19 August 2005, Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Govern

[Guest guest]

" Lori R. Price " <lrprice

Fri, 19 Aug 2005 20:51:09 -0400

Coup 2004 19 Aug 2005

 

 

 

 

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government

19 August 2005

http://www.legitgov.org

 

 

All links to articles as summarized below are available here:

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

 

New! CLG's Coup 2004 19 Aug 2005 Be sure to click on the interactive

map, to view each region. http://www.legitgov.org/coup_2004.html

 

Judge Dread -John Roberts and Enemy Combatants By Chris Floyd 20 Jul

2005 " George W. Bush has granted himself the power to declare anyone

on earth - including any American citizen - an 'enemy combatant,' for

any reason he sees fit. He can render them up to torture, he can

imprison them for life, he can even have them killed, all without

charges, with no burden of proof, no standards of evidence, no

legislative oversight, no appeal, no judicial process whatsoever

except those that he himself deigns to construct, with whatever

limitations he cares to impose. ...[O]n July 15, a panel of federal

appellate court judges upheld Bush's sovereign right to dispose of

'enemy combatants' any way he pleases, the Washington Post reports...

One of the kowtowing jurists on the appeals panel was none other than

John G. Roberts. Four days after he affirmed Bush's autocratic powers,

Roberts was duly awarded with a nomination to the Supreme Court. "

 

U.S. Wants Australian to Face Tribunal 18 Aug 2005 Armed with a

favorable ruling from Supreme Court nominee John Roberts and two other

judges, the Bush regime argued Thursday that an Australian detainee

held at Guantanamo Bay must undergo trial by military tribunal.

 

Troops undergo extreme torture training 20 Aug 2005 Elite Australian

soldiers are being blindfolded, stripped naked and threatened by

savage dogs during extreme torture training exercises. The regime has

been approved at the highest level of government and is about to be

upgraded in response to the threat from enemies who do not abide by

the Geneva Conventions, the Weekend Australian newspaper reports.

 

Ex-Marine Says Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction 19 Aug 2005 A

former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi

President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was

fabricated. ... " Later on, a military production team fabricated the

film of Saddam's capture in a hole, which was in fact a deserted

well, " Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh said.

 

Death of Iraqi brothers sparks anti-U.S. rage 18 Aug 2005 An angry

Iraqi crowd carried coffins through a Baghdad district on Thursday and

threw rocks at American soldiers, accusing U.S. troops of killing

three innocent middle-aged brothers, one of them in a wheelchair.

 

Secrets of the morgue: Baghdad's body count --Bodies of 1,100

civilians brought to mortuary in July Pre-invasion, July figure was

typically less than 200 Last Sunday alone, the mortuary received 36

bodies Up to 20 per cent of the bodies are never identified Many of

the dead have been tortured or disfigured By Robert Fisk 17 Aug 2005

" July was the bloodiest month in Baghdad's modern history - in all,

1,100 bodies were brought to the city's mortuary; executed for the

most part, eviscerated, stabbed, bludgeoned, tortured to death. The

figure is secret. "

 

Ex-GIs Cleared of Iraq Mistreatment 20 Aug 2005 Two army reservists

discharged last year over allegations they mistreated Iraqi prisoners

have been cleared by an Army review board and can rejoin the military,

their attorney said Friday.

 

Iraq resistance plans wave of attacks --Intelligence points to suicide

bombings to coincide with draft constitution 19 Aug 2005 United States

and foreign intelligence officials tell NBC News they have credible

intelligence that resistance fighters in Iraq have active plans to

launch a massive offensive early next week — timed to coincide with

the possible draft of an Iraqi constitution on Monday.

 

Iraqi Sunnis, anti-American Shiite cleric protest proposed

constitution 19 Aug 2005 Sunni Arabs and followers of an anti-American

Shiite cleric held protests Friday against federal provisions in

Iraq's proposed constitution, as negotiators sought to reach agreement

on the charter by next week's deadline.

 

Masked Gunmen Kill 3 Sunni Arabs in Iraq 19 Aug 2005 Masked gunmen [uS

death squads] killed three Sunni Arabs in front of horrified witnesses

outside a mosque in Mosul on Friday, after grabbing them 'as they hung

posters urging fellow Sunnis to vote in a referendum on the new

constitution.' [Yeah, right! The Sunnis were likely gunned down by US

death squads, for *opposing* the bogus 'constitution' and illegal

occupation of Iraq.]

 

Rockets fired at US warships in Jordan 20 Aug 2005 Rockets were fired

at two US warships in Jordan's Aqaba port on Friday, but missed their

targets and hit a warehouse and a hospital, killing a Jordanian

soldier, and the Israeli port of Eilat.

