Brattleboro to vote on arresting Bush, Cheney 26 Jan 2008
 
Resent-Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:40:27 -0600 (CST)


Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government
26 Jan 2008 http://www.legitgov.org/ All items are here:

http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news Breaking: Defunct Spy Satellite
Falling From Orbit 26 Jan 2008 A large U.S.

spy satellite has lost power and propulsion and could hit the Earth
in late February or March, government officials said Saturday. The
satellite, which no longer be controlled, could contain hazardous
materials, and it is unknown where on the planet it might come down,
they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because
the information is classified as secret. [Gee, wouldn't it be nice
if lands on a Blackwater training camp?]

"If Hitler were still alive and walked through Brattleboro, I think
the local police would arrest him for war crimes." Brattleboro to
vote on arresting Bush, Cheney 26 Jan 2008 Brattleboro residents
will vote at town meeting on whether President [sic] George Bush
and Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney should be indicted and arrested
for war crimes, perjury or obstruction of justice if they ever step
foot in Vermont. The Brattleboro Select Board voted 3-2 Friday to
put the controversial item on the Town Meeting Day warning.

According to Town Clerk Annette Cappy said residents will get to
vote on the matter by paper balloting March 4. [Good! Hopefully,
their treason trials will get started shortly thereafter, with all
possible penalties for treason on the plate.]

Bush Order Expands Internet Monitoring By NSA 26 Jan 2008 President
Bush signed a directive this month that expands the intelligence
community's role in monitoring Internet traffic to protect against
a rising number of attacks on federal agencies' computer systems
spy on dissidents. The directive, whose content is classified,
authorizes the intelligence agencies, in particular the National
Security Agency, to monitor the computer networks of all federal
agencies -- including ones they have not previously monitored. The
prospect of aiming NSA's power at domestic networks is raising
concerns, just as the NSA's role in the government's warrantless
domestic-surveillance program has been controversial. "Agencies
designed to gather intelligence on foreign entities should not be
in charge of monitoring our computer systems here at home," said
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Homeland
Security Committee. Lawmakers with oversight of homeland security
and intelligence matters say they have pressed the administration
for months for details. The classified joint directive, signed Jan.
8 and called the National Security Presidential Directive 54/Homeland
Security Presidential Directive 23, has not been previously disclosed.

'This may hinge on what people's definition of 'equipment' is.'
Taliban seize Nato supplies in Pakistan 25 Jan 2008 The suspected
Taliban mastermind behind Benazir Bhutto's assassination [Baitullah
Mehsud] has stolen sophisticated Nato equipment by raiding the
alliance's supply lines running through Pakistani territory. A
senior government official, based near the frontier town of Tank,
told The Daily Telegraph that Mehsud's men regularly ambushed
container lorries carrying hardware bound for Nato forces in
Afghanistan. A Nato spokesman in Kabul did not rule out that material
had been stolen in transit through Pakistan, but denied that any
weapons or military equipment had been lost. [?!?] "This may hinge
on what people's definition of 'equipment' is," he said.

Karzai: Terrorists could regain control [With Bush's help, they
already have.] 26 Jan 2008 Unless more is done to tackle growing
extremism in countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan could once
again fall into terrorist hands with dire consequence for the region
and the world, the country's president warned Friday. Hamid Karzai
said "misguided policy objectives" of unnamed countries or organizations
were continuing to fuel violence in Afghanistan.

US offers troops to fight in Pakistan 25 Jan 2008 The United States
has offered to send American troops into Pakistan to fight Islamic
militants.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the US was ready, willing and
able to conduct joint combat operations against Al Qaeda [al-CIAduh]
and Taliban insurgents in the tribal zone near the Afghan border.
Previous offers involving direct combat action by US soldiers in
Pakistan have been strongly rejected. The regime of President Pervez
Musharraf fears an undisguised US military presence in the country
would further erode public support and possibly draw new recruits
to 'insurgent' ranks.

