Bush pushes Senate to OK 180 nominees 10 Feb 2008 Resent-Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:45:28 -0600 (CST) Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government 10 Feb 2008 http://www.legitgov.org/ All items are here: http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news Bush pushes Senate to OK 180 nominees 09 Feb 2008 President [sic] Bush vented frustration anew Saturday over the Senate's failure to vote on more than 180 of his nominations, including more than two dozen to the federal bench.[Yikes!] Bush didn't mention his nomination of Steven Bradbury for assistant attorney general _ a choice that is especially controversial. In January, Bush renominated Bradbury, refusing to yield to Democrats who oppose a permanent job for the official who signed legal memos authorizing harsh interrogations torture for suspected terrorists. New Bacterial Infection Linked to Military --Report: Troops Transmitted Mysterious Bacteria That Has Killed 7 and Affected Military and Civilians Alike 08 Feb 2008 Troops arriving home from Iraq and Afghanistan have been carrying a mysterious, deadly bacteria, according to a new magazine report. Doctors have linked the bacterium acinetobacter baumannii to at least seven deaths, as well as to loss of limbs and other severe ailments, according to the report, which found the bacterium has spread quickly since the war in Afghanistan began in the fall of 2001. War demands strain US military readiness 08 Feb 2008 A classified Pentagon assessment concludes that long battlefield tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with persistent terrorist activity and other threats, have prevented the U.S. military from improving its ability to respond to any new [Bush] crisis, The Associated Press has learned. Roadside blasts kill 5 U.S. soldiers in Iraq 09 Feb 2008 Five American soldiers were killed in roadside bombings in Iraq on Friday, the U.S. military said on Saturday. 31 militants arrested in Iraq raids 09 Feb 2008 Iraqi police yesterday detained 31 suspects in raids against Shi'ite militiamen. Iraqi police said they had arrested 15 militants in Karbala, 110km south of Baghdad. Another 16 men were arrested in a Sadrist area of Nasiriyah, about 320km southeast of the capital, police said. Failure in Afghanistan would threaten Europe: US defence cheif 09 Feb 2008 Failure in Afghanistan would directly threaten European security, US Defense Secretary Roberts Gates warned Friday as he sought to mobilize NATO allies and more especially public opinion in Europe. A Strike in the Dark --What did Israel bomb in Syria? by Seymour M. Hersh 11 Feb 2008 Sometime after midnight on September 6, 2007, at least four low-flying Israeli Air Force fighters crossed into Syrian airspace and carried out a secret bombing mission on the banks of the Euphrates River, about ninety miles north of the Iraq border. The seemingly unprovoked bombing... was, by almost any definition, an act of war. But in the immediate aftermath nothing was heard from the government of Israel. Berlusconi to share election ticket with 'post-Fascist' party 08 Feb 2008 Billionaire politician Silvio Berlusconi said Friday his conservative Forza Italia party would merge with the right-wing National Alliance in Italy's scheduled April 13-14 'elections.' Forza Italia and the National Alliance - formed in 1994 as successor to the Italian Social Movement which in turn traced its origins to Benito Mussolini's Fascists - have long been centre-right coalition partners. Minister warns of 'inbred' Muslims 10 Feb 2008 A government minister [Phil Woolas] has warned that inbreeding among immigrants is causing a surge in birth defects - comments likely to spark a new row over the place of Muslims in British society. Bin Laden and Omar said operating in Pakistan 08 Feb 2008 Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders are directing 'insurgency' operations in Afghanistan from the Pakistani city of Quetta, while al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] leader Osama bin Laden is operating from Pakistan's tribal areas, a senior U.S. administration official said on Friday. [Yeah, bin Laden will be moving around quite a bit, until Bush hires him for the pre-'election' hit. --LRP] US set for trial of 9/11 suspects [Really? Bush and Cheney are going on trial? Great!] 10 Feb 2008 More than six years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, US military prosecutors are preparing to file formal charges against six high-ranking Al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] prisoners, among them Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who allegedly confessed [under torture] to masterminding the plot. The accused terrorists are all being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. 