 

Feingold Urges Troop Withdrawal By End of '06 18 Aug 2005 Sen. Russell

Feingold (D-Wis.) called on the White House yesterday to withdraw all

U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of next year and criticized fellow

Democrats for being too " timid " in challenging the Bush

administration's war policy.

 

Anti-war protester Sheehan leaving camp because of mother's stroke 18

Aug 2005 The grieving mother who started an anti-war demonstration

near Dictator Bush's ranch nearly two weeks ago said Thursday she was

leaving because her mother had a stroke.

 

Nationwide Vigils Call for End of Iraq War 18 Aug 2005 Hundreds of

candlelight vigils calling for an end to the war in Iraq lit up the

night Wednesday, part of a national effort spurred by one mother's

anti-war demonstration near Dictator Bush's ranch.

 

Air Force employee charged with criminal mischief after anti-Bush

vandalism 19 Aug 2005 An Air Force Reserve lieutenant colonel faces

eight counts of criminal mischief for allegedly vandalizing cars at

Denver International Airport with anti-pResident Bush messages over

the last eight months, the Denver district attorney said Thursday.

 

Iraq casts darkening cloud over Bush regime 19 Aug 2005 With the US

death toll climbing, support at home plunging and a stalemate over a

constitution stalling the political process, the Iraq war is casting a

darkening cloud over George W. Bush's p-Residency.

 

Britain Rules Out Troop Pullout Timetable 19 Aug 2005 Britain

reiterated Friday that it had ruled out setting a timetable for

withdrawing troops from Iraq, saying British troops will stay as long

as they are 'needed.' [LOL, only *Halliburton* 'needs' them.]

 

Conyers Calls For Investigation Into Ashcroft's Role In CIA Leak Case

(democracynow.org Transcript) 18 Aug 2005 " Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) is

calling for an investigation into the role of former Attorney General

John Ashcroft in the outing of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Conyers' call comes after a new report by investigative journalist

Murray Waas that a special prosecutor was appointed in the case in

large part because FBI investigators had begun to specifically

question the veracity of accounts provided to them by Karl Rove. "

 

Tube killing 'leak source' suspended 19 Aug 2005 An Independent Police

Complaints Commission employee suspected of leaking evidence to ITV

News about the shooting by police of innocent Brazilian Jean Charles

de Menezes is reported to have been suspended.

 

UK police " resisted " probe on Brazilian's shooting 19 Aug 2005

London's police chief initially tried to block an inquiry by the

force's independent watchdog into the police shooting of a Brazilian

they mistakenly thought was a suicide bomber, the supervisory body said.

 

London Police Said to Resist Death Probe 18 Aug 2005 City police

opposed an independent investigation into their fatal shooting of a

Brazilian man they mistook for a suicide bomber, a British official

said Thursday, as allegations grew of a cover-up.

 

ID cards could be used for mass surveillance system 18 Aug 2005 The

Government is creating a system of " mass public surveillance " capable

of tracking every adult in Britain without their consent, MPs say.

They warn that people who have never committed a crime can be

" electronically monitored " without their knowledge.

 

Ottawa to give police more power to snoop 19 Aug 2005 The federal

government will introduce legislation this fall that would give police

and national security agencies new powers to eavesdrop on cellphone

calls and monitor the Internet activities of Canadians, Justice

Minister Irwin Cotler said yesterday.

 

TSA and U.S. Coast Guard Initiate Homeland Security Exercises for U.S.

Seaports --Four Companies to Work With Homeland Security Agencies to

Craft Scenarios, Provide Support (PRNewswire) 18 Aug 2005 " The

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the U.S. Coast Guard

began a series of transportation system port security exercises today

in San Francisco. The Port Security Training Exercises Program

(PortSTEP) is focused on building links within the Area Maritime

Security (AMS) Committee. "

 

4 hijackers ID'd as al-Qaeda before 9/11, officer says 18 Aug 2005 A

military intelligence team investigating al-Qaeda identified four

members of the terrorist organization a year before they became 9/11

hijackers, according to an officer on the intelligence team. But he

says that the FBI did not get the information and that the 9/11

Commission failed to expose the lapse.

http://www.legitgov.org/9_1_1_oddities.html

 

Pope seeks immunity from Bush in molestation case 17 Aug 2005 Lawyers

for Pope Benedict XVI have asked pResident Bush to declare the pontiff

[Pope Rat] immune from liability in a lawsuit that accuses him of

conspiring to cover up the molestation of three boys by a seminarian

in Texas, court records show. [Gee, where is Reichwing media whore

Nancy Grace? Did she forgot to cover this one? You can't pick and

choose your child molesters to attack, Nancy.]

