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Some of those musicians -- Nine Inch Nails and Rage Against the Machine -- say their music has been played at ear-splitting level to torment terror suspects and coerce confessions at the detention facility. Other petitioners want to know whether their works have been used in such capacity, including R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Jackson Browne and Billy Bragg. "The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me," said Tom Morello, former lead guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, an industrial rock band whose song "March of the Pigs" has been linked to torture tactics at...

KATHRYN JEAN LOPEZ: Is the Obama administration keeping America safe? DEBRA BURLINGAME: When Barack Obama was sworn in as president, I actually had a sliver of hope that he would surprise his worst critics and govern from the center — the smart pragmatist. That hope pretty much evaporated on January 22 when he signed a series of executive orders shutting the Guantanamo Bay detention center by a date certain and suspending the trial of 9/11 conspirators — who were at that moment sitting at Gitmo, crowing about their role in the murder of 3,000 of our fellow human beings. Surrounded...

"Keep America Safe will make the case for an unapologetic approach to fighting terrorism around the world, for victory in the wars this country fights, for democracy and human rights, and for a strong American military that is needed in the dangerous world in which we live." (See their lead video, aimed squarely at Obama, 'Rhetoric vs. Reality')

... Why had Attorney General Eric Holder decided not to renew his security measures, kept in place since 2002? ... Reid claimed that SAMs violated his First Amendment right of free speech and free exercise of religion. In a hand-written complaint, he asserted that he was being illegally prevented from performing daily “group prayers in a manner prescribed by my religion.” Yet the list of Reid’s potential fellow congregants at ADX Florence reads like a Who’s Who of al Qaeda’s most dangerous members: Ramzi Yousef and his three co-conspirators in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui;...

Today, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed entitled 'Revenge of the ‘Shoe Bomber’: The terrorist sues to resume his jihad from prison. The Obama administration caves in,' Debra Burlingame writes: On June 17, at the Administrative Maximum (ADX) penitentiary in Florence, Colo., one of those albatrosses, inmate number 24079-038, began his day with a whole new range of possibilities. Eight days earlier [June 9, 2007 pdf file at link], the U.S. Attorney’s office in Denver filed notice in federal court that the Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) which applied to that prisoner -- Richard C. Reid, a.k.a. the “Shoe Bomber” --...

Last May at the National Archives, President Barack Obama warned that “more mistakes would occur” if Congress continued to politicize terrorist detention policy and the closure of Guantanamo Bay. “[I]f we refuse to deal with those issues today,” he predicted, “then I guarantee you, they will be an albatross around our efforts to combat terrorism in the future.” On June 17, at the Administrative Maximum (ADX) penitentiary in Florence, Colo., one of those albatrosses, inmate number 24079-038, began his day with a whole new range of possibilities. Eight days earlier, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Denver filed notice in federal...

News reports described the meeting as a touching and powerful coming together of the president and these long-suffering families. Mr. Obama had won over even those who opposed his decision to close Gitmo by assuaging their fears that the review of some 245 current detainees would result in dangerous jihadists being set free. “I did not vote for the man, but the way he talks to you, you can’t help but believe in him,” said John Clodfelter to the New York Times. His son, Kenneth, was killed in the Cole bombing. “[Mr. Obama] left me with a very positive feeling...

Freedom is out of fashion at Ground Zero. Once hailed as a beacon of rebirth in the aftermath of Sept. 11, the Freedom Tower has been stripped of its patriotic name -- which has been swapped out for the more marketable "One World Trade Center," Port Authority officials conceded yesterday. More than seven years after the terror attacks and amid an effort to market the tower to international tenants, sentiment gave way to practicality. "As we market the building we will ensure that the building is presented in the best possible way," said PA Chairman Anthony Coscia. "One World Trade...

Two weeks ago, I was among a small group of USS Cole and 9/11 victims’ families who met with President Obama at the White House. Despite President Obama’s assurances that the safety and security of the American people is his number one priority, I left the meeting with little confidence that the President appreciates the grave consequences of shutting down Guantanamo or the complex problems associated with adjudicating detainee cases in the federal court system. Indeed, he told us that he is “not at all concerned” about the security issues of bringing the detainees to the U.S. His rationale for...

Evidently the former editor of the Harvard Law Review seems to think that one of his powers as president is personally to pick and choose which constitutional rights apply to terror defendants and which do not. That's the very thing they were criticizing President Bush for. White House Counsel Greg Craig, often seen whispering in the president's ear during question periods, admitted later to Ms. Burlingame that the chief executive was getting the facts of the law wrong during the discussion with the families. Craig asked her if CIPA covers a case in which terrorists defend themselves, noting that "this...

