Obama administration to seek extension of Patriot Act spy powers By Patrick Martin 17 Sep 2009 In a letter from the Justice Department to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Obama administration has gone on record for the first time supporting the extension of key provisions the USA Patriot Act, including the notorious provision that gives the federal government the power to subpoena library records of any individual. Several provisions of the Patriot Act, legislation adopted in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks that grants sweeping surveillance powers to US intelligence agencies, are scheduled to expire December 31, unless renewed by Congress.
A dozen on constant watch including Najibullah Zazi in FBI's terror probe 18 Sep 2009 Najibullah Zazi, the once-chatty suspect at the center of the probe, was silent and downcast as he arrived at FBI headquarters in Denver for a second round of questioning. "We are here to continue our cooperation," said Zazi's lawyer, Arthur Folsom. When the probe began this week, five Colorado men cited as members of the cell were under a round-the-clock watch. By yesterday, police sources said, that number had risen to as many as 12. A half-dozen were reportedly in New York, where Zazi arrived for a visit last week. Sources said he returned to Colorado after slipping an FBI tail. The Homeland Security Department beefed up security in the nation's airports as a result of the Colorado-based probe, a senior official disclosed yesterday.
Alleged NYC Terror Plot Suspect to Be Questioned for 3rd Day --Zazi Is to Be Questioned by FBI for a 3rd Day, His Attorney Tells ABC News 18 Sep 2009 Najibullah Zazi, the man being investigated for a possible connection to 'al Qaeda' and a suspected terror plot to attack New York City, emerged Thursday night from a second day of answering questions posed by FBI agents. Zazi and his attorney Arthur Folsom entered the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building in downtown Denver at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday. They were whisked out of the building by FBI agents around 10:30 pm, avoiding reporters.
'You Are Entering a 24 Hour Video Surveillance Area.' Cameras keep track of all cars entering Medina --Cameras installed at Medina intersections monitor every vehicle coming into city; cameras capture all license plate numbers 16 Sep 2009 (WA) In Medina, a new sign bears this warning: "You Are Entering a 24 Hour Video Surveillance Area." Cameras have recently been installed at intersections to monitor every vehicle coming into the city. Under the "automatic license plate recognition" project, once a car enters Medina, a camera captures its license plate number. Within seconds, the number is run through a database. If a hit comes up for a felony, the information is transmitted instantaneously to police, who can "leap into action," said Police Chief Jeffrey Chen.
PM in charge in case of Olympic terror: NORAD 17 Sep 2009 In the event a hijacked aircraft threatening the Vancouver 2010 Olympics needs to be shot down, it will be the Prime Minister of Canada who will give the order, a NORAD spokesman said Thursday. The prime minister will get the advice from his own chief of defence staff, acting on recommendations from the North American Aerospace Defence Command, said Lt. Desmond James. "It is the Government of Canada that makes the decision in Canada and the Government of the United States that makes that decision in the U.S." James gave the explanation after a University of Calgary professor issued an academic study Wednesday, saying it could well be a U.S. military commander who gives advice to the Canadian government in the event of a terrorist incident at the Olympics.
U.S. advice may prevail if terrorists strike during Games --A U.S. commander could be the top official of the Canada-U.S. military alliance during the Olympics. 17 Sep 2009 The Canadian government may be relying on a U.S. commander as its top adviser in any possible airborne terrorist attack during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, says a Canadian Studies professor at St. Lawrence University in New York State. Canada and the U.S. are partners in the North American Aerospace Defence Command, which is in charge of overall air defence in North America. NORAD leadership rotates between officers from the two countries.
Bill could block Guantanamo closure 17 Sep 2009 A bill that could go to the Senate floor as early as next week would make it impossible for President Barack Obama to move any Guantanamo prisoners to the U.S. for any reason, effectively blocking his plan to close the facility by January. The bar on all such transfers was written into the Senate version of the Defense appropriations bill passed by the Appropriations Committee last week and is stricter than current law, which allows prisoners to be brought to the United States for trial as long as Congress is notified 45 days in advance of any potential risks.
U.S. Seeking 3rd Delay on Guantánamo Cases 17 Sep 2009 The Obama administration said it would decide by mid-November whether to bring charges in federal court in the United States against the five detainees prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, accused of involvement in the September 2001 terrorist attacks, according to government legal papers filed Wednesday. In two legal motions, one filed with a military court in Guantánamo and another with a federal appeals court, the government said it would seek a third postponement of proceedings in the 10 military tribunal cases at Guantánamo.
US military pulls plug on largest prison in Iraq --Prisoners transferred to other detention facilities 17 Sep 2009 The American army has decided to shut down Camp Bucca in the southern Iraqi port city of Basra as it moves to release thousands or transfer them to Iraqi custody before the year end. All the remaining 180 detainees of the facility, located just north of the Kuwaiti border, were transferred to US military's two remaining detention facilities -- Camp Taji and Camp Cropper, just outside Baghdad.
