this go the way of the JFK assassination - and whether with subpoenas or on their own volition, I demand that Dick Cheney, George W. Bush - both of whom refused to testify under oath during the 9/11 Commission proceedings -- Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Karl Rove, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Armitage, Larry Wilkerson, George Tenet, Robert Mueller and the rest - as well as Bill Clinton and Al Gore (both of whom also refused to testify under oath) -- start talking, and in a public arena. And I'm calling on the Obama administration to open up a probe and unravel the web of deceit.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/27000-work-in-p.html

Forget the drone stuff. Here is your eye-popping statistic of the day: "This year, the Pentagon will employ 27,000 people just for recruitment, advertising and public relations — almost as many as the total 30,000-person work force in the State Department."

That's from an Associated Press investigation, "which found that over the past five years, the money the military spends on winning hearts and minds at home and abroad has grown by 63 percent, to at least $4.7 billion this year."

Staff costs take up most of the money, more than $2 billion. Another $1.6 billion goes into recruiting. About a half-billion goes towards "psychological operations, which targets foreign audiences." And, finally, "$547 million goes into public affairs, which reaches American audiences."

That last one may be the most amazing figure of 'em all. Because getting a straightforward answer out of most military public affairs shops is still a root-canal-painful procedure. You'd think it'd be easier, with all those resources brought to bear.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,487906,00.html

'Rescue Me' From 9/11 Conspiracy Theories

Wednesday, February 04, 2009
By Greg Gutfeld

An upcoming episode of the drama "Rescue Me" is about 9/11 being an inside job. The actor who spews the theories on camera, Daniel Sunjata, actually believes in it too. "They're not discussed a lot in the press," Sunjata says of the theories, in between eating his own hair.

But, that's not what chaps my chaps.

I just hate how the media treats those who spout such theories as risk-takers — when they're really just cowards.

Peter Tolan, the show's producer, defends Sunjata as "well read" and thinks it's great that "he's passionate about it." I guess if you feel strongly about something, then it's OK if you're wrong. See Mark David Chapman.

Look, the fact is, actors who barf this crap are doing it for their own egos. It makes them feel smart, because for once they're spouting something provocative instead of puerile. Never mind that it's an insidious insult to the victims of 9/11 — as it is to the rest of us, who may or may not be guilty, according to Sunjata's theory.

Check the lyrics from the Star Fucking Hipsters song "9/11 Was (An Inside Joke)".

a bunch of smoke with building wad
in dissent under your "god"
and we biked to drink the day
because downtown just fell away

and the towers falling down
gave the u.s.a. a frown
and all the bumpkins wept at zero ground
but all these fucking lies
sew up our weary eyes
'cuz 9/11 was an inside thing
and G-Dub played the king
to wipe the crime scene clean
smart folks know what I mean
Giuliani fixed the job
abetted by the mob
air force and C.I.A.
N.O.R.A.D. with Dick Cheney
erased the facts away

and the towers falling down
spun the populace around
and all the families wept at zero ground
three-thousand bodies never found
"pull"'s construction worker slang
for a controlled demolition
bombed to pull it to its base
Marvin Bush helped put in place
but crushed people "vaporized"
with the evidence erased
the victim families had no case

but all these fucking lies
make the baby jesus cry
'cuz 9/11 was an inside job
not a "fuck u.s. kabob"
like the media portrayed
like the G.I.S. would get laid
and it makes no fucking sense
like a failed air force defense

The second episode of season 5 of Rescue Me includes a monologue by a prominent character who believes 9/11 was an "inside job." The character happens to be played by Daniel Sunjata, who also believes 9/11 was an inside job.

Video from the show and from an interview with Sunjata is available here:

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2009/01/rescue-me-chara.html

In part, Sunjata's character says the following:

"9/11? Inside job. Plain and simple. And all you gotta do is connect the dots. ... I am talking about a massive neoconservative government effort, been in the works 20 years. Ever heard of PNAC? Project for a New American Century? According to them, the end goal of their effort is American global domination. Full spectrum dominance, they call it. Now, first question that pops into my mind is: How do you pull that off in this day and age?"

The trade publication Variety has also picked up the story.

EXCLUSIVE: REMAINS OF 9/11 KILLERS FOUND

The remains of the 9/11 killers are now held in deep freeze

Sunday January 11,2009
By Stuart Winter

FORENSIC investigators have recovered the charred remains of most of the 9/11 hijackers - to honour a pledge that they would never be buried with the victims.

The £30million CSI-style probe has taken seven years.

Flesh or bone from 13 of the 19 Al Qaeda terrorists who flew passenger jets into the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington have now been identified.

In the most intense crime scene investigation in history, scientists sifted through a mountain of concrete dust, buckled iron and shattered glass to find what was left of the terrorists.

The final tally was 24lb of burnt flesh and shattered bone.

A combination of dedicated FBI detective work and the brilliant skills of forensic scientists eventually put names to the fragments by matching them with DNA traces discovered at the terrorists’ hideouts.

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2009/01/cia_video_destruction.html

The destruction by Central Intelligence Agency officials of videotapes showing the interrogation of suspected terrorists is the subject of “an ongoing criminal investigation” that is expected to conclude in the near future, according to a prosecution official.

“Investigators are now in the process of scheduling interviews with the remaining witnesses to be interviewed in this investigation,” wrote John H. Durham, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, in an affidavit (pdf) late last month. “Based on the investigative accomplishments to date, we anticipate that by mid-February 2009, and no later than February 28, 2009, we will have completed the interviews.”

The Secrecy News reports a new Bush family expose from journalist Russ Baker:
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2009/01/family_of_secrets.html

What does it say about the American political system that someone like George W. Bush was able to ascend to the highest office in the land, despite his meager and ambiguous record?

In pursuit of an answer to that question, investigative journalist Russ Baker has constructed a full-fledged counterhistory of the last half-century as it pertains to the Bush family. He writes in his new book "Family of Secrets" that he discovered a "dimension of power" that conditions and distorts the American political process. It lies at the intersection of corporate oil interests, finance and intelligence, and the Bushes have been at the heart of it.

With a brief apology to the reader, Baker revisits the JFK assassination (and George H.W. Bush's peculiar response to it) and he embraces a radical reinterpretation of Watergate in which President Nixon is the target and victim of the conspiracy rather than its instigator.

January 4, 2009
Portrait Emerges of Anthrax Suspect’s Troubled Life
By SCOTT SHANE

FREDERICK, Md. — Inside the Army laboratory at Fort Detrick, the government’s brain for biological defense, Bruce Edwards Ivins paused to memorialize his moment in the spotlight as the anthrax panic of 2001 reached its peak.

Dr. Ivins titled his e-mail message “In the lab” and attached photographs: the gaunt microbiologist bending over Petri dishes of anthrax, and colonies of the deadly bacteria, white commas against blood-red nutrient.

Outside, on that morning of Nov. 14, 2001, five people were dead or dying, a dozen more were sick and fearful thousands were flooding emergency rooms. The postal system was crippled; senators and Supreme Court justices had fled contaminated offices. And the Federal Bureau of Investigation was struggling with a microbe for a murder weapon and a crime scene that stretched from New York to Florida.