 

Is Bush Out of Control? By Doug Thompson 15 Aug 2005 " A year ago, this

web site discovered the White House physician prescribed

anti-depressants for Bush. The news came after revelations that the

President's wide mood swings led some administration staffers to doubt

his sanity. ...[T]he reports were later confirmed by prominent George

Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush

on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank diagnosed

the President [sic] as a 'paranoid megalomaniac' and 'untreated

alcoholic' whose 'lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood

pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists,

gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before

the bombing of Baghdad' showcase Bush's instabilities.' "

 

Frist Backs Bush on Teaching 'Intelligent Design' in Schools 19 Aug

2005 The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, aligned himself with

Dictator Bush today when he said that the theory of " intelligent

design " should be taught along with evolution in public schools.

 

US women still face bias in science-report 18 Aug 2005 Women trying to

make it as scientists face bias, hostility and a lack of respect that

all combine to hold them back, a team of researchers reported on Thursday.

 

Court Rules U.S. Need Not Pay for Abortion of Doomed Fetus 19 Aug 2005

While suggesting that its decision might seem " callous and unfeeling, "

a federal appeals court here ruled Thursday that the Navy need not pay

for an abortion received by a sailor's wife, even though doctors said

the fetus had a birth defect and could not survive.

 

Hastert funding is under scrutiny --Investigation sought: Group which

has ties to Democrats wants claims of impropriety examined 18 Aug 2005

A magazine story alleging a covert relationship between a group of

Turkish nationals and House Speaker Dennis Hastert has prompted a

group of leading Democrats to call for a federal investigation into

the claims.

 

Kan. Utility Fined for 2002 FEC Violations --Kansas Utility, Former

Executives, Lobbyist Fined for 2002 Political Contributions 18 Aug

2005 Westar Energy Inc., two former company executives and a lobbyist

agreed to pay fines totaling $40,500 to settle accusations of

violating federal election laws by using corporate resources to make

political contributions to members of Congress, including House

Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

 

Noe's lawyer says Taft knew about coin fund in 2001 19 Aug 2005 A

prominent Republican fundraiser who invested state money in rare coins

discussed the arrangement with Gov. Bob Taft in May 2001,

contradicting the governor's assertion that he didn't learn of it

until this year, the fundraiser's lawyer said.

 

Ohio Gov. Taft Enters No Contest Plea 18 Aug 2005 Ohio Gov. Bob Taft

® today entered a plea of no contest to charges that he had failed

to report a series of golf outings, dinners and other gifts and was

ordered to apologize to the people of Ohio. Taft sought a quick

conclusion to his role in a much larger scandal that now threatens the

long-dominant Republican Party in the state.

 

Ohio gov. fined but avoids jail on ethics charges 18 Aug 2005 Ohio

Republican Gov. Bob Taft, the great-grandson of a U.S. president, on

Thursday admitted violating ethics laws for not disclosing golf

outings and other gifts and was fined $4,000, but avoided jail time.

 

Democrats f*cked by Diebold... *once again!* Citizens Request Recount

in San Diego Mayoral Race " 'Enron by the Sea' shows strange electoral

anomalies - a 4 percent shift - Odds of such a discrepancy occurring

by chance alone are less than 7/100 of 1%, statisticians reveal. By

Miriam Raftery 18 Aug 2005 San Diego Democratic mayoral candidate,

Donna Frye, may have been robbed of her mayoral seat in the July 25

local election as citizens' audit parallel election vote shows shift

of 4 percent, Raw Story has learned. "

 

ID will be required to vote in Washington 18 Aug 2005 Voters showing

up at the polls for the Sept. 20 primary election will, for the first

time, have to show identification or their vote may not count.

 

Sen. Reid Reports Suffering Mild Stroke 20 Aug 2005 Senate Minority

Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., saw a doctor after feeling light-headed

Tuesday and learned he'd suffered a mild stroke, aides said Friday.

 

Shuttle safety compromised to justify launch, report finds 18 Aug 2005

Some of the same " disturbing " traits that contributed to the 2003

Columbia disaster were still present in the months leading up to the

shuttle Discovery's launch last month, seven members of a NASA

oversight panel said Wednesday in a scathing minority report.

 

Democrats turn up heat on US pump prices 19 Aug 2005 U.S. Senate

Democrats turned up the heat on the White House on Friday to act in

the face of record-high U.S gasoline pump prices. The same day, the

Senate Energy Committee set a September 8 hearing on what's behind the

prices, which hit a record $2.55 a gallon this week.

