U.S. denies producing biological weapons from bird flu samples 17 Mar 2008 Resent-Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:34:21 -0500 (CDT) Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government 17 Mar 2008 http://www.legitgov.org/ All items are here: http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news Breaking: Boulder police shoot man in hospital standoff 17 Mar 2008 The man threatening to detonate a bomb inside Boulder Community Hospital this morning has been shot once in the chest by a member of the Boulder SWAT team. According to a Boulder police spokesman the man was shot because he began moving to a different location in the hospital. Police are now using a bomb squad robot to move the device from the hospital to North Boulder Park where they will attempt to detonate it. The man, identified by police as Terrance Baughman of Boulder, is being treated at the hospital for life-threatening injuries. Police shoot man who threatened to blow up Boulder hospital 17 Mar 2008 A Boulder hospital is locked down and police reportedly have shot a wheel-chair bound man [Terrance Baughman] who claimed to have a bomb, according to the Boulder Daily Camera. Boulder police received a report shortly before 9 a.m. that a man was telling those who passed him in the lobby of Boulder Community Hospital that he had a detonator attached to an oxygen tank. "We got a bomb squad and SWAT team out here," said Boulder police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley. Police also dispatched snipers to North Boulder Park, according to officials. U.S. denies producing biological weapons from bird flu samples --Media: U.S. denies Indonesia's allegation on bird flu samples 17 Mar 2008 The United States has flatly denied allegations it was producing biological weapons from bird flu samples sent by Indonesia to the World Health Organization, the English daily The Jakarta Post reported Monday. Michael H. Anderson, counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia, [has issued the denial]. However, Indonesian senior biodefense researcher Isro Samihardjo said the U.S. could use bird flu virus samples from Indonesia to develop weapons at the Los Alamos Laboratory. Isro was speaking at a meeting about Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari's newly released book here Saturday. In her book "It's Time for the World to Change, Divine Hands behind Bird Flu," Siti writes of her suspicions about a conspiracy between the U.S. and the WHO. [See also: Flu 'Oddities'.] 5 years after Iraq's 'liberation,' there are worms in the water 16 Mar 2008 Iraq's most prominent clerics have ruled that using a water pump on one's own pipes is akin to stealing resources from a neighbor, so what does a person do when it takes half an hour to fill a cooking pot with water from the tap? To them, the real crime is that five years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, they still swelter in the summer and freeze in the winter because of a lack of electricity. Cheney makes surprise visit to Iraq 17 Mar 2008 Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney has made an unannounced visit to Iraq. Cheney landed at Baghdad International Airport, then flew by helicopter into the heavily secured Green Zone... It is his third vice presidential trip to Iraq where the U.S. death toll is nearing 4,000. [Why is it the 'insurgents' always seem to disappear whenever these a**holes do a photo-op in Baghdad? I guess Blackwater backs off, on such occasions.] Iraq bomb blasts kill 38 as Cheney, McCain underscore war successes 17 Mar 2008 A female suicide bomber killed 36 people and a roadside bomb claimed the lives of two U.S. soldiers today as U.S. Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney and Republican Sen. John [Insane] McCain sought to draw attention to successes in Iraq on separate visits to the country. A woman detonated her explosives in the early evening on a busy street in the Shiite shrine city of Karbala, killing 36 people and wounding 50 others, said Karbala province spokesman Abdul Ameer Hamoon. Bomb attack kills more than 40 near Iraq Shiite shrine 17 Mar 2008 A bomb blast near a Shiite shrine in the central Iraq city of Karbala killed at least 43 people on Monday, the city's police chief said. Army campaign to boost public support 17 Mar 2008 The Army has launched a publicity campaign costing an estimated #2m to encourage public support for UK soldiers. Tories in new Iraq inquiry call 17 Mar 2008 The Tories will call a Commons debate demanding a full inquiry into the Iraq war, William Hague has said. The shadow foreign secretary told the BBC it would become "progressively harder to conduct a meaningful inquiry" unless it was held soon. There will be a public inquiry into Iraq, says Brown 17 Mar 2008 Gordon Brown has promised that the Government will hold a full-scale inquiry into the mistakes made in Iraq before and since the invasion five years ago. His concession marks a significant break from his predecessor, Tony Blair, who steadfastly refused to hold a wide-ranging inquiry into the war. Suicide bomb kills seven in southern Afghanistan 17 Mar 2008 A suicide car bomber killed two Danish and one Czech NATO soldiers, an interpreter and three civilians in southern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said. Three die in Afghan suicide blast 17 Mar 2008 A suicide bomber has attacked a Nato military convoy in southern Afghanistan, killing three Afghan civilians, police said. Police said another seven civilians were wounded when the car bomb went off near the convoy in Helmand province. Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan 16 Mar 2008 A Canadian soldier was killed by an explosive device during a foot patrol several hours after nightfall on Sunday. Pakistani capital on high alert after bomb attack --Embassies review security measures 17 Mar 2008 Pakistan's capital was on high alert yesterday and embassies reviewed security measures after a bomb struck a restaurant crowded with foreigners, killing a Turkish aid worker and wounding at least 12 others, including four FBI personnel. Bush Sends Putin Missile Defense Offer 18 Mar 2008 President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia disclosed Monday that he had received "a very serious document" from President [sic] Bush that proposed an agenda for reaching agreements on a broad range of issues that have troubled the two nations, including missile defense, arms control, nonproliferation and 'counter'terrorism. China seals off Tibetan capital 17 Mar 2008 The Chinese authorities have sealed off Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, to visitors, deploying a large military and armed police presence before a "surrender deadline" of midnight tonight. The government has also tightened control over information coming from the Himalayan region, blocking internet sites, including YouTube, which could be used to upload video content of the past week's protests. Iran conservatives win parliament majority: state TV 17 Mar 2008 Conservatives won a majority in Iran's parliamentary vote, state television said on Sunday, but the new assembly may still give President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a tougher time ahead of next year's presidential election. Liberal MP calls for independent reviewer of terrorism laws 18 Mar 2008 (AU) Federal Liberal MP Petro Georgiou has introduced a private member's bill to Parliament to address what he says are draconian aspects of the nation's counterterrorism laws. Mr Georgiou says more than 30 terrorism laws have been introduced since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York. His bill calls for an independent person to be given the power to continuously review them. Audit: FBI watchlist data unreliable 17 Mar 2008 The FBI gave outdated, incomplete and inaccurate information about terror suspects to be added to the government's watchlist for nearly three years despite steps taken to prevent errors, a Justice Department audit concludes. Banks face "new world order," consolidation: report 17 Mar 2008 Financial firms face a "new world order" after a weekend fire sale of Bear Stearns and the Federal Reserve's first emergency weekend meeting since 1979, research firm CreditSights said in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Surges After Capturing Bear Stearns for $240 Million 17 Mar 2008 JPMorgan Chase & Co. surged in New York trading after striking a deal backed by the Federal Reserve to buy Bear Stearns Cos. for $2 a share, 90 percent less than the 85-year old firm's market value last week. Fed acts Sunday to prevent global bank run Monday 16 Mar 2008 Acting quickly to prevent a run on major global financial firms, the Federal Reserve cut its discount rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.25% and offered to lend money to a longer list of firms than ever before. Wall Street fears for next Great Depression 16 Mar 2008 Wall Street is bracing itself for another week of roller-coaster trading after more than $300bn (#150bn) was wiped off the US equity markets on Friday following the emergency funding package put together by the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase to rescue Bear Stearns. Major Stock Markets in Asia Tumble 17 Mar 2008 Major Asian stock markets fell sharply in early trading on Monday as pessimism continued to spread despite the Feds dramatic moves over the weekend, sending Tokyos benchmark index to a three-year low. GOP Gags Witnesses on Credit Card Woes --Partisan Maneuver Blocked Testimony on Fee Hikes By Mike Lillis 14 Mar 2008 They came to the nations capital this week from as far away as Denver, Chicago and Niagara Falls--five people whod had tough experiences with their credit cards and were asked to share those tales with a House panel. Instead, they ran headfirst into the buzz-saw of Washington politics when the panels Republicans insisted the visitors allow their lenders to discuss their financial histories publicly--in any forum, at any time. For four of the five, it was a deal-breaker. Instead of signing