25 May 2005 Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government

[Guest guest]

" Lori R. Price " <lrprice

Wed, 25 May 2005 13:59:48 -0400

 

Newspaper union leader: U.S. military targets journalists

25-05-05

 

 

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government

25 May 2005

http://www.legitgov.org

http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

 

 

 

Newspaper union leader: U.S. military targets journalists --A public

statement by Newspaper Guild President Linda Foley is reviving

questions about the intentional targeting of journalists in Iraq by

the U.S. armed forces. At a May 13 meeting in St. Louis, Foley said:

" Journalists, by the way, are not just being targeted verbally or

politically. They are also being targeted for real in places like

Iraq. What outrages me as a representative of journalists is that

there's not more outrage about the number, and the brutality, and the

cavalier nature of the U.S. military toward the killing of journalists

in Iraq. "

 

Iraq Oil Money Abuses Condemned --The board monitoring Iraq's oil

revenue accused Iraq's interim government of mishandling about 100

million dollars in oil money meant for development in the six months

after they took power from the US government on June 28 last year. The

International Advisory and Monitoring Board said a new audit also

found the now-defunct US Coalition Provisional Authority used

questionable accounting practices with money from the Development Fund

for Iraq. It also singled out the US Army Corps of Engineers for

refusing to provide files for contracts that were funded with Iraqi

oil revenue.

 

House panel backs $45 bln for Halliburton ['Iraq'] --A House of

Representatives subcommittee on Tuesday approved another $45 billion

for Halliburton ['the Iraq and Afghanistan wars'], which would bring

the costs of the U.S. military operations there to more than $300 billion.

 

Resistance Flourishes in Iraq's Wild West --The center of the rebel

movement has shifted to Al Anbar province, near the border with Syria.

But the U.S. has been moving its forces away. The U.S. military's plan

to pacify Iraq has run into trouble in a place where it urgently needs

to succeed. [Oops!] U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad agree

that Al Anbar province — the vast desert badlands stretching west from

the cities of Fallouja and Ramadi to the lawless region abutting the

Syrian border — remains the epicenter of the country's deadly resistance.

 

1,000 U.S. troops launch major offensive against resistance fighters

--One thousand U.S. marines, sailors and soldiers encircled the Iraqi

city of Haditha on the Euphrates River Wednesday as part of a massive

offensive aimed at breaking up militant operations.

 

May on target to become one of deadliest months for U.S. troops

--Hostile fire has killed more U.S. soldiers and Marines in Iraq in

May than during each of the three previous months. If the trend

continues, May will be one of the deadliest months for U.S. troops

during the past year.

 

Five U.S. Troops Dead in Iraq Incidents 25 May 2005 --Five U.S.

military personnel were killed in three separate incidents in Iraq

over the last two days, military officials said.

 

14 U.S. Soldiers Killed in 3 Days in Iraq --A car bomb exploded next

to a U.S. Army convoy in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing three soldiers,

while another American died in a drive-by shooting a half-hour later.

Their deaths pushed the number of U.S. troops killed in three days to

14, part of a surge in attacks that have also killed about 60 Iraqis.

 

Dozens killed in Iraq attacks --Resistance attacks left eight U.S.

soldiers and dozens of Iraqis dead over a 48-hour period Monday and

Tuesday. Meanwhile, occupation forces Tuesday rounded up hundreds of

'suspects' in and around Baghdad...

 

Tabloid says it paid U.S. official for Saddam Hussein photos --The

U.S. military condemned the publication Friday of photographs showing

an imprisoned Saddam Hussein naked except for his white underwear, and

ordered an investigation of how the pictures were leaked to a tabloid.

The New York Post, which is also owned by Murdoch, also published the

photos on Friday.