A Petaluma high school teacher was arrested Saturday morning after allegedly setting up an illicit date with a person he believed was a 15-year-old girl, police and prosecutors said. Scott Eugene Dietlin, 34, a teacher at Casa Grande High School, was arrested in San Mateo on Saturday after allegedly showing up for a date with "Jackie," a teenage persona created on MySpace by two teen boys, San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. The 15-year-old San Mateo County boys posted the online profile as a joke, Wagstaffe said. When Dietlin allegedly contacted "Jackie" in April, the boys...

A 34-year-old teacher from Petaluma was arrested Saturday morning in San Mateo on several felony charges relating to trying to meet and seduce a minor, according to Burlingame police detectives, who made the arrest. At approximately 9:45 a.m., Burlingame police detectives arrested Scott Eugene Dietlin on charges of sending harmful matter (via electronic e-mail) with the intent to seduce a minor, attempting to contact a minor with intent to commit a sexual offense, and arranging to meet with a minor with intent to commit a sexual offense, according to a police press release. This arrest was the culmination of a...

Nov. 23 -- BURLINGAME -- California's largest teachers union will back a fight in court to overturn the state's new eighth-grade algebra requirement. The Burlingame-based California Teachers Association has joined the lawsuit by the California School Boards Association and the Association of California School Administrators against the state Board of Education's decision to require all middle school students to be tested in Algebra I by the end of eighth grade starting in 2011. The state board "acted abruptly, imprudently and without fully understanding the consequences of its actions on our schools, teachers and students," said David Sanchez, president of the...

New Year's Eve, 1982...New York Police Department's elite bomb squad rushed to headquarters at One Police Plaza, where minutes earlier an explosion had destroyed the entrance to the building. A total of four bombs exploded in a single hour on that night, including at FBI headquarters in Manhattan and the federal courthouse in Brooklyn. The perpetrators were members of ... FALN ... Its members waged war on America with bombings, arson, kidnappings, prison escapes, threats and intimidation. The most gruesome attack was the 1975 Fraunces Tavern bombing in Lower Manhattan. Timed to go off during the lunch-hour rush... FALN bragged...

First taken, last remembered — let us never forget their bravery. July 17, 2008 - by

"Justice Scalia is right that today’s opinion will result in the death of Americans. His words remind me of the beleaguered FBI agent, Harry Sammit, who pleaded with his superiors at FBI headquarters to be allowed to launch a nationwide manhunt for Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf Al-Hazmi, two of the hijackers on my brother’s plane, 3 weeks before 9/11. He was turned down by the lawyers in the National Security Law Unit of the FBI, who cited the FISA law that prevented this intelligence information from being used by the criminal division. The point of that law — known as...

It was nearly 10 p.m. on New Year's Eve, 1982. Two officers on New York Police Department's elite bomb squad rushed to headquarters at One Police Plaza, where minutes earlier an explosion had destroyed the entrance to the building. Lying amid the carnage was Police Officer Rocco Pascarella, his lower leg blasted off. "He was ripped up like someone took a box cutter and shredded his face," remembered Detective Anthony Senft, one of the bomb-squad officers who answered the call 25 years ago. "We really didn't even know that he was a uniformed man until we found his weapon, that's...

Hillary's White House itinerary is being released. Question, in late 1999, what were her contacts with Luis Nieves Falcon. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_199912/ai_n8877467 The FALN terrorists were pardoned for New York Puerto Rican votes for her Senate election. The 16 terrorists were convicted of a variety of charges that included conspiracy, sedition, violation of the Hobbes Act (extortion by force, violence or fear), armed robbery and illegal possession of weapons and explosives -- including large quantities of C-4 plastic explosive, dynamite and huge caches of ammunition. Observed Judge George Layton, who sentenced four FALN defendants for their conspiracy to use military-grade explosives to...

While the pardon scandals that marked Bill and Hillary Clinton's final days in office are remembered as transactions involving cronies, criminals and campaign contributors, the FALN clemencies of 1999 should be remembered in the context of the increasing threat of domestic and transnational terrorism that was ramping up during the Clinton years of alleged peace and prosperity. To wit, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1995 Tokyo subway Sarin attack, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the 1995 "Bojinka" conspiracy to hijack airplanes and crash them into buildings, the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, the 1996 Summer Olympics bombing, Osama bin...