'I can assure you that his [Mohammed al-Qahtani's] well-documented torture and the controversy over secret trials will be the focus.' 6 Guantanamo Prisoners Are Said to Face Trial Over 9/11 09 Feb 2008 Military prosecutors are in the final phases of preparing the first sweeping case against suspected conspirators in the plot that led to the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, and drew the United States into war [No - that was Bush and Cheney Halliburton], people who have been briefed on the case said. Let us talk to Sept 11 planner, U.S. lawyers ask 08 Feb 2008 Military lawyers defending Osama bin Laden's former driver on terrorism charges in the U.S. war court at Guantanamo Bay have offered a compromise in their quest to interview September 11 mastermind patsy Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. They promised not to ask Mohammed about his treatment in U.S. custody or about the CIA's admission that it subjected him to a simulated drowning technique known as "waterboarding" during interrogations [torture]. Prosecutor to Review Official Handling of C.I.A. Tapes 10 Dec 2008 The prosecutor investigating the Central Intelligence Agencys destruction of interrogation videotapes is reviewing whether government officials violated any of 17 court orders requiring the preservation of evidence or broke the law by concealing the tapes existence or approving their destruction, according to court papers filed late Friday night. Panel Gains Right to See C.I.A. Tapes 09 Feb 2008 Congressional investigators have been given permission to review interrogation tapes of a terrorism suspect as part of an inquiry into the destruction of other tapes by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to a letter sent Thursday to the House Intelligence Committee. Justice attorneys may have known CIA had destroyed tapes --Federal court documents show that prosecutors had been informed of the destruction of the interrogation videos. 07 Feb 2008 Justice Department attorneys apparently have known since early 2006 that the CIA destroyed videotaped interrogations of a key terror suspect, federal court documents unsealed Wednesday showed. Obama will be assassinated if he wins: Nobel winner Lessing 09 Feb 2008 If Barack Obama becomes the next US president he will surely be assassinated, British Nobel literature laureate Doris Lessing predicted in a newspaper interview published here Saturday. Obama, who is vying to become the first black president in US history, "would certainly not last long, a black man in the position of president. They would murder him," Lessing told the Dagens Nyheter daily. [Why are Democrats always the topic of assassination predictions? Why don't these clairvoyants instead predict that Bush and Cheney will be assassinated, so that rather than mourning for a week we can party for a year?] Obama Sweeps 3 States, Virgin Islands --Obama Wins Nebraska, Washington State and Louisiana; Huckabee Beats McCain in Kansas 09 Neb 2008 Sen. Barack Obama swept the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska and Washington state Saturday night, slicing into Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's slender delegate lead in their historic race for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Illinois senator also won caucuses in the Virgin Islands, completing his best night of the campaign. Obama Wins Nebraska and Washington 09 Feb 2008 Senator Barack Obama won the caucuses in Nebraska and Washington on Saturday, defeating his rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton as the two scrambled for delegates in their fiercely contested battle for the Democratic nomination. Huckabee pulls out win in Louisiana 10 Feb 2008 Mike Huckabee added Louisiana to his wins tonight, as a large chunk of Republican voters rebelled against the party establishment coalescing behind John McCain. Huckabee wins Kansas caucuses 09 Feb 2008 Mike Huckabee trounced John McCain in Kansas' caucuses Saturday, their first head-to-head contest, and told fellow conservatives he was in the Republican presidential race to stay. "I didn't major in math," the former Arkansas governor told a cheering crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "I majored in miracles, and I still believe in them." 'We're now down to three corporatists and a Strangelovian loon.' Election theft 2008, the perfect crime: 300 million witnesses and nobody saw nuttin' By Warren Pease 04 Feb 2008 The great election theft of 2008 began months ago as the "unelectable" candidates were identified, branded, demonized, ridiculed and eventually weeded out one by one... We're now down to three corporatists and a Strangelovian loon. Corporate mass media were kind enough to choose these awful people for us on orders from their overlords at GE, Disney, News Corp, Viacom et al... The only question is which subset of conservatism will come out on top. 