Flu fears prompts money for states, possible plans for surgical masks 10 Jul 2009 The Barack Obama administration is making $350 million in federal money available to states this fall for possible H1N1 flu vaccinations and other efforts should the influenza strain worsen. Addressing the possibility that the H1N1 virus could have a fall breakout and cause problems, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also talked about contingency plans for schools, utilities, airports and businesses, including stockpiling and distributing surgical masks, at a federal summit on the flu this week.
It's Friday night . . . and CLG readers know exactly what that means! Yup, it's human rights/environmental 'bad news' dump time: Report: Bush program extended beyond wiretapping --The "President's Surveillance Program" 10 Jul 2009 The Bush regime authorized secret surveillance activities that still have not been made public, according to a new government report that questions the legal basis for the unprecedented anti-terrorism program. It's unclear how much valuable intelligence was yielded by the surveillance program started after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to the unclassified summary of reports by five inspectors general. The reports mandated by Congress last year were delivered to lawmakers Friday. President [sic] George W. Bush authorized other secret intelligence activities -- which have yet to become public -- even as he was launching the massive warrantless wiretapping program, the summary said. It describes the entire program as the "President's Surveillance Program."
Report: Bush surveillance program was massive 10 Jul 2009 The Bush regime built an unprecedented surveillance operation to pull in mountains of information far beyond the warrantless wiretapping previously acknowledged, a team of federal inspectors general reported Friday, questioning the legal basis for the effort but shielding almost all details on grounds they're still too secret to reveal. The report, compiled by five inspectors general, refers to "unprecedented collection activities" by U.S. intelligence agencies under an executive order signed by President [sic] George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Just what those activities involved remains classified, but the IGs pointedly say that any continued use of the secret programs must be "carefully monitored." [Oh, so the secret programs are going to continue?!?]
Bush Personally Ordered Visit to Ashcroft's Hospital Bed By Spencer Ackerman 10 Jul 2009 One warrantless surveillance mystery solved. My friend Marcy Wheeler beat me to this: George W. Bush personally ordered White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and Chief of Staff Andy Card to visit an ailing Attorney General John Ashcroft in the hospital in March 2004 after Ashcroft’s deputy Jim Comey refused to certify the warrantless surveillance program.
Secret Program Fuels CIA-Congress Dispute --Obama has rejected calls from Democrats to create 'truth commission' to investigate allegations of misconduct by Bush administration officials 10 Jul 2009 Four months after he was sworn in, CIA Director Leon E. Panetta learned of an intelligence program that had been hidden from Congress since 2001, a revelation that prompted him to immediately cancel the initiative and schedule a pair of closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill. The next day, June 24, Panetta informed the House and Senate intelligence committees of the program and the action he had taken, according to Democratic and Republican members of the panels. The program remains classified. Several current and former administration officials called it an "on-again, off-again" attempt to create a new intelligence capability and said it was related to the collection of information on suspected terrorists that was instituted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
British casualties in Afghanistan higher than Iraq 10 Jul 2009 After eight British soldiers were killed within 24 hours in Afghanistan, the British military's death toll in the war-torn country is now higher than in Iraq. The spike in fatalities means that Britain has now lost 184 troops in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001 -- surpassing the 179 killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Eight British soldiers killed in bloodiest day of Afghan mission --Eight UK soldiers killed in 24 hours --Afghan death toll eclipses that in Iraq --Brown warns of 'very hard summer' 10 Jul 2009 Ministers were bracing themselves for an increasingly bloody conflict in Afghanistan as it became clear that a further eight British soldiers have been killed in 24 hours, the worst combat death toll since the war began. Five troops were killed in a single incident after they were caught in a bomb blast while on foot patrol. Officials confirmed that 15 troops have been killed in the last 10 days. With the government's handling of the conflict under increasing scrutiny, Gordon Brown was forced to defend the 'Afghan mission' as he left the G8 summit in Italy. [Besides securing Bush's gas and opium pipelines, what *is* the 'Afghan mission?']