the waivers allowing them to testify Thursday, they all sat silently in the audience. U.S. to start tax rebate payments May 2 17 Mar 2008 The U.S. Internal Revenue Service said on Monday it would begin sending the first of more than 130 million 'economic stimulus' payments on May 2 and expects to complete the first round of payments by early July. Spitzer's Sex Life Is Weapon of Mass Distraction for Bunch of Bad News for Bush By Lori Price Updated 17 Mar 2008 Sex diverts our attention --There were more important things than the Spitzer spectacle going on last week By Eric Margolis 16 Mar 2008 [Eliot] Spitzer's downfall this week unfortunately obscured two far more important events. First, the White House refused to release an exhaustive Pentagon review of 600,000 Iraqi documents that found no evidence that Saddam Hussein had any links with al-Qaida... Spitzer's pillorying also masked another profoundly shameful act. On Tuesday, 188 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to uphold President [sic] George Bush's veto of a Democratic-sponsored bill to ban the CIA from using torture to interrogate enemy detainees... Republicans now have become the party of torture. Mega barf alert! Senator's Supporters Are Invited to Lunch With a Lord 15 Mar 2008 Sen. John McCain plans at least one campaign event on his week-long congressional trip to photo-op in Europe and the Middle East: a March 20 fundraiser in London. An invitation sent out by the campaign says the luncheon will be held at Spencer House, St. James's Place, "by kind permission of Lord Rothschild OM GBE and the Hon Nathaniel Rothschild." Tickets to the invitation-only event cost $1,000 to $2,300. Many voting for Clinton to boost GOP Seek to prolong bitter battle 17 Mar 2008 About 100,000 GOP loyalists voted for Senator Hillary Clinton in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and about 38,000 in Mississippi, exit polls show. Since Senator John McCain effectively sewed up the GOP nomination last month, Republicans have begun participating in Democratic primaries specifically to vote for Clinton, a tactic that some voters and local Republican activists think will help their party in November. Court Will Examine Profanity Rules 17 Mar 2008 The Supreme Court on Monday stepped into a legal fight over the use of curse words on the airwaves, the high court's first major case on broadcast indecency in 30 years. The case concerns a Federal Communications Commission policy that allows for fines against broadcasters for so-called "fleeting expletives," one-time uses of the F-word or its close cousins. Bird flu covers 11 provinces 17 Mar 2008 At present, there are 11 provinces and localities with bird flu: Ninh Binh, Vinh Long, Phu Tho, Ha Nam, Tuyen Quang, Hanoi, Quang Tri, Soc Trang, Lao Cai, Quang Binh and Ha Nam. State media reports outbreak of bird flu in China 16 Mar 2008 Bird flu has broken out in the south of China, killing more than 100 poultry, state media reported on Sunday, citing the agriculture ministry. The outbreak occurred in a market in Guangzhou, in Guangdong province on Thursday, and was a ''highly pathogenic'' subtype of the H5N1 influenza virus, which can be deadly to humans, the report said. 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:] US Nears 4,000 Dead in Iraq 16 Mar 2008 Sometime soon, the U.S. military will suffer the 4000th casualty of the war in Iraq... The 4000th death will come with the war [pushed by the GOP-owned media] further out of the public eye, and replaced by other topics on the front burner of the U.S. presidential campaigns. [Yeah, you can be sure the announcement of Bush's 4,000th casualty in Iraq will take place late afternoon on a Friday, when Bush typically buries all his bad environmental news, to minimize media coverage. --LRP] John McCain in Iraq 16 Mar 2008 U.S. Republican presidential candidate Insane McCain arrived in Iraq on Sunday to assess the 'success' of a U.S. troop build-up [and waste *millions* in taxpayer dollar$ to protect these nutballs] that he has strongly backed, part of a week-long trip to the Middle East and Europe. McCain, who will be the Republican choice in November's presidential election, and Senate allies Joe LieberBush of Connecticut and South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham will also visit Israel, Britain and France. Iraq Insurgency Runs on Stolen Oil Profits --'We'd all be hanged' if the refinery had operated this way under Mr. Hussein's government, one senior refinery official said. 16 Mar 2008 On a good day, 500 [KBR] tanker trucks will leave the Baiji refinery filled with fuel with a street value of $10 million. At least one-third, and possibly much more, of the fuel from Iraqs largest refinery here is diverted to the [US] black market, according to American military officials. Tankers are hijacked, drivers are bribed, papers are forged and meters are manipulated -- and some of the earnings go to insurgents who are still killing more than 100 Iraqis a week. 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.