It was nearly 10 p.m. on New Year's Eve, 1982. Two officers on New York Police Department's elite bomb squad rushed to headquarters at One Police Plaza, where minutes earlier an explosion had destroyed the entrance to the building. Lying amid the carnage was Police Officer Rocco Pascarella, his lower leg blasted off. "He was ripped up like someone took a box cutter and shredded his face," remembered Detective Anthony Senft, one of the bomb-squad officers who answered the call 25 years ago. "We really didn't even know that he was a uniformed man until we found his weapon, that's...

-- snip -- On Aug. 7, 1999, the one-year anniversary of the U.S. African embassy bombings that killed 257 people and injured 5,000, President Bill Clinton reaffirmed his commitment to the victims of terrorism, vowing that he "will not rest until justice is done." Four days later, while Congress was on summer recess, the White House quietly issued a press release announcing that the president was granting clemency to 16 imprisoned members of FALN. What began as a simple paragraph on the AP wire exploded into a major controversy...

ORONO, Maine -- Charles Frank Burlingame III was the pilot flying American Airlines Flight 77 on Sept. 11. Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon with 64 people onboard. It is believed Burlingame helped divert the plane from its original destination -- the White House -- by literally fighting off the terrorists in the cockpit. In an FBI report released after the crash, it was revealed that the pilot died of injuries sustained before the plane hit the ground. Burlingame's family has requested that he be buried in Arlington Cemetery in Virginia, an honor bestowed only on soldiers and their families. ...

Six years ago, I turned on my television and saw the sickening image of an airplane flying directly into the south tower of the World Trade Center. I did not know that at precisely that moment, somewhere in the skies over the Ohio-Kentucky border, my brother was fighting for his life in the cockpit of his commercial airliner. It would be another 35 minutes before his plane crashed into the Pentagon's west side. Though the term "9/11 family member" had not yet become part of the Sept. 11 lexicon, my first thought upon seeing the plane turn and slam into...

Debra Burlingame spoke about Presidential candidate Barack Obama's "illconsidered" speech where he suggested that the United States should invade Pakistan and the Democratic Party's deliberate undermining of our national defense and efforts in Iraq: "I think there are people on the Hill who know perfectly well how strategically important Iraq is in this terrible war that we're facing. But I think its politics. I think they have to beat down this President -- and they started very quickly after 9/11 -- to gain power back and they're willing to put Americans and this country in danger to do it... it...

Members of Congress me to finalize provisions of the 9/11 security bill. The Democratic majority was using a technicality to block the so-called John Doe amendment from being included. This amendment, which protects citizen whistleblowers from being sued was sponsored by Rep. Peter King (R-NY) after six imams who were removed from a U.S. Airways flight in november filed a lawsuit against the passengers who reported their behavior to flight crews. The John Doe legislation passed the House in April. Now, King wants to include it as a stand-alone measure to assure its passage apart from the larger bill. It's...

...Debra A. Burlingame, Ms. Burlingame’s aunt, was reached at home last night before she even knew of her niece’s death. She burst into tears on the phone and would not comment further. Ms. Burlingame’s mother, Nancy Perfect, was also reached at home last night. She, too, declined to discuss her daughter’s death.

On a Wing and a Prayer Grievance theater at Minneapolis International Airport. BY DEBRA BURLINGAME Wednesday, December 6, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Those are the words that started it all. Six bearded imams are said to have shouted them out while offering evening prayers as they and 141 other passengers waited at the gate for their flight out of Minneapolis International Airport. It was three days before Thanksgiving. Allahu Akbar: God is great. Initial media reports of the incident did not include the disturbing details about what happened after they boarded US...

If you only read one thing today, read The Flags of Sept. 11 by Debra Burlingame in The American Legion magazine.

Rage renders some people incoherent and others blind. It causes some to flare up--fiercely, but briefly--and then to burn out. In others, it does no more than instill sadness, and paralysis. Yet in Debra Burlingame--the 51-year-old sister of Charles F. "Chic" Burlingame, the pilot of the plane that was crashed into the Pentagon by terrorists on September 11, 2001--rage has fueled eloquence, an impressively mulish obstinacy, and an almost eerie moral clarity.

BURLINGAME, Calif. - The city of Burlingame has paid $1,600 to obscure a design at the newly opened Pershing Park playground that a resident felt resembled the Star of David. The park was closed on Thursday of last week while a contractor filled in a pattern in the playground's surface that consisted of six yellow stars laid out in the shape of the Star of David. Residents had complained it was disrespectful for children to step on the design. The pattern was changed to an arch shape that more closely resembles a sun. The original contractor made a mistake in...