Afghan casualty figures contradict coalition numbers 10 Jul 2009 Conflicting reports are coming out of Afghanistan over the death figures in overnight fighting between the Taliban militants and coalition troops. Afghanistan's Police Chief Khalil Boz Sherzai said on Friday that around 22 Afghans were killed in the central Ghazni province in an air strike while the US-led coalition report denied any air strike and only said that several militants had been killed.
Suspected US missile strike kills 3 in NW Pakistan 10 Jul 2009 Pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. missile strike has killed three 'militants' [Yeah, right!] in northwestern Pakistan. The officials say two missiles fired from U.S. drone aircraft struck a communication center of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in Painda Khel in South Waziristan. South Waziristan is part of the tribal region along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.
Truck bomb kills at least 13 children in Afghanistan 10 Jul 2009 A truck filled with explosives that police believe may have been destined for Kabul blew up on a highway Thursday, killing 25 people -- more than half of them children walking to school. Two U.S. soldiers died in combat as the U.S. military reported the number of roadside bombs in Afghanistan last month was nearly three times the figure for Iraq.
US Said to Have Averted Inquiry Into '01 Afghan Mass Killings --Prisoners brought from Afghanistan reported that they had been "stacked like cordwood" in shipping containers and had to lick the perspiration off one another to survive. 11 Jul 2009 After a mass killing of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Taliban prisoners of war by the forces of an American-backed warlord during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, Bush regime officials repeatedly discouraged efforts to investigate the episode, according to government officials and human rights organizations. American officials had been reluctant to pursue an investigation because the warlord, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, was on the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency and his militia worked closely with United States Special Forces in 2001... Thousands of prisoners were stuffed into closed metal shipping containers and given no food or water; many suffocated while being trucked to the prison. Other prisoners were killed when guards shot into the containers. The bodies were said to have been buried in a mass grave in Dasht-i-Laili, a stretch of desert just outside Shibarghan.
Amid US pullout, Iraq violence continues 10 Jul 2009 An Iraqi policeman has reportedly been killed after an improvised explosive device (IED) blew up near a checkpoint in disrupted Mosul. A source who wished not be named told the Voices of Iraq news agency that the lethal attack took place on Friday at the al-Shifaa neighborhood in western Mosul, claiming the life of an Iraqi security agent. A volatile ethnic mix of Sunni Arabs, Kurds and Christians, Mosul remains the scene of frequent shootings and bombings, and US commanders regard the once cosmopolitan city as the last urban bastion of 'al-Qaeda' in Iraq.
Mother of soldier killed in Iraq wins review of Snatch Land Rovers 10 Jul 2009 The mother of a soldier killed in Iraq has won the right to a judicial review of the government's refusal to hold a public inquiry into Snatch Land Rovers. Susan Smith, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, whose son Phillip Hewett died in 2005, is challenging the use of the vehicles in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mr Justice Mitting allowed the review but said it would not cover the present and future use of the lightly armoured vehicles, which have been criticised for offering poor protection from bomb blasts.
Ex-KBR contractor charged with sexual assault 10 Jul 2009 A former civilian defense contractor was charged Friday with sexually assaulting a woman at an Iraqi air base. David Charles Breda Jr., 34, is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in October at Camp Al Asad, Iraq, where he was employed by a subsidiary of Houston-based military contractor KBR Inc. Breda, who lived in the Houston suburb of Pearland before he left for Iraq, was arrested Thursday at a Houston-area barber college by agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Obama ends G8 with warning to Iran 10 Jul 2009 The G8 summit in Italy draws to a close with US President Barack Obama delivering a blunt warning to Tehran over its uranium enrichment activities. Obama, speaking at the end of a G8 summit in Italy, said Iran should understand that world countries are "seriously concerned" over its nuclear work, and would not wait "indefinitely" to allow Tehran to develop a nuclear weapon.
All three Gaza crossings closed on Friday 10 Jul 2009 The Israeli military decided to close three key crossing points into the Gaza Strip on Friday, blocking deliveries of food, fuel, and other vital goods, according to Palestinian border crossings official Raed Fattuh. The official added, "We were informed that the Kerem Shalom crossing will be closed on Friday due to technical repairs, despite that Kerem Shalom is only ever opened on Fridays."