Bush plan for Iraq would be a first --No OK from Congress seen;
Constitutional issues raised 25 Jan 2008 President [sic] Bush's
plan to forge a long-term agreement with the Iraqi government that
could commit the US military to defending Iraq's security would be
the first time such a sweeping mutual defense compact has been
enacted without congressional approval, according to legal specialists.
Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki have already agreed
that a coming compact will include the United States providing
"security assurances and commitments" to Iraq to deter any foreign
invasion or internal terrorism by "outlaw groups." But a top White
House official has also said that Bush does not intend to submit
the deal to Congress... "We've got to rein in President [sic] Bush,"
Sen. Clinton said Monday in a South Carolina debate. "We need
legislation in a hurry."

Blasts Hit Baghdad, Including Green Zone --Explosions Reverberate
in Baghdad, Including Mortar Round Into US-Controlled Green Zone
26 Jan 2008 A series of explosions thundered in the Iraqi capital
Saturday morning, police said, including one from a mortar round
that hit the U.S.-controlled Green Zone. One of the explosions was
a roadside bomb that targeted a U.S. patrol in eastern Baghdad.

3,000 extra police for restive Iraq province 26 Jan 2008 An extra
3,000 police are to boost forces in Iraq's northern Nineveh province
where troops are readying for a new assault on Al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh]
after lethal bombings in Mosul city, an official said on Saturday.

Iraq ready for "final" battle with al Qaeda: PM 25 Jan 2008 Iraqi
security forces have begun a(nother) "decisive" final offensive
against al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] in Iraq to push the Sunni Islamist
militants out of their 'last' major stronghold in the north, Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Friday.

MoD blames army leadership failure for abuse of Iraqis --Troops
were kept in dark about ban on hooding --Defence secretary promises
further inquiry 26 Jan 2008 The Guardian Serious failings in army
leadership, planning and training - particularly about treating
civilians in an occupied country - led to the abuse torture of
Iraqis by British soldiers, a Ministry of Defence investigation has
found. Soldiers were not told about their obligations under
international law or about a specific ban on hooding imposed by the
government 36 years ago, said the report by Brigadier Robert Aitken,
the army's director of army personnel strategy.

6 Powers Propose New Iran Sanctions 26 Jan 2008 New U.N. sanctions
against Iran would require countries to ban the entry of individuals
involved in the Iranian nuclear program -- a step up from a previous
call for vigilance over their travel, according to a document
obtained Friday. The latest round of penalties would also for the
first time ban trade in equipment and technology that can be used
in both civilian and nuclear programs, according to elements that
would form the basis of a new U.N. resolution.

Iran to face travel bans 26 Jan 2008 Proposed new U.N. sanctions
on Iran over its nuclear program call for mandatory travel bans and
asset freezes for specific Iranian officials and vigilance on all
banks in Iran, according to a draft text. The text of "elements"
of a third round of sanctions, obtained by Reuters on Friday, was
agreed on by Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia
and China and will be the basis of a resolution intended for the
Security Council to pass in the next few weeks.

American Woman Kidnapped in Afghanistan 26 Jan 2008 Gunmen kidnapped
an American aid worker and her driver in southern Afghanistan's
largest city early Saturday, snatching the woman from a residential
neighborhood as she was on her way to work. Cyd Mizell worked in
Kandahar for the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation.

Army Rangers, medic arrested on drug, firearms charges 26 Jan 2008
Four active-duty U.S. soldiers -- three of them elite Army Rangers
-- have been arrested and charged with planning to rob drug
traffickers. They're charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute
cocaine and with carrying firearms in connection with that conspiracy.

ACLU Challenges Cuyahoga's Unequal Voting Technology in Federal
Court --New Voting System Unlawful, Will Result in More Uncounted
Ballots (ACLU) 17 Jan 2008 The American Civil Liberties Union and
ACLU of Ohio filed a lawsuit against state election officials in
federal court today challenging the use of unequal, inaccurate and
inadequate voting technology in Ohios most populous county. Todays
legal action seeks to block Cuyahoga Countys recent shift from using
electronic voting machines to a system that lacks the ability to
provide voters with notice of balloting errors and an opportunity
to correct such mistakes. According to the ACLU, the use of these
machines violates the Constitutions Fourteenth Amendment as well
as the Voting Rights Act.