The Uniformed Firefighters Association's decision yesterday to withdraw support for the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, citing two controversial museums proposed there, may have ended the threat of institutionalized activism at Ground Zero. Good for the UFA. The union's "membership and our 9/11 families believe that the memorial design will take away from the memory and sacrifice of the firefighters who bravely gave their lives during the most horrific terrorist attacks our country has had to face," UFA President Steve Cassidy said. Good for Steve Cassidy. It's going to be especially hard now for the International Freedom Center and the...

Rachel O'Brien has been concentrating on raising her three children since her husband was killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. She hadn't given much thought to what would happen at ground zero. But when she heard about plans for a museum that would place the attacks in the historical context of mankind's quest for freedom, she got political — joining more than 900 relatives of victims to sign a petition opposing the plan. "I have no remains of my husband, and to me that's sacred ground," said O'Brien, 45, whose husband, Michael, worked for Cantor Fitzgerald....

On 9/11/2001, Debra Burlingame lost her beloved brother Charles F. "Chic" Burlingame III, pilot of American Airlines flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon. Today Debra sits on the board of directors of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. Last week she penned an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal that shed light on the fact that a major part of the planned WTC Memorial calls for a huge on-site museum whose primary purpose will be to judge America's actions throughout her history to see if we, in effect, "deserved" what we got on 9/11. I kid you not....

   "Ground Zero has been stolen, right from under our noses. How do we get it back?" Excerpts from The Great Ground Zero Heist by DEBRA BURLINGAME From the Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2005. "The World Trade Center Memorial will break ground this year. When those Marines return in 2010, the year it is scheduled to open, no doubt they will expect to see the artifacts that bring those memories to life. They’ll want a vantage point that allows them to take in the sheer scope of the destruction, to see the footage and the photographs and hear the...

Seemingly terminal reconstruction gridlock may not be the only scandal plaguing the site of the destroyed Twin Towers. Now serious concerns are being raised about the nature of the principal Ground Zero memorial. The International Freedom Center is to be a 250,000-square-foot museum with a self-professed mission to "harness the power of history and use it as a springboard for contemporary dialogue and debate" on the meaning of freedom.... Because odds are that, at the end of the day, this center won't focus on freedom's triumphs, so much as on its failures — particularly those in which America can be...

Most Americans have not been paying attention to the bureaucratic wrangling and political jockeying that has plagued the construction of the World Trade Center Memorial at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. But it’s not just New Yorkers and developers and 9/11 families who should care. A good portion of the project is federally subsidized. All of us have not only a financial stake, but also a moral stake, in protecting the honor of the victims­ and the dignity of our country. A Blame America Monument is not what we need or deserve. But it looks like one is already in...

Must-read. Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles F. "Chic" Burlingame III, pilot of American Airlines fight 77, which terrorists crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, has blown the whistle on George Soros and other human rights zealots who are trying to turn Ground Zero into a blame-America monument. Her piece is up at the WSJ.com site (subscription required...also try here). Here are a few blood-boiling excerpts: The World Trade Center Memorial Cultural Complex will be an imposing edifice wedged in the place where the Twin Towers once stood. It will serve as the primary "gateway" to the underground area...

Listen While You Freep! All programs are replayed for 23 hours and again on weekends so tune in when it’s convenient for YOU! Call In Number - 866-884-TALK (8255) Heating the EDGE of a New Media! 1pm EST - MEMORIAL DAY 2005: WHY WE FIGHT! Memorial Day is more than picnics with family and friends, it's about honoring those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. Buzz is joined by Debra Burlingame, sister of American Airlines pilot Chic Burlingame who lost his life at the Pentagon on 9/11. In "Voices of Soldiers," Buzz and Debra will...

Senator Gil Cedillo's bill to give California driver's licenses to illegal aliens is set to be heard in the Senate Transportation & Housing Committee this Thursday. Please take time today to contact the committee members and ask them to oppose this bill. more information available at www.saveourlicense.com email all of the committee members (except for Maldonado, Runner & Simitian who don't use public email addresses. Use our website to contact them.)

"If we went down to the Camelback Inn today in Phoenix and arrested everyone who’s working there illegally, the place would probably shut down," McCain was quoted as saying in The Hill, a nonpartisan newspaper covering politics in the nation’s capitol.

On May 12, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Representatives Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced companion guestworker amnesty bills, S. 1033 and H.R. 2330. The text of this legislation is not yet available, but here's what we've learned this legislation entails. Millions of currently resident illegal aliens would be permitted to buy guestworker status for a fee of $1,000. After the first three year term they could apply for three year extensions (for another $1000), and in the meantime, apply for green cards. After six years they would be eligible for permanent residency, which...