Ban on tobacco urged in military 09 Jul 2009 Pentagon health experts are urging Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ban the use of tobacco by troops and end its sale on military property, a change that could dramatically alter a culture intertwined with smoking. Jack Smith, head of the Pentagon's office of clinical and program policy, says he will recommend that Gates adopt proposals by a federal study that cites rising tobacco use and higher costs for the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs as reasons for the ban.
House overwhelmingly rejects signing statement 09 Jul 2009 The House rebuked President Obama for trying to ignore restrictions to international aid payments, voting overwhelmingly for an amendment forcing the administration to abide by its constraints. House members approved an amendment by a 429-2 vote to have the Obama administration pressure the World Bank to strengthen labor and environmental standards and require a Treasury Department report on World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) activities.
Supermax prison blocked Obama books requested by detainee --Officials at the Florence, Colorado, supermax prison deemed the bestsellers 'potentially detrimental to national security' 10 Jul 2009 He has been president of the United States for 172 days, yet it appears that Barack Obama is still deemed capable of producing writing that is "potentially detrimental to national security". That peculiar judgement was made following a request by a high-security prisoner to read Obama's two bestselling books, Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope. The plea was made by Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, who is being held at a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. Abu Ali, a US citizen, was found guilty on 25 November of helping al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate the then US president [sic] George Bush.
Court: D.C. Police Checkpoints Unconstitutional 10 Jul 2009 A federal appeals court today unanimously ruled in favor of a group of D.C. residents who are challenging vehicle checkpoints used by the Metropolitan Police Department. The four plaintiffs, represented by Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice, sued the city, claiming the police "neighborhood safety zone" program is unconstitutional. Police barred 48 motorists--including the four plaintiffs--from entry into the Trinidad neighborhood [Northeast Washington] in June 2008 when the motorists failed to provide sufficient information about where the motorist was going.
Guidelines could limit Arpaio's immigration sweeps 10 Jul 2009 Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced new guidelines today for a controversial federal program that lets local police enforce immigration laws, saying that the main priority of the program should be to go after dangerous criminals who are in the country illegally, not as a tool to go after illegal immigrants who commit minor offenses. The new guidelines could limit the crime suppression sweeps that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been conducting for more than a year that have resulting in the arrests of several hundred illegal immigrants.
America's Littlest Diplomats: Sasha and Malia Obama's Summer Vacation --Obama Girls Stay Busy With International Travel and Public Service 09 Jul 2009 First lady Michelle Obama thought about sending her daughters away to summer camp, she said recently, but instead decided on another program -- the "Camp Obama" world tour. This week, the first tweens have toured Rome's Coliseum and Russia's Kremlin -- exotic locations for sure, but the president said his daughters haven't skipped a beat.
G8 summit to tackle food supplies 10 Jul 2009 Leaders of developed G8 nations are to unveil new efforts to boost food supplies to the hungry [Monsanto?], during the final day of their summit in Italy. They are expected to commit as much as $15bn (£9.2bn) to efforts to help poor nations develop their own agriculture.
Banks buying back TARP warrants at a discount, panel says --Oversight panel wants Treasury to make bailout-payback process transparent 10 Jul 2009 A panel that oversees a $700 billion bank bailout package said Friday that financial institutions buying out warrants they gave the government in exchange for capital injections are now buying back those stakes at well below their fair value. The Congressional Oversight Panel, which is charged with overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, said in a report that a group of 11 small banks that have repurchased government warrants in exchange for taxpayer-funded assistance, have bought-out the stakes at 66% of their face value.
Sears Starts Christmas Sales In July 10 Jul 2009 How early is too early for Christmas marketing? Apparently it's not July for Sears Holdings Company. The company owns Sears and Kmart. It has opened an online holiday store and Christmas boutiques at hundreds of stores. The company hopes to nudge consumers into starting their holiday shopping early and use the retailer's lay-a-way plan. Sears reintroduced the program year-round in January.