 

Quick Action! Please thank the producers of Law & Order: SVU. Their

season finale took on Quinium, the Department of Defense, Donald

Rumsfeld, coverups, stonewalling by the U.S. Army, for an *entire

hour.* Let me put it this way: it was as if *I* wrote the script!! We

need to thank them to offset the impending likely Reichwing

onslaught... A.D.A. Novak sends a subpoena to Donald Rumsfeld!!! Line

from the episode: 'You [A.D.A. Novak] just called the Secretary of

Defense a murderer.' Law & Order: SVU 'Goliath - Violent police

behavior is linked to an anti-malaria drug, administered to them by

the U.S. Army' --When two Police officers from separate precincts

attack their wives and demonstrate suicidal behavior, Detectives

Benson and Stabler investigate, and connect the incidents to both men

serving in the same Reserve unit in Afghanistan. Linking this behavior

to a similar trail of attacks in 2002 by officers, Benson and Stabler

connect this to a drug called Quinium, which the Army prescribes to

fight malaria. When they discover that the Army is aware of its side

affects, Novak goes after the government for administering the drug.

Meanwhile, Detective Stabler faces some tough personal issues at home

with his wife. Contact the producers to thank them! LawOrderSVU

 

Baghdad's Polluted Water Makes Children Sick With Cholera --Cholera is

spreading in Baghdad's impoverished al-Amil quarter where overcrowding

and contaminated water are leading to fears of an epidemic. City

officials blame resistance attacks on infrastructure for the outbreak

in southwest Baghdad. [Really? Well, we blame the Bush/Blair illegal,

immoral invasion of Iraq: the water was fine before the U.S./U.K.

terrorists invaded the country.]

 

U.S. leads global attack on human rights -Amnesty --Four years after

the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, human rights are in

retreat worldwide and the United States bears most responsibility,

rights watchdog Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

 

Newsweek didn't create White House image --by Helen Thomas " It was an

act of desperation when the White House tried to blame Newsweek

magazine for the United States' low esteem around the world,

particularly in the Middle East. The Bush administration could look in

the mirror and see that the real cause for rampant anti-Americanism is

the U.S. invasion of Iraq. "

 

Church bells ring in G8 protest --Churches across Scotland are to

sound a wake-up call to the leaders of the G8 countries at the

Gleneagles summit. The Kirk is demanding action over climate change

from the world's most powerful leaders - a key theme of Britain's G8

presidency.

 

Caspian oil pipeline opens --Officials today inaugurated the first

section of a 1,100-mile pipeline bringing oil from the Caspian Sea to

the west, a project that has sparked environmental and human rights

concerns.

 

Venezuela Demands Posada be Tried for Terrorism not Immigration

--Venezuela's embassy in the US sent a " verbal note " to the US State

Department yesterday, requesting information concerning the status of

their extradition request for self-described terrorist Luis Posada

Carriles. Posada is currently in the custody of immigration officials

who are charging him with illegal entry into the United States. He is

wanted by Venezuela for masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cubana

Airlines passenger jet that killed all 73 people on board.

 

Military Was Set to Down Cessna --Authority Granted As Plane Strayed

Deep Into Capital --Defense Secretary [war criminal] Donald H.

Rumsfeld gave military officials the authority to shoot down, if

necessary, a small plane that wandered into restricted airspace over

the nation's capital May 11, according to two senior federal

officials. [Well, Rumsfeld had Flight 93 shot down over Shanksville,

PA on 9/11 - so it would not be the first time. See: Rumsfeld says

9-11 plane 'shot down' in Pennsylvania --During surprise Christmas Eve

trip, defense secretary contradicts official story (27 December 2004)]

 

Flu pandemic 'could hit 20% of world's population' 25 May 2005 --A

global taskforce should be urgently formed to tackle a potential

influenza pandemic that could affect 20% of the world's population,

trigger economic disaster and kill millions, experts warned today.

http://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities.html

 

