Debra Burlingame writes about the recently dedicated 9/11 flight crew memorial — what it looks like and what it means — with elegant clarity.

It makes perfect sense that this memorial would not be an abstract work of art with its subject matter intentionally obscured, if not impossible to discern. Instead, it is a classical figurative rendering of the human beings who lived and died on that hellish day, people whose lives and deeds represent those essential virtues, which cannot be vanquished by force of steel and fire.

This is a memorial composed of poignant images denoting courage, dedication, and commitment, virtues that our forefathers and foremothers possessed more than two hundred thirty years ago at the birth of the nation, and which are indispensable to the effort of preserving our way of life generations into the future.

It is significant to me that this million-dollar memorial was entirely a grassroots effort, funded and built through the dollars of ordinary people, without the support of national endowments, political affiliations, or government money.

"First taken, last remembered. Let us never for get their bravery." 

Share This Article

Prick up your ears. And your eyes. CCTV is doing more than just watching you. It's figuring out your race.

Benjamin Males, a twenty-five year-old mechanical engineer and recent graduate of London's Royal College of Art, has written software and retro-fitted a CCTV (Closed Caption TV) camera that he bought on eBay to identify individuals by race. The Racial Targeting System is called The RTS-2. 

PCW Business Center has the story:   

The RTS-2 (Racial Targeting System) is essentially an automated racial-profiling tool, one that governments and police have not dared touch due to privacy and human-rights concerns, even though the technical capabilities already exist.

However, Males built the camera in an attempt to raise awareness of such issues among the public, which often appears oblivious to how frequently it is surveyed by CCTV (closed-circuit television) due to the prevalence of the cameras, especially in the U.K.

Surveillance cameras "have a significant effect on our lives and civil liberties," Males said. "We, as the public, aren't really in a position to discuss them or critique them because they are developed behind closed doors."

Fascinating. CCTV cameras have been a permanent fixture in London going back to the 1960s when they were first used as a tool to watch and track terrorists dispatched by the IRA. Images from London's CCTV cameras have more recently identified several high-profile Muslim terrorists, including Yassin Omar, a failed 7/21 train bomber who tried to flee the country dressed in a full-length black burka and carrying a white handbag. Last week, Omar's fiancée, Fardosa Abdullahi, was sentenced to three years in prison for her role in helping Omar escape. 

CCTV cameras are springing up all across America. Look up at your next traffic light and you'll see. 

Share This Article

This didn't take long. The TSA has launched an investigation into former Federal Air Marshal and Iraq war veteran Jeffrey Denning in an attempt to discover who leaked information about a story CNN's Drew Griffin did a few months back — about how Air Marshals cover less than 1% of U.S. flights. I wrote about this in a post called Rare Marshals.

Ironically, Denning was serving in Iraq when CNN broke the news. Denning had nothing to do with the low-numbers story, I've interviewed him myself. Why TSA has chosen to target Denning might have something to do with his new past time: he's a blogger, along with current Air Marshal P. Jeffrey Black, for The Washington Times.

Denning and Black broke a separate story last week, on the federal government's interest in using stun bracelets on airline passengers. The story made it onto FOX news over the weekend. The TSA is in charge of the Federal Air Marshal Program; this is yet another embarrassment to the already unpopular and grossly ineffective Agency. 

For years, the Federal Air Marshal Service has worked overtime to keep its low numbers and its high-dollar figures out of the public eye. In 2005, the Federal Air Marshal Service even denied Congress access to those numbers, claiming national security concerns. As I wrote in my book, Terror in The Skies, Why 9/11 Could Happen Again, the paltry number of air marshals on flights isn't the only issue the Agency keeps busy covering up. Many of these stories can be read here.

My prediction: this investigation will backfire on TSA. Meanwhile TSA "spokesman" Christopher White — who is increasingly refusing to respond verbally to media requests, but sends emails instead — had this to say:

Spokesman Christopher White said a TSA investigator is looking into the "possible unauthorized release of sensitive and classified information to the news media by covered parties."