Record Turnout Expected as South Carolina Votes 26 Jan 2008 Democratic
voters were taking their turn Saturday in the first Southern primary
of the presidential campaign, the final contest before the race
expands into a state-by-state battle for the partys nomination.

On Friday's 'Hardball,' Chris Matthews asks a(nother) rightwing
pundit: 'Do you like that all these guys have chosen her [Hillary
Clinton] as their target range?' [It's YOU, Chris Matthews, who has
her in YOUR target range! Tell MSNBC to Stop the Misogyny! 'Chris
Matthews is like the DC sniper, lying in wait, always on the hunt
for Hillary.' --MDR 25 Jan 2008]

Obama: Press 'Manically Focused on Race' 26 Jan 2008 Heading into
the Democratic primary in South Carolina, Sen. Barack Obama is
banking on a win.

He also says the [GOP-run] media is making race more of an issue
that it actually is. "The press has been focused, almost, you know,
maniacally, on the issue of race, here in South Carolina. But, as
we move forward after this contest, I'm very confident that we are
going to continue to build the kinds of coalitions that we've been
seeing all across the country," Obama told "Good Morning America
Weekend" anchor Kate Snow. In recent weeks, media coverage of the
Democratic primaries has been dominated by issues of race.

Obama leads South Carolina; McCain up in Florida: poll 26 Jan 2008
Barack Obama expanded his lead on rival Hillary Clinton to 15 points
heading into South Carolina's bitterly contested presidential
primary, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on
Saturday.

Senators question why terror tipsters were skunked 25 Jan 2008
Minnesota Sens.

Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar asked the State Department on Friday
to explain why two flight-school managers whose phone tips led to
the arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui were passed over for cash rewards.
They said those men deserved recognition along with a third employee
of the Pan American International Flight Academy, Clarence Prevost,
who received a $5 million check Thursday under the State Department's
Rewards for Justice program in a private ceremony. Prevost gave
Moussaoui ground-school lessons in flying a 747 jumbo jet over two
days in August 2001. He testiLIED at Moussaoui's 2006 death-penalty
trial that he'd told colleagues and supervisors that he found
Moussaoui's behavior odd, but he didn't phone the FBI at the time.
[It was the testimony that Bush bought for $5 million.]

Memo Details Objections to Command Center Site 26 Jan 2008 The New
York Police Department produced a detailed analysis in 1998 opposing
plans by the city to locate its emergency command center at the
World Trade Center, but the Giuliani administration overrode those
objections. The command center later collapsed from damage in the
Sept. 11 terrorist attack after Larry Silverstein gave the command
to 'pull it' for insurance purposes. "Seven World Trade Center is
a poor choice for the site of a crucial command center for the top
leadership of the City of New York," a panel of police experts,
which was aided by the Secret Service, concluded in a confidential
Police Department memorandum.

GardaKILLs again: Alert over jab for girls as two die following
cervical cancer vaccination 25 Jan 2008 A jab that could be given
to hundreds of thousands of schoolgirls this autumn was at the
centre at a safety scare last night following the deaths of two
young women. European regulators are investigating the "sudden and
unexpected" deaths of the women who received Gardasil [GardaKILL],
one of two jabs to protect against give cervical cancer licensed
for use in the UK. It follows the deaths of three young women aged
12, 19 and 22 who were reported to have died in the U.S. days after
Gardasil was administered, with 1,700 patients suffering "adverse
reactions".

Sixth swan tests positive for H5N1 bird flu 26 Jan 2008 A sixth
swan in southern England has tested positive for the deadly H5N1
strain of bird flu, the farm ministry said on Saturday. The Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said in a statement
that the swan was found in the same area as five previous cases.

