Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government 17 February

[Guest guest]

" Lori R. Price " <lrprice

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 00:40:04 -0500

White House Ordered to Release Spy Papers 17 Feb 2006

 

 

 

 

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government

17 February 2006

http://www.legitgov.org/

 

 

All links to articles as summarized below are available here:

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

 

 

White House Ordered to Release Spy Papers 17 Feb 2006 A federal

judge ordered the Bush regime on Thursday to release documents about

its warrantless surveillance program or spell out what it is

withholding, a setback to efforts to keep the program under wraps.

 

U.S. must release domestic spying documents --Judge rules in favor

of civil liberties group in freedom-of-information case 16 Feb 2006

A federal judge Thursday ordered the Justice Department to respond

within 20 days to requests by a civil liberties group for documents

about Dictator Bush's domestic eavesdropping program.

 

Justice Dept. Role in Eavesdropping Decision Under Review 16 Feb

2006 The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility

has opened an internal investigation into the department's role in

approving the Bush administration's warrantless domestic

eavesdropping program, officials said yesterday.

 

Accord in House to Hold Inquiry on Surveillance 17 Feb 2006 Leaders

of the House Intelligence Committee said Thursday that they had

agreed to open a Congressional inquiry prompted by the Bush

administration's domestic surveillance program. But a dispute

immediately broke out among committee Republicans over the scope of

the inquiry.

 

Renewal of Patriot Act Clears Hurdle in U.S. Senate 16 Feb 2006

Legislation to renew the USA Patriot Act, the anti[pro]-terrorism

law passed after the Sept. 11 attacks, cleared a key procedural

hurdle in the Senate today, easing the way for passage by Congress.

 

Senate easily cuts off Feingold Patriot Act filibuster 16 Feb 2006

The US Senate moved closer towards a long-term renewal of the USA

Patriot Act Thursday, easily overcoming a filibuster by Sen. Russ

Feingold (D-WI) in a 96-3 vote. Sens. Jim Jeffords (I-VT) and Robert

Byrd (D-WV) cast the only votes joining Feingold in his efforts.

 

Lonely Defenders of Civil Liberties By John Nichols 16 Feb 2006 " In

the first of what will be a number of critical votes on renewal of

the Patriot Act, only three members of the U.S. Senate supported

Russ Feingold's [D-Wis.] effort to prevent enactment of a version of

the law favored by the Bush administration... On Thursday, he sought

to clarify the rights of individuals and institutions that might be

subject to inquiries under the act. But only two senators, West

Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd and Vermont Independent Jim Jeffords

sided with him. "

 

" It just doesn't add up. " Cheney account questioned 16 Feb 2006

Veteran hunters and shooting experts said Thursday that they still

did not understand how the vice president [sic] injured his fellow

hunting partner so badly if he was actually 30 yards away as Cheney

says. " It just doesn't add up, " said John Kelly, a quail hunter from

New York with more than 36 years of experience. " With a shotgun, the

pellets spread out the further you get, and for that many pellets to

hit such a small part of this man's body means Mr. Cheney was far

closer " than the 27-meter distance cited.

 

Cheney Mishap Takes Focus Off CIA Leak 16 Feb 2006 It's not Dick

Cheney's hunting mishap that worries Republicans. It's his other

scandal _ the CIA leak case and the threat it poses to the embattled

vice pResident. ['Mishap?' If it was Bill Clinton, the headline

would include the words 'shooting spree.']

 

Bush Approves Cheney's Handling of Mishap 17 Feb 2006 President Bush

said Cheney had handled the situation " just fine. I'm satisfied with

the explanation he gave,'' Bush said, making his first public

comments about Cheney's accidental shooting of attorney Harry

Whittington while aiming for a quail.

 

U.N. Tells U.S. to Shut Down Guantanamo Bay Prison Camp 16 Feb 2006

The United States must close its detention facility at Guantanamo

Bay because it is effectively a torture camp where prisoners have no

access to justice, a U.N. report released Thursday concluded. The

White House rejected the recommendation.

 

US attacks UN Guantanamo report 16 Feb 2006 The White House has

savaged a UN report demanding the immediate closure of the

Guantanamo Bay prison camp calling it " a discredit to the UN " . The

report says the US should try all approximately 500 inmates, or free

them " without further delay " . Aspects of the treatment at the camp

amount to torture, the UN team alleges.

 

Guantanamo trio to petition for release 16 Feb 2006 Three Britons

held at Guantanamo Bay have been granted permission to petition for

their freedom. The trio were granted permission by a High Court

judge to seek a court order requiring the home secretary to petition

for their release.