"As part of this ongoing investigation, several individuals, both current and former employees, have been contacted as is typical in any investigation," he said in an e-mail to CNN.

Share This Article

Steve Emerson spoke with FOX News' Shepherd Smith to discuss Israel's recent military exercises which some perceive as "a dry run for an attack on Iran."  

SHOW: FOX NEWS - STUDIO B (6/20/2008)        

HEADLINE: ISRAELI MILITARY HELD LARGE-SCALE EXERCISE IN MAY    

SHEPARD SMITH: Well a hundred fighter jets, a team of rescue helicopters and to paraphrase one Pentagon official, a message that Israel wanted Iran and the rest of the world to hear loud and clear. It's our top story.

Sources in the Israeli military confirming a massive military exercise last month, while Israel is not saying its mission was a dry run for an attack on Iran, one detail seems especially telling. An Israeli pilot says he was part of the drill, flying about 900 miles west from Tel Aviv across the Mediterranean Sea, and that is roughly the same distance from Tel Aviv to a uranium enrichment plant in Iran. The Natanz enrichment plant. Israel says Iran is trying to use that facility to build nuclear weapons.        

Steve Emerson's here now, Middle East and counterterrorism expert, good to see you.So is this a dry run in earnest or this an effort, a show of military force and capability to try to intimidate or pressure Iran.        

STEVE EMERSON: I think it's both. And there's a third factor also. It's to let the world know and especially the United States that if the West doesn't act, the Israelis will act, so maybe it's a combination of all three. 

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told an Arab television station that an Israeli military strike on Iran would create a "ball of fire" in the Middle East. 

You can read the FOX News transcript at The Investigative Project for Terrorism. 

(photo: AFP/Getty) 

Share This Article

In six short months, 32 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees have stepped forward to blow the whistle on safety issues inside the agency.

NPR has a lengthy, hair-raising piece: The Perilous Path of FAA Whistle-Blowers. 

(photo courtesy of Whistleblower ALERT, OSC Watch © 2008)

Share This Article

Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia promised the United Nations it would add 200,000 barrels of oil to its daily output. Nevertheless, oil prices hit $139.89 a barrel this morning before falling back to $134.86.

On June 22, an 'Oil Price Summit' will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Share This Article

Yesterday, I wrote about Eric Longabardi's piece on former FAA safety inspector Darrin Wargacki, recently fired from his job.

Wargacki says he reported unsafe pilot training procedures at PHI Inc. — one of the largest helicopter transport companies in America — and was fired for blowing the whistle.

The FAA says Wargacki simply lacked the people skills required for the job of aviation safety inspector.

Longabardi just informed me that a PHI Helicopter went down on Monday, killing four people. From the Houston Chronicle:

Shortly after picking up a patient in Huntsville, a medical helicopter tore through pine trees and crashed in the Sam Houston National Forest early Sunday, killing all four aboard. 

…The Bell 407 helicopter was part of a fleet operated in Texas and other states by PHI Air Medical, a Lafayette, La.-based company that employed the crew. 

The Associated Press reports that rescue crews "struggled to find the wreckage in the dense Sam Houston National Forest" and that the "cause was being investigated."

(photo credit: Robert Dibrell, Houston Chronicle)

Share This Article

In Collision Course: Fired from the FAA, investigative reporter Eric Longabardi looks into the case of why FAA inspector Darrin Wargacki was fired from his job.

Wargacki says he reported unsafe pilot training procedures at PHI Inc, one of the largest helicopter transport companies in America.

According to Longabardi, the FAA says Wargacki "just didn't have the kind of customer friendly people skills they were looking for in an FA aviation inspector."

PHI transported over a million passengers last year, and reports 600 pilots on its payroll.

"Most of the company’s business is in transport for the oil and gas industry based in the US Gulf-coast and as a major player in hospital medi-vac helicopter operations throughout the US." 

At least two government agencies and a Congressional oversight committee are looking into the real reason as to why Wargacki lost his job.  

(photo credit: The Enterprise Report) 

Share This Article