Bird flu plan calls for airport screening --Hawaii officials want to

test people arriving at Honolulu Airport 25 May 2005 --As nations

prepare for a possible avian flu virus pandemic, state and federal

health officials are working on a proposal to screen travelers who

arrive at Honolulu Airport with influenza-like illness. The state

Health Department began developing the proposal a few months ago with

the federal quarantine office [?!?] at the airport, said Dr. Paul

Effler, state epidemiologist. http://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities.html

 

ID card cost soars as new bill published --The price of an identity

card will be higher than previously thought at £93, the Home Office

admitted today, as it published a new bill to introduce the

controversial scheme. It also revealed that the biometric technology

due to underpin the system was far from failsafe, with even the best

form of identification - iris scans - only scoring a 96% success rate.

[Click here to read UK's Identity Cards Bill in full.]

 

FBI asks US Congress for power to seize documents --The FBI on Tuesday

asked the U.S. Congress for sweeping new powers to seize business or

private records, ranging from medical information to book purchases,

to investigate terrorism without first securing approval from a judge.

 

Homeland Security taps anti-snooping tool --The U.S. Department of

Homeland Security has signed a deal with content security provider

Websense to protect its systems from spyware and other malicious code.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division has 40,000

employees. Controls within the Websense product will now control the

access of those ICE employees to any blocked Web sites or content

deemed inappropriate, Websense said Tuesday in a statement.

 

Federal Prison Safety Chief Abruptly Resigns --Toxic Contamination

Worries in Computer Recycling Shops Widen to Other Prisons (PEER Press

Release) 25 May 2005 " The top safety official for the Federal Bureau

of Prisons has abruptly resigned as concerns over mishandling of toxic

residues from prison industry computer recycling operations spread

from one prison to other facilities, according to agency emails

released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

(PEER). "

 

Democrat Says Bolton May Have Mishandled Classified Data --The top

Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said today that John R.

Bolton might have mishandled classified information by sharing with

another State Department official details about a communication

intercepted by the National Security Agency.

 

Voinovich Asks Senators to Reject Bolton --The maverick Republican who

denied Dictator Bush's U.N. nominee a smooth sail through the GOP-led

Senate asked colleagues Tuesday to vote against a " controversial and

ineffective ambassador. "

 

Democrats clear way for Senate vote on Bolton --Democrats agreed on

Tuesday to clear the way for the Senate to vote on the controversial

nomination of John Bolton as the next U.S. ambassador to the United

Nations, which was expected to pass mainly on party lines.

 

Priscilla Owen Confirmed As Federal Judge --The Senate on Wednesday

confirmed [corpora-terrorist] Priscilla Owen as a federal appellate

judge, ending the four-year ordeal of the Texas jurist who was thrust

into the center of the partisan battle over Dictator Bush's

[Reichwing] judicial nominations.

 

Frist issues new warning on filibusters --In the afterglow of the

bipartisan accord announced Monday night to avert a Senate showdown on

changing the filibuster rule, Senate Majority Leader [and cat

torturer] Bill Frist emphasized Tuesday that he wasn't a party to the

deal and would quickly try to implement the rule change if Democrats

resumed use of the filibuster to derail Dictator Bush's judicial nominees.

 

Inside the Beltway --by John McCaslin " ...[W]hy did so few members of

the White House press corps show up for yesterday's

question-and-answer session in the East Room with President [sic] Bush

and Afghan President Hamid Karzai? So few reporters were on hand, in

fact, that the White House hurried to have White House interns fill

the empty seats. ...A member of the press corps we spoke to yesterday

equated reporters at such staged White House functions with 'props.'

He explained that because the president only takes four questions at

each press availability -- two from U.S. wire service reporters and

two from foreign scribes -- many in the press corps don't bother to

show up. 'Since we can't ask questions, why schlep over there?' he

reasons. "

 

Official Says Law Doesn't Cover Gays --Counsel Cites Lack of Authority

to Enforce Discrimination Ban --Special counsel Scott J. Bloch told a

Senate panel yesterday that he lacks the legal authority to enforce

the Bush regime's ban on discrimination against federal employees

based on sexual orientation.