 

Senate panel calls hearing on high US pump prices 19 Aug 2005 The

Senate Energy Committee will hold a hearing next month on what's

behind record-high U.S. gasoline prices, the panel said on Friday.

 

Jury finds Merck liable in landmark Vioxx case 19 Aug 2005 A Texas

jury found pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. liable Friday for the

death of a man who took the once-popular painkiller Vioxx, awarding

his widow $253.4 million in damages in the first of thousands of

lawsuits pending across the country.

 

Nightly spraying to fight mosquitoes raises concern in Sacramento 19

Aug 2005 Agency Director David Brown ordered airplanes to blanket

71,000 acres of northern Sacramento County with 765 gallons of the

pesticide known as pyrethrin and an activation agent called Piperonyl

butoxide. Some people have denounced the pesticide program as raining

toxins on their homes with little warning and few safety assurances.

 

Senators: Global warming signs obvious 18 Aug 2005 Fresh from visits

to Canada's Yukon Territory and Alaska's northernmost city, four U.S.

senators said that signs of rising temperatures on Earth are obvious

and they called on Congress to act.

 

Global warming: Will you listen now, America? Two of the leading

contenders to contest the next US presidential election have delivered

an urgent warning to the United States on global warming, saying the

evidence of climate change has become too stark to ignore and human

activity is a major cause. On a high-profile and bi-partisan

fact-finding tour in Alaska and Canada's Yukon territory, Senators

John McCain, a Republican, and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic senator

for New York, were confronted by melting permafrost and shrinking

glaciers and heard from native Inuit that rising sea levels were

altering their lives.

 

Teamsters Oppose New Drive Rule as Threat to Highway Safety --Hours of

Service Regulation a Major Setback for Drivers, Traveling Public

(International Brotherhood of Teamsters Press Release) 19 Aug 2005

" The proposed Hours of Service (HOS) rule for truck drivers issued

today by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is a major

setback for highway safety, increasing the potential for deadly

accidents by forcing drivers to log even more hours on the road. "

 

Disney sweatshops alleged --Anti-sweatshop advocacy group charges that

workers make books under oppressive conditions. 18 Aug 2005 The

National Labor Committee, an anti-sweatshop advocacy group that once

exposed labor abuses in apparel produced for Kathie Lee Gifford's

clothing line, made new charges Thursday against The Walt Disney

Company, releasing a videotape alleging that two Chinese factories

making books for Disney operate under unsafe conditions.

 

Bird flu virus: A crisis waiting to explode It is spreading fast and

nations are stockpiling antidotes 20 Aug 2005 Health experts claim

bird flu is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. Initially, it was

seen as a few isolated cases in South-East Asia, may now be the

beginnings of a global pandemic. http://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities.html

 

'Bird flu may cause global economic mayhem' [We've got Bush already

doing that] 19 Aug 2005 Canadian financial analysts predicted that an

avian flu pandemic would have dire consequences on the global economy,

its impact comparable to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

 

Progress of bird flu across Russia tracked by European scientists 19

Aug 2005 A highly infectious form of bird flu which appears to be

moving westwards across Russia towards Europe is being tracked by

teams of scientists in Germany and the Netherlands.

 

[18 Aug lead stories:] Prewar Memo Warned of Serious Gaps in Iraq

Plans --State Dept. Officials Voiced Concerns About Post-Invasion

Security, Humanitarian Aid 18 Aug 2005 One month before the U.S.

invasion of Iraq, three State Department bureau chiefs warned of

" serious planning gaps for post-conflict public security and

humanitarian assistance " in a secret memorandum prepared for a superior.

 

Iraq weapons fear letter was 'buried' (AU) A letter written by a

former senior Foreign Affairs officer setting out grave concerns over

the hunt for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction after the war was

withheld from a Senate inquiry, blocking efforts to investigate US

pressures on Australian personnel in Iraq, according to a new report.

 

Inquiry finds Australian officers knew of Iraqi prisoner mistreatment

18 Aug 2005 An Australian senate inquiry has found Australian officers

were aware of the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners but the information

was not passed on to senior members of the defence forces. Our

reporter, Stephanie Kennedy, says the inquiry was held after reports

emerged last year about the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners.

 

CLGers: Please contribute for August's expenses, thank you! And, thank

you to all who have donated previously!!

http://www.legitgov.org/#contribute

 

Address to receive newsletter: http://www.legitgov.org/#_clg

Please write to: signup for inquiries. lrp/mdr

 

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

Citizens For Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved. CLG Founder

and Chair is Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.