The KBR/Halliburton Iraq Rape Case Goes Forward 17 Sep 2009 A former Halliburton/KBR worker who claims she was gang-raped in her bedroom by co-workers in Iraq is one step closer to getting her day in court, thanks to a favorable ruling by a panel of three federal judges in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In a 2-1 ruling, the judges decided that the allegations made by Jamie Leigh Jones of Houston were not subject to the arbitration clause in her employment contract, meaning Jones' civil lawsuit against Halliburton, KBR and affiliates can proceed in court to a possible trial.
Kabul slams NATO over civilian causalities 17 Sep 2009 An Afghan government-appointed commission has strongly condemned a US-led airstrike earlier this month that led to a loss of 99 lives in an area of northern Afghanistan. The commission appointed by President Hamid Karzai confirmed that some 30 civilians had died, alongside 69 Taliban insurgents, after NATO warplanes targeted stolen fuel tankers on orders of a German commander on September 4, in the Northern Province of Kunduz.
Bombs kill Canadian, US troops in Afghanistan 18 Sep 2009 A U.S. service member and a Canadian soldier died in separate roadside bomb explosions in southern Afghanistan, officials said Friday, announcing new deaths from a day that claimed the lives of a total of nine international troops. The American and Canadian died Thursday; a NATO soldier also died Thursday of wounds from an earlier attack.
Car Bomb in Kabul Kills Six Italians, 10 Afghans 18 Sep 2009 A powerful car bomb killed six Italian troops and at least 10 Afghan civilians in downtown Kabul on Thursday, moments after President Hamid Karzai told journalists in his heavily guarded palace nearby that last month's fraud-plagued presidential election had been "a big success for Afghanistan."
Washington elaborates AfPak strategy amid calls for US troop buildup By Bill Van Auken 17 Sep 2009 The Obama administration presented a document to a closed session of the Senate Armed Services Committee Wednesday spelling out a US war strategy that places special emphasis on Pakistan. The secretive briefing follows signals by US military commanders that a substantial increase in the troop presence in Afghanistan is needed to counter growing opposition to the US-NATO occupation of Afghanistan.
Intelligence Agencies Say No New Nukes in Iran --Secret updates to White House challenge European and Israeli assessments. By Mark Hosenball 16 Sep 2009 The U.S. intelligence community is reporting to the White House that Iran has not restarted its nuclear-weapons development program, two counterproliferation officials tell NEWSWEEK. U.S. agencies had previously said that Tehran halted the program in 2003. The officials, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said that U.S. intelligence agencies have informed policymakers at the White House and other agencies that the status of Iranian work on development and production of a nuclear bomb has not changed since the formal National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran's "Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities" in November 2007.
Obama Overhauls Bush-Era Missile Plan --New 'Defense' System Will Focus on Stopping Shorter-Range Missiles 17 Sep 2009 President Obama said Thursday that he is abandoning Bush-era plans for a long-range missile defense system based in Poland and the Czech Republic, turning instead to a land- and sea-based system of sensors and interceptors that is focused on stopping shorter-range missiles that could be fired from Iran. [!?!]
Canadian Aboriginals receive body bags for flu [vaccine] 17 Sep 2009 Health officials ordered an investigation Thursday into why the Canadian government sent body bags to an Aboriginal reserve in Manitoba after community leaders requested assistance to deal with an expected outbreak of swine flu. The body bags were sent this week to a remote northern reserve that was hard hit by swine flu last spring. Canadian Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said she found the action by Health Canada insensitive and offensive.
Hospitals pushing workers to get flu vaccines 17 Sep 2009 Every year, fewer than half of health care workers get vaccinated, despite a government recommendation that puts them near the top of the list. That could change this year, with the arrival of the H1N1 swine flu virus and a new [squalene-laden, mercury-filled, Polysorbate 80-laced] vaccine for it. Hospitals here and nationally are stepping up efforts to vaccinate workers against both seasonal flu and H1N1. One state -- New York -- is even making flu vaccinations mandatory for health care workers.
U.S. to Donate 10 Percent of Swine Flu Vaccine to WHO 18 Sep 2009 The United States plans to donate 10 percent of its supply of pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine to the World Health Organization [aka World Homicide Organization] for use in low-income countries. The nation has on order 195 million doses of the swine flu vaccine, which is due to start arriving early next month. The White House said it "is taking this action in concert" with eight other countries.
In drive-through, swine flu aid? 17 Sep 2009 (FL) When the swine flu vaccine arrives next month, Sarasota County residents could have the option of getting a shot without having to get out of their cars. Drive-though flu shot clinics are being looked at as a way to distribute the new vaccine conveniently enough to encourage people to get the shot, said Dianne Shipley, a director with the county health department in charge of the vaccination drive.
Mexico says millions of swine flu cases possible 17 Sep 2009 Mexico could see up to 5 million cases of swine flu during this winter's flu season, a higher projection than officials had previously given, the health secretary said Thursday. Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said that in the worst-case scenario, deaths could reach 2,000.