 

The Abu Ghraib files --Never-published photos, and an internal Army

report, show more Iraqi prisoner abuse -- evidence the government is

fighting to hide. By Mark Benjamin 16 Feb 2006 " Salon has obtained

files and other electronic documents from an internal Army

investigation into the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal. The

material, which includes more than 1,000 photographs, videos and

supporting documents from the Army's probe, may represent all of the

photographic and video evidence that pertains to that investigation. "

 

Salon's Abu Ghraib Photo Gallery 16 Feb 2006 [Warning! Graphic

depiction of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld war crimes]

 

New pictures reveal extent of abuse at Abu Ghraib jail 16 Feb 2006

Damning new photographs and videos purporting to show the abuse and

even murder of Iraqi prisoners at the infamous Abu Ghraib jail have

been broadcast on Australian television and picked up by Arab

channels.

 

Outrage Spreads over New Images 16 Feb 2006 New footage of British

soldiers beating up young Iraqi men in Amarah city in 2003, and the

release of more photographs of atrocities by U.S. soldiers against

Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib prison has spread outrage across Iraq.

 

Iraq seethes after new prisoner abuse footage 16 Feb 2006 New images

of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison prompted Iraq's president to condemn

his close ally the United States on Thursday, demanding harsh

punishment for " savage crimes " as Iraqis seethed over more

humiliation.

 

Iraq calls on US to hand over Iraqi detainees 16 Feb 2006 Iraq's

human rights minister called on U.S.-led forces on Thursday to hand

over all Iraqi inmates at U.S.-run prisons to the Iraqi government,

following more footage of prisoners being abused.

 

US troops arrest Iraq police death squad 16 Feb 2006 An inquiry has

been launched into the infiltration of Iraq's police by militia

forces after a 22-member death squad [blackwater USA?] was caught

red-handed at a checkpoint in Baghdad. [The US " discovers " a death

squad operating out of Iraq's Ministry of Interior. Let's see. Who

invaded Iraq and installed Iraq's Ministry of Interior? The US.

Ergo, the US " discovered " themselves.]

 

Recruiting suicide bombers ruled not terrorism --Italian judges

uphold acquittals for men seeking recruits to fight U.S. troops 16

Feb 2006 A panel of Italian judges upheld the November acquittals of

three North Africans on international terror charges, ruling that

recruiting suicide bombers to fight against U.S. soldiers is not

terrorism, a lawyer said Thursday. The judges ruled that recruiting

suicide bombers could not be considered terrorism because during an

armed conflict the only acts that count as terrorism are " acts

exclusively directed against a civilian population, " according to a

copy of the ruling given to The Associated Press. " The recruitment

of volunteers in Iraq to fight against the Americans cannot be

considered under any circumstance terrorist activity, " it adds.

[Ergo, Dictator Bush is the most dangerous terrorist on earth.]

 

Baghdad car bombs kill seven Iraqis 16 Feb 2006 Two car bombs

exploded in Baghdad on Thursday, killing seven Iraqis and wounding

at least 14, police said.

 

Telegraph concedes to Galloway 16 Feb 2006 The Daily Telegraph has

backed down in its libel battle with Respect MP, George Galloway,

and could face a huge legal bill. Mr Galloway successfully sued the

paper for suggesting he had received money from Saddam Hussein's

regime in Iraq. [see also: Galloway wins libel award battle 25 Jan

2006]

 

Scientists muzzled for Bush election campaign 17 Feb 2006 Political

appointees in NASA's press office exerted strong pressure during the

2004 presidential campaign to cut the flow of press releases on

glaciers, climate, pollution and other earth sciences, public

affairs officers at the agency say.

 

Climate change: On the edge --Greenland ice cap breaking up at twice

the rate it was five years ago, says scientist Bush tried to gag 17

Feb 2006 A satellite study of the Greenland ice cap shows that it is

melting far faster than scientists had feared - twice as much ice is

going into the sea as it was five years ago. The implications for

rising sea levels - and climate change - could be dramatic.

 

Ehrlich wary of voting method 15 Feb 2006 Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

® said Wednesday that he has lost confidence in the state's

ability to hold fair and secure elections this fall, and called for

paper receipts for Maryland's electronic voting machines and the

delay of early-voting procedures approved by the Democratic-

controlled legislature.

 

Ballot botch: Coulter votes in wrong precinct 15 Feb 2006 Palm Beach

County Supervisor of Elections records show Reichwing pundit Ann

Coulter voted last week in Palm Beach's council election. Problem

is: She cast her ballot in a precinct 4 miles north of the precinct

where she owns a home — and that could be a big no-no.