'I became Chelsea's mother long before I ran for any office and I will always be a mom first and a public official second.' Clinton Calls Shuster Comment Part of 'Troubling Pattern' 09 Feb 2008 In a press conference at the University of Maine, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called controversial comments made Thursday about her daughter Chelsea part of a "troubling pattern of demeaning treatment" by MSNBC. Clinton's campaign has also taken issue with some remarks in the past by MSNBC's Chris Matthews. [See: Tell MSNBC to Stop the Misogyny!.] MSNBC Suspends Shuster Over Clinton Comment 08 Feb 2008 MSNBC suspended correspondent David Shuster this afternoon for making a disparaging remark about Chelsea Clinton as officials in her mother's campaign raised the possibility of punishing the network by pulling out of a planned debate in Cleveland. While filling in as an anchor yesterday, Shuster was discussing the 27-year-old's role in Hillary Clinton's campaign when he asked: "Doesn't it seem as if Chelsea is sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?" [See: Identity Politics: Sexism, Racism and the Political Imaginary --The Rec Report By Dr. Michael Rectenwald 24 Jan 2008.] Reporter initially defended Chelsea comment 08 Feb 2008 A copy of the e-mail exchange between MSNBC's David Shuster and Philippe Reines, a longtime Clinton aide, was obtained by Politico. On Thursday, Shuster guest-hosted Tucker Carlson's MSNBC show, "Tucker," and in referring to Chelsea Clinton's role in calling superdelegates on behalf of the Clinton presidential campaign, he asked if she was "sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?" MSNBC's Chelsea comment angers Clinton --Anchor Shuster apologized on the air for his comment 08 Feb 2008 MSNBC says it has temporarily suspended anchor David Shuster from all NBC news broadcasts -- except to offer his on-air apology for what he said about Chelsea Clinton. Clinton Camp Floats NBC Ban 08 Feb 2008 Enraged over comments made by MSNBC host Davis Schuster on the "Tucker" program, the Clinton campaign says it may ban national network NBC. Presidential race turns to 5 states this weekend 08 Feb 2008 Hillary Clinton told roaring partisans she's the candidate of "dreams and practicality," Barack Obama packed in a Nebraska crowd of more than 10,000, and Mike Huckabee campaigned in Kansas like he never heard the Republican race is supposed to be over. Obama raises $7.2M; Clinton $6.4M 07 Feb 2008 Democrat Barack Obama raised $7.2 million and rival Hillary Clinton collected $6.4 million since Super Tuesday, as he continued to resist a Clinton campaign clamoring for debates. In 2006, Barack Obama backed 'mentor' Joe LieberBush: Obama rallies state Democrats, throws support behind Lieberman 31 Mar 2006 U.S. Sen. Barack Obama rallied Connecticut Democrats at their annual dinner Thursday night, throwing his support behind mentor and Senate colleague Joe LieberBush. Lieberman, Connecticut's junior senator, is under fire from some liberal Democrats for his support of the Iraq War. Ned Lamont, a Democratic activist and anti-war candidate from Greenwich, is challenging Lieberman for the party's nomination this year. [Note: Hillary Clinton also endorsed LieberBush, for the 2006 Democratic primary.] Obama's fundraising collides with his rhetoric --Union says senator did little to save jobs 02 Feb 2008 Maytag workers whose jobs were shipped to Mexico serve as consistent characters in Barack Obama's stump speech. He employs their stories in railing against corporations that use trade pacts to replace well-paid union workers with low-cost foreign ones. It is a ready applause line for the Illinois presidential hopeful, one that he has been reciting almost verbatim since he was a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2004, when appliance giant Maytag was in the process of shutting a refrigerator plant here, putting 1,600 people out of work. But the union that represented most of those Galesburg workers isn't impressed with Obama's advocacy. It has endorsed his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Its leaders say they wish he had done more about their members' plight. Exxon oil court win 'legal terrorism' 09 Feb 2008 Venezuela's Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez has vowed to fight court decisions won by oil giant Exxon in four countries that have frozen over $12 billion of the state's assets. Exxon is in a court fight with Venezuela over assets seized under a nationalisation program. Mr Ramirez called the court decisions "legal terrorism" [it is], and said his government would not stand by and allow courts in the US or England to dictate