Jon Gold
11/30/2008

Donna Marsh O’Connor, mother of 9/11 victim Vanessa Lang Langer, recently posted an “idea” at change.org, “which was then promoted at both 911truth.org and 911blogger” for America to have a new investigation into the attacks of 9/11. Unfortunately, Donna’s “idea” never picked up steam.

However, on 11/28/2008, Debora Blake posted a similar “idea” at change.org, and for whatever reason, that entry “took off.” Within 2 days, the “idea” for a new investigation into 9/11 was #1 on the entire site with 660 votes. The #2 entry, “Pass the DREAM Act Now!,” posted on 11/24/2008, only has 347 votes.

They have since deleted every “idea” calling for a new investigation into 9/11, including the #1 entry. Here is the email I just received from change.org:

Hello Jon,

We wanted to send you a note about an idea you recently voted on in the Ideas for Change in America competition titled “Conduct a new, independent investigation into the attacks of September 11, 2001?

We support calls for truth and transparency in our government on every subject and welcome you to directly petition the new administration about this matter, which you can do at http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople. However, this is unfortunately outside the scope of the Ideas for Change in America project, which aims to offer specific policy solutions rather than investigations into past government action. As such, it is not eligible to enter the second round of the competition.

We understand that good people may disagree with our vision. But this is a private effort not connected to the Obama campaign or transition team, and we reserve the right to keep the competition and its content aligned with the stated mission and overall spirit of the project.

Thank you for your understanding. As mentioned above, we welcome you to directly petition the Obama administration about your proposal at http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople. And we hope you continue your work to advance change.

Best,

- The Ideas for Change in America Team

Through Obama’s entire campaign, he promised “change.” If organizations like change.org are an “idea” of what’s to come, then those people fearing Obama’s message was just rhetoric for political purposes, are probably right.