Limbaugh: "[W]e need segregated buses ... This is Obama's America" By Greg Lewis 15 Sep 2009 Rush got things started today with the latest Drudge special, a story of an assault on an Illinois school bus, with Drudge's headline highlighting the potentially racial element of the event: "WHITE STUDENT BEATEN ON SCHOOL BUS; CROWD CHEERS." Rush ran with it, saying, "it's Obama's America, is it not? Obama's America -- white kids getting beat up on school buses now..." Then Rush took a caller who said the local police investigating the bus assault said today the attack was not racially motivated. Rush responded to these developments put out by the local law enforcement: LIMBAUGH: I think the guy's wrong. I think not only it was racism, it was justifiable racism. I mean, that's the lesson we're being taught here today. Kid shouldn't have been on the bus anyway. We need segregated buses -- it was invading space and stuff. This is Obama's America.
Republicans Denounce Pelosi for Warning Against 'Incitement' The House Republicans' top campaign chief strongly denounced Speaker Nancy Pelosi's comments that appeared to question whether today's angry conservative protests were similar to anti-gay rallies in the late 1970s that preceded the assassination of two San Francisco political leaders. Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Pelosi crossed the line when she related the rhetoric of anti-gay protesters in San Francisco in 1978 -- the year Harvey Milk, the first openly gay member of the city's board of supervisors, and his political ally, Mayor George Moscone, were killed by former supervisor Dan White -- to that of contemporary conservatives Brownshirts while answering a question about the protests against President Obama's health-care proposals.
Study links 45,000 U.S. deaths to lack of insurance 17 Sep 2009 Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year -- one every 12 minutes -- in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers found in an analysis released on Thursday. "We're losing more Americans every day because of inaction ... than drunk driving and homicide combined," Dr. David Himmelstein, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, said in an interview with Reuters.
Grijalva urges Senate Dems to replace Baucus bill with public option 16 Sep 2009 Liberals are seizing on the absence of Republican support for the Baucus bill to make the case that Democratic leaders should draft an even stronger reform measure. "Now that we've seen that Senate Republicans are not going to support any bill, no matter how weak, it is time to start earnest negotiations among Democrats for what is best for America, not what is best for people’s personal politics," said Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, before urging other Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee to "replace the Baucus plan" with legislation that has a strong public option.
Gordon Brown urges EU to back new economic order --France and Germany square off against US and UK on action needed to reduce financial risk-taking 17 Sep 2009 Gordon Brown last night urged EU leaders to back an audacious plan for a new system of world economic government in which the G20 and IMF would be empowered to tell major economies how they should tailor their national policies to secure sustainable international growth. Brown outlined his plan to EU leaders at a dinner in Brussels where an agreed strategy, including the governance of executive bonuses, was being hammered out ahead of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh next week.
FBI, DOJ investigating BofA's Merrill deal: report 18 Sep 2009 U.S. authorities are conducting a criminal probe into Bank of America Corp's purchase of Merrill Lynch, the Charlotte Observer reported on Friday. The investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation and has been underway for six months, the newspaper said.
UN reports 1 billion of the world's people going hungry By Jerry White 18 September 2009 For the first time in history, more than one billion people, or nearly one in every 6 inhabitants of the planet, are going hungry this year, according to a new report from the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP). Chronic poverty, still high food prices and the impact of the world economic crisis have led to a sharp increase in the number of hungry people, now larger than the combined populations of the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Previous lead stories: Canadian govt sends body bags to Indian reserves for 'flu readiness' 16 Sep 2009 The Canadian government sent body bags to remote Indian reserves as it prepared for the winter flu season, sending a jarring message at odds with its promise that it's ready for the H1N1 flu. The body bags went to some reserves in Manitoba, the western province in which some remote Indian communities were hard-hit by the flu in the spring, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said on Wednesday. Aglukkaq said she didn't have details of the body-bag shipments and has ordered officials to investigate.
Boston launches flu shot tracking --When people arrive for their shots, they will get an ID bracelet with a barcode. Basic information - name, age, gender, address - will be entered into the database. There will be electronic records, too, of who gave the vaccine and whether it was injected into the right arm or the left, and time-stamped for that day. 16 Sep 2009 Using technology originally developed for mass disasters, Boston disease trackers are embarking on a novel experiment - one of the first in the country - aimed at eventually creating a citywide registry of everyone who has had a flu vaccination. The trial starts this afternoon... Each of them will get a bracelet printed with a unique identifier code. Information about the vaccine's recipients, and the shot, will be entered into handheld devices similar to those used by delivery truck drivers. Infectious disease specialists in Boston and elsewhere predicted that the registry approach could prove even more useful if something more sinister strikes: a bioterrorism attack or the long-feared arrival of a global flu epidemic. In such crises, the registry could be used to track who received a special vaccine or antidote to a deadly germ.
Blackwater running covert recruitment drive in Pak through its website 16 Sep 2009 The controversial US private security company, Blackwater, is reportedly running a covert recruitment drive through its website in Pakistan. The hidden pages of the company's website, www.BlackwaterUSA.com, can only be accessed through four company executives' references, The Nation reports. It is in these hidden pages one can find application form for job applicants. It is here that one can see the effort by this company to hire Pakistanis who speak Punjabi and Urdu - to add to their earlier requirements of Arabic, Farsi and Dari.