government policy. Polar bear lined up as warming victim 10 Feb 2008 The Bush administration is nearing a decision that would acknowledge officially the environmental damage of global warming and name its first potential victim: the polar bear. The Interior Department might act soon on its year-old proposal to make the polar bear the first species to be listed as threatened with extinction because of melting ice from a warming planet... Said Cass R. Sunstein, a University of Chicago law professor who studies perceived costs and benefits of addressing climate change. "This is an animal that is adorable and dignified and apparently desperate. ... So the thought that by the virtue of our actions that we are endangering them is potentially a big symbol for those concerned about climate change." Canadian province adds protection for polar bears 08 Feb 2008 The western Canadian province of Manitoba named the polar bear a threatened species on Thursday, enabling it to restrict new development on its Arctic shoreline, where hundreds of the big white bears spend several weeks each year. 'The Bush administration is deploying guns, traps, and lies to ensure the second extinction of the Mexican wolf in the wild.' Mexican Gray Wolf Population in Critical Decline: 52 Wolves and Just Three Breeding Pairs Remain in the Wild Due to Federal Predator Control (Center for Biological Diversity) 07 Feb 2008 After having removed 22 wolves from the wild during 2007 (two of which were returned to the wild), primarily through trapping and shooting, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that the results of its annual Mexican wolf census and population extrapolation reveal only 52 wolves in the wilds of New Mexico and Arizona. Energy-pricing lawsuit looks for jolt in courtroom 09 Feb 2008 A Bayview-based group suing on behalf of millions of households affected by the 2000-01 energy crisis is trudging through the legal process, spurred on by power-plant owners and energy traders who have agreed to reimburse scores of utility companies for sky-high electricity prices. Tentative Deal Is Reached in Writers' Strike 10 Feb 2008 An end to Hollywoods long and bitter writers strike appeared close on Saturday, as union leaders representing 12,000 movie and television writers said they had reached a tentative deal with production companies. [Summary of Tentative Agreement] CLG needs your support. http://www.legitgov.org/#contribute Or, please mail a check or money order to the CLG: Citizens for Legitimate Government (CLG) P.O. Box 1142 Bristol, CT 06011-1142 Contributions to CLG are not tax deductible. [Previous lead stories:] 9/11 inquiry head 'tried to shield George Bush' 05 Feb 2008 The head of the commission that investigated the Sept 11 terrorist attacks had closer ties to the White House than he admitted and tried to limit the Bush regime's responsibility for the incident, a book claims. Philip Zelikow, the 9/11 Commission's executive director, allegedly attempted to intimidate staff to avoid findings that would be damaging to President [sic] George W Bush, who was running for re-[s]election, and Condoleezza Rice, his then National Security Adviser. [See: http://www.legitgov.org/9_1_1_oddities.html.] Cheney Defends Use of Harsh Interrogations 07 Feb 2008 Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney on Thursday vigorously defended the use of harsh interrogation techniques torture on a few suspected terrorists, saying that the methods made up "a tougher program, for tougher customers" and might have averted another attack on the United States. [Good! Let's start with Cheney, to find out who else was involved in planning the 9/11 terrorist attacks. --LRP] 'The grand wazir of Islam is a nonsensical term.' Speakers at Air Force Academy who claimed to be former Muslim terrorists were actually evangelical Christians 07 Feb 2008 The Air Force Academy was criticized by Muslim and religious freedom organizations for playing host on Wednesday to three speakers who critics say are evangelical Christians falsely claiming to be former Muslim terrorists. The three will be paid a total of $13,000 for their appearance, some of it from private donors, said Maj. Brett Ashworth, a spokesman for the academy. Please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested. Those who'd like to be added to the list can go here: http://www.legitgov.org/#subscribe_clg and add your name. Those who wish to be removed from the list can access the same link and click 'unsubscribe.' Please write to: signup@legitgov.org for inquiries/issues/concerns with your subscription. CLG Newsletter editor: Lori Price, Manager. Copyright ) 2008, Citizens For Legitimate Government . All rights reserved. CLG Founder and Chair is Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.