Exxon, Shell seen posting record 2007 profits 25 Jan 2008 Exxon
Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are forecast to, yet again,
break corporate earnings records next week when they report their
full-year results, as high oil prices continue to outweigh rising
costs and taxes. Houston-based Exxon is expected to report a 4
percent rise in fourth-quarter profits to $10.65 billion dollars,
according to Reuters calculations. This would push 2007 earnings
to $39.6 billion, just ahead of the $39.5 billion Exxon posted in
2006, which set a U.S. earnings record. A Reuters poll of nine
analysts forecast Hague-based Shell will report a 10 percent rise
in fourth quarter current cost of supply (CCS) net profits, excluding
one-off items, to $6.1 billion.

Bad news, bears --White House considers drilling plan (San Francisco
Chronicle) 24 Jan 2008 Next month, the Bush White House will choose
polar bears or oil derricks in the sea ice off the Alaska coast.
The early betting, no surprise, shows a decided tilt toward drilling.
One arm of the Interior Department has set Feb. 6 for oil lease
sales for 30 million acres of the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, where 20
percent of the world's 25,000 polar bears live... The bears, in all
their photogenic glory, are a nightmare for the White House. Their
plight is due to global warming... Two-thirds of their numbers may
disappear by 2050 as their sea-ice homes melt away... Preserving
these animals will be hard enough, given the widespread sources of
global warming. But adding oil drilling as an extra pressure only
compounds the problem.

HUD OKs diverting Katrina housing funds 25 Jan 2008 The federal
government on Friday approved Mississippi's plan to divert $600
million in hurricane housing funds to a port improvement project,
angering critics who say tens of thousands of people made homeless
by Hurricane Katrina still need help.

US slides into dangerous 1930s 'liquidity trap' 25 Jan 2008 The
United States is sliding towards a dangerous 1930s-style "liquidity
trap" that cannot easily be stopped by drastic cuts in interest
rates, Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz has warned. "The biggest
fear is that long-term bond rates won't come down in line with
short-term rates. We'll have the reverse of what we've seen in
recent years, and that is what is frightening the markets," he told
the Daily Telegraph, while trudging through ice and snow in Davos.

Banks 'face a further $300bn sub-prime hit' 26 Jan 2008 The world's
financial institutions will have to write down a further $300bn
(#152bn) of US sub-prime losses before the crisis is over, according
to a study by consulting firm Oliver Wyman.

Senate Looking at Endowments as Tuition Rises 25 Jan 2008 The Senate
Finance Committee, increasingly concerned about the rising cost of
higher education, demanded detailed information on Thursday from
the nations 136 wealthiest colleges and universities on how they
raised tuition over the last decade, gave out financial aid and
managed and spent their endowments.

Turnpike bankrolls PennDOT again 26 Jan 2008 The Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation has gotten another cash infusion from
the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, part of a unique "public-public
partnership" created by the state Legislature last summer to raise
more money for roads, bridges and transit.

The agency's indebtedness is to be repaid through a combination of
tolling Interstate 80 across the state [!], starting in 2011 with
high-tech toll barriers, and raising tolls on the existing turnpike
system by 25 percent next year and 3 percent a year thereafter.

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[Previous lead stories:] US willing to send troops to Pakistan 24
Jan 2008 The Bush regime is willing to send a small number of U.S.
combat troops to Pakistan to help fight foment the 'insurgency'
there if Pakistani authorities ask for such help, Defense Secretary
Robert Gates said Thursday.

Iraq Oil Law Talks Not Taking Place 25 Jan 2008 Negotiations are
not taking place in Baghdad on the controversial oil law and other
oil disputes, contrary to previous news accounts. UPI confirmed
that a top U.S. State Department official tasked with moving the
oil law forward is in Washington, not Iraq.

Iraq Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani is at the World Economic
Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which began Wednesday.

Iraq: Another journalist held by the U.S. military 23 Jan 2008
Reporters Without Borders has voiced concern about the continuing
detention of Rashid Majid Al-Sari, the editor of the biweekly
newspaper "Al-Fatah", who was arrested by United States troops at
his Baghdad home on 18 January 2008...

Bilal Hussein, a 36-year-old photographer employed by the Associated
Press, has been held by the U.S. military since April 2006.

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Citizens For Legitimate Government . All rights reserved. CLG Founder
and Chair is Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.