 

Senate aide's spouse gets a windfall 16 Feb 2006 Sen. Arlen Specter

(R-Penn.) helped direct almost $50 million in Pentagon spending

during the past four years to clients of the husband of one of his

top aides, records show.

 

CIA Employee Caught --Citizen and police cooperation leads to the

arrest of a Falls Church resident, suspected of committing 17 counts

of burglary in McLean, VA 15 Feb 2006 George Charles Dalmas III, of

Falls Church, was arrested on Tuesday, January 31 and taken to the

Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. Dalmas, a CIA employee, was

charged with 17 counts of burglary and 16 counts of grand larceny.

 

Colo. Landowners Win $554M in Nuclear Suit 15 Feb 2006 Two companies

that ran the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant exposed neighbors to

plutonium through their negligence, endangering people's health and

contaminating their property, a federal jury concluded.

 

Lott files FEMA bill 16 Feb 2006 Republican Sen. Trent Lott of

Mississippi proposed legislation today that would establish the

Federal Emergency Management Agency as an independent, cabinet-level

agency reporting directly to the President.

 

Reigniting Spanish flu 05 Oct 2005 The influenza strain that killed

up to 50 million people in the 1918 pandemic has been recreated by

scientists. ...Other research shows close similarities between the

1918 Spanish Flu virus and the H5N1 bird flu strain that is

threatening the world with a new pandemic. Researchers in the United

States described how they used a " reverse engineering " technique to

re-construct Spanish Flu. [Keep that sentence in mind when you start

to see KBR's detention centers filling up with avian flu victims who

refuse Bush's mandatory vaccines.]

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

 

Bird flu epidemic could kill 142 mln, cost 4.4 trln usd - Australian

academics 16 Feb 2006 A global bird flu pandemic could kill as many

as 142 mln people and wipe some 4.4 trln usd from economic output,

according to a worst-case scenario published by Australian academics.

 

Dead swans litter German island as bird flu spreads 17 Feb 2006 The

German Baltic island of Ruegen is littered with the corpses of at

least 100 swans just 24 hours after the authorities discovered three

dead birds with H5N1 virus on its shores.

 

Two more countries report bird flu 16 Feb 2006 A deadly strain of

bird flu spreading across Europe was reported to have infected birds

in two more countries - Romania and Slovenia -Thursday.

 

Risk to Britain increasing from EU spread of bird flu 17 Feb 2006

Britain is increasingly likely to be hit by bird flu, the government

warned yesterday.

 

Russia Has New Bird-Flu Outbreak; Turkey Finds Suspected Cases 17

Feb 2006 Russian authorities killed more than 270,000 chickens in

the country's southwestern-most corner to contain a new wave of

lethal bird flu, a day after Turkey reported suspected outbreaks in

almost a third of its provinces.

 

Indonesia considers response to pandemic as fears of bird flu rise

17 Feb 2006 A possible pandemic is looming and the world is on high

alert after new cases of avian influenza in poultry were found in

Europe and Africa this week.

 

Iraq: Health alert in south warns of bird flu 16 Feb 2006 The Iraqi

government has raised a health alert in a southern governorate after

local laboratory tests confirmed the presence of the H5N1 bird flu

virus in dozens of birds in the area.

 

Niger: Dead birds raise fears of bird flu 16 Feb 2006 The death of

at least 400 chickens, turkeys and geese in Niger – which shares a

1,500-kilometre border with bird-flu-infected Nigeria – has

government officials scurrying to prevent the spread of the deadly

virus.

 

[Previous lead stories:] Civil liberties fear as US terror suspect

list rises to 325,000 16 Feb 2006 Civil liberties organisations

expressed outrage yesterday after it was reported that the database

of terrorist suspects kept by the US authorities now holds 325,000

names, a fourfold increase in two and a half years.

 

Whistleblower says NSA violations bigger 14 Feb 2006 A former NSA

employee said Tuesday there is another ongoing top-secret

surveillance program that might have violated millions of Americans'

Constitutional rights. Russell D. Tice told the House Government

Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and

International Relations he has concerns about a " special access "

electronic surveillance program that he characterized as far more

wide-ranging than the warrantless wiretapping recently exposed by

the New York Times but he is forbidden from discussing the program

with Congress.

 

Feingold Again Tries to Block Patriot Act 15 Feb 2006 In a case of

legislative deja vu, Sen. Russell Feingold launched another lonely

filibuster against the USA Patriot Act, but sponsors predicted

enough support to overcome the objection and extend parts of the law

set to expire March 10.

 

CLGers: Please contribute for February'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.

2006, Citizens For Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved. CLG

Founder and Chair is Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.