-- “Illegal Aliens should be rounded up and deported.” LONEGAN NEWS CONFERENCE TO PROTEST “DRIVING PRIVILEGE” LICENSES FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS LODI -- Bogota Mayor and GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Lonegan will hold a news conference at 12 noon, Monday, May 16, 2005 to protest proposed “driving privilege” licenses so illegal aliens can drive cars “legally.” WHERE? Outside Lodi DMV, 8 Mill Street (off Garibaldi Ave.), Lodi WHEN? Noon, TODAY, Monday, May 16, 2005. WHAT? Lonegan will also urge State Republican Chairman Tom Wilson to withdraw his support for the “driving privilege” driver’s license for illegal aliens as expressed in a...

According to the FBI, every 14.6 seconds one burglary is committed in America. The primary reason behind this disturbing fact is that it remains illegal to take other people’s stuff. Even if you really, really need other people’s stuff to enjoy a better life for you and your children, you are not “supposed” to take it under current rules. But what choice do tens of thousands of Americans have? Likewise, there are millions of items that –when new and un-stolen-- have prices that most Americans are simply not willing to pay. We all benefit from theft, yet it remains illegal....

Taking illegals for a spin I got a press release the other day from one of those liberal interest groups. The release called for New Jersey to start issuing driver's licenses to illegal aliens.......Following is the release. Notice how the writer artfully makes a radical idea seem acceptable to mainstream Americans. I am an expert in decoding political spin, so I have put in brackets my explanations of just how the spin doctor operates. Here goes: "The REAL ID Act of 2005 has now been passed by both houses of Congress and is poised for the President's signature. New Jersey...

A woman whose brother was killed in the September 11 attacks yesterday surprised top members of the House Homeland Security Committee with counterfeit Mexican matricula consular cards bearing the members' identities and showcasing how easy it is to get valid identification to board an airplane. Debra Burlingame, who was testifying on the Transportation Security Administration's screening procedures for pilots and flight crews, wouldn't reveal who made the cards, which appeared to bear the security marks of a valid card, but emphasized that they can be used to carry on daily business. "They look exactly like what I've seen. The back...

My brother was Capt. Chic Burlingame, (USNR, ret.), pilot of American Airlines flight 77, Pentagon attack, 9-11-01. Recently, five 9/11 widows held a press conference to announce their support for Senator Kerry. These ladies have enjoyed a great deal of media attention in the last two years. Although 195 9/11 family members have co-signed our letter, we can't get the mainstream media to report it. I humbly ask you good folks to come to our website, www.911familiesforamerica.org and read the letter we have posted explaining who we are and why we support the president.

  Never Forget – Protecting Our Homeland Rally   The grassroots groups that include Security Moms 4 Bush, W.I.S.P. (Women In Support of the President), Democrats 4 Bush and Vets4Bush, announce their plans for a rally in Cedar Grove, New Jersey on October 16, 2004.  This rally “Never Forget – Protecting Our Homeland” will take place at the VFW Post 6255, Cedar Grove for people to show their support for President George W. Bush.  The theme of the rally is focused around the number one election year issue ~ Our National Security and the War on Terrorism. We welcome all...

No American with a shred of decency could help but be moved by the stories of 9/11 widows. No American with a conscience could observe the wrenching loss of the mothers and fathers of soldiers killed on the battlefield and not shudder, imagining themselves in those shoes.      So it is as emotionally powerful for military and 9/11 families to tell their stories on behalf of Sen. John Kerry [related, bio] in the final weeks of this campaign in TV ads and at rallies, as it is completely irrelevant.      Harsh, yes, but also true.      There is no monolithic political view held...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 - The Republicans finally have Hollywood's answer to Michael Moore: "Celsius 41.11 - The Temperature at Which the Brain Begins to Die," a documentary made in six weeks that is billed as "The Truth Behind the Lies of Fahrenheit 9/11!" After its premiere in Georgetown on Tuesday night, there seemed to be two prevailing sentiments among the solidly Republican crowd of 300. One was that the film is a lot more thoughtful and accurate than "Fahrenheit 9/11." The other was that it is not going to gross $100 million. But then, that was not the point, as...

Earlier this month, five 9/11 widows held an emotional press conference and -- one by one -- stood before a microphone to talk about fear. They invoked the tragic loss of their loved ones three years ago and declared that concern for their children's future has moved them to endorse the candidacy of John F. Kerry. These are the very same women who just six months ago angrily denounced the use of fleeting images of Ground Zero in a Bush campaign ad, saying it was a form of exploitation that was "unconscionable" and "disgusting." They asserted that neither candidate should...