 

House Defies Bush on Research --Despite veto threat, many Republicans

vote to repeal funding restrictions for stem cell research. 50

Republicans help pass bill to repeal restrictions on Federal funding

--Defying Dictator Bush's threat to impose his first veto, a broad

swath of House Republicans voted with an overwhelming number of

Democrats yesterday to repeal his restrictions on federal funding for

embryonic stem cell research.

 

'Star Wars' exerts force in earthly politics --Cautionary tale about

tyranny or is the film just anti-Bush? Even before it opened in

theaters last week, some observers were drawing unflattering parallels

between the story of interplanetary treachery in " Star Wars: Episode

III — Revenge of the Sith " and the Bush regime's war on [of] terror

and its decision to invade Iraq.

 

When the President Talks to God [2005] Bright Eyes rocks The Tonight

Show with a scathing attack on the President. This video has caused

quite a stir in the blogosphere. (Lyrics)

 

Wash. Judge Allows GOP Charges of Fraud --A top King County elections

official on Tuesday denied knowing about an absentee ballot report

allegedly falsified by county workers while counting ballots in the

2004 governor's election. Republicans are trying to prove election

errors and fraud stole the election from Republican Dino Rossi. They

want Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges to nullify the

129-vote victory of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire, prompting a

new election. [OMFG! I wanted a new presidential election back in

2000, due to the *minus* 16,022 votes that Diebold registered for Gore

in Volusia County, not to mention J. Kenneth Whackjob and the stolen

state of Ohio in 2004!!]

 

Ballots cast on machine require scrutiny --by Kat L'Estrange " With the

proliferation of electronic voting machines, plus partisan secretaries

of state, state and county elections officials are having difficulty

conducting fair elections in which legally registered citizens get to

vote, and to have their votes counted... Bush supposedly won the

popular vote by more than 3 million nationwide, while Kerry had a 51

percent to 48 percent margin in exit polls. Similar discrepancies in

Ukraine led to a revote, supported by Bush, and a different outcome

there last December. "

 

U.S. backs B of A fees from Social Security deposits --Government

urges appeals court to block a ruling requiring bank to repay clients

for such charges. The federal government urged a California appeals

court to block a ruling requiring Bank of America Corp. to pay $284.4

million to customers who claimed the bank illegally raided their

Social Security benefits to collect fees.

 

Bankers linked to Enron fraud face extradition --Three British bankers

accused of fraud relating to the $67bn (£36bn) collapse of Enron are

facing a trial in America after the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke,

ruled that they should be extradited.

 

Arctic Leaders Appeal Over Global Warming --Indigenous leaders from

Arctic regions around the world called on the European Union on

Tuesday to do more to fight global warming and to consider giving aid

to their peoples.

 

[24 May lead stories:] Homeland Security Weighs Plane Shootdowns --The

Homeland Security Department is considering whether it should seek

authority for its pilots to shoot down errant planes around the

nation's capital like the one that came within three miles of the

White House this month, according to an internal agency memo obtained

by The Associated Press.

 

British lawmaker: Iraq war was for oil --Labour politician and former

UK environment minister Michael Meacher has slammed Prime Minister

Tony Blair and US Dictator George Bush for starting a war, he says, to

secure oil interests.

 

Decorated British Colonel Faces Iraq War Crimes Charges --A highly

decorated British army officer is facing prosecution for war crimes

over the death of an Iraqi civilian beaten to death by his troops,

British papers revealed on Sunday. Army prosecutors are preparing war

crimes charges against Colonel Jorge Mendonca, commanding officer of

the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, faces an inquiry after the

26-year-old hotel receptionist Baha Mousa died in custody, The

Independent on Sunday said.

 

http://www.legitgov.org

 

 

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CLG Newsletter editor: Lori Price, General Manager. 2005,

Citizens For Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved. CLG Founder

and Chair is Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.