House Democrats Plan to Tax the Wealthy to Pay for Health Care Reform 10 Jul 2009 To pay for a sweeping overhaul of the health care system, House Democrats will propose a surtax on individuals earning $280,000 and up and couples earning more than $350,000, the chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee said on Friday. In all, the proposal is projected to generate roughly $550 billion over 10 years, which would cover about half of the estimated cost of the $1-trillion-plus health care legislation. The balance of the cost is expected to be covered by lower government spending on Medicare and other savings in the health care system.
Obama campaign vow of public debate on health care fading 09 Jul 2009 Campaigning for president, Barack Obama said repeatedly that any overhaul of the health care system should be negotiated publicly and televised for all to see. Throughout this year's negotiations, however, the big deals have been struck in secret. With tax increases and limits on what's covered among the possible ways of offsetting perhaps $1 trillion over a decade in expenses, neither the administration nor Congress is willing to give up its right to do the most sensitive talking in private.
Ensign's Future Remains Unclear 10 Jul 2009 Sen. John Ensign's political future got a little murkier this week as more details emerged about his extramarital affair – and other members of Congress were drawn into the ordeal. Sen. Tom Coburn, a fellow conservative and confidant of Ensign's, affirmed to reporters Thursday that he knew about Ensign's affair and told him to end it. However, he denied allegations that he urged Ensign to pay off his mistress, Cindy Hampton, or her family.
GOP support for Ensign dwindles as new details of affair emerge 10 Jul 2009 Sen. John Ensign appeared to be losing support among his Republican base Thursday as the lawmaker disclosed that his parents, who made millions in the casino industry, paid the family of his affair partner $96,000 around the time she and her husband stopped working for him. Ensign’s parents made the gifts to Doug Hampton and his wife, Cynthia, "out of concern of the well-being of the longtime family friends during a difficult time," said a statement issued by Ensign’s attorney. The gifts "are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign family to the Hamptons and others," the statement said.
Levi Johnston says Palin stepped down for money, family 10 Jul 2009 Levi Johnston, the former fiancé of Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, on Thursday joined the crowd offering potential reasons for Palin's decision to step down. Johnston met with reporters to say that he heard her musing about a better life, one in which she could spend more time at home, reduce her stress, and accept the lucrative offers coming her way.
Previous lead stories: AIG Is Preparing to Pay New Round of Bonuses --The payments coming due next week include $2.4 million in bonuses for about 40 high-ranking corporate officers at AIG. 09 Jul 2009 American International Group is preparing to pay millions of dollars more in bonuses to several dozen top corporate executives after an earlier round of payments four months ago set off a national furor. The company has been pressing the federal government to bless the payments in hopes of shielding itself from renewed public outrage. The request puts the administration's new compensation czar on the spot by seeking his opinion about bonuses that were promised long before he took his post.
Administration readies $350 million for state, local responders to combat flu pandemic --The Obama administration said today that it has billions of dollars available to help pay for a national H1N1 flu vaccine program that could be ready starting in mid-October. 08 Jul 2009 Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made the announcement at an all-day summit on the outbreak of what is more commonly known as swine flu. Sebelius said the government has "already appropriated about a billion dollars to buy the bulk ingredients" [i.e., insect parts, influenza viruses, Neomycin, Polymyxin, Gentamycin, Thimerosal (mercury), Betapropiolactone, Nonoxynol, Octoxinol 9, Formaldehyde - yum yum!] and has $7.5 billion more available in emergency preparedness funds. Congress approved $350 million for state and local responders in a recent supplemental war funding bill, and the administration is set to distribute the funds. Public health officials said they could need $3 billion if the H1N1 virus mutates into a more deadly form this fall. [Count on it. US pharma-terrorists are dying to get the 'Baxter Bug' pandemic party started.]
Mexican Army Accused of Torture in Drug War --U.S. government has encouraged, funded strategy --U.S. officials warned that Congress may withhold more than $100 million in 'anti-narcotics' funding 09 Jul 2009 The Mexican army has carried out forced disappearances, acts of torture and illegal raids in pursuit of drug traffickers, according to documents and interviews with victims, their families, political leaders and human rights monitors... In Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, two dozen policemen who were arrested on drug charges in March alleged that, to extract confessions, soldiers beat them, held plastic bags over their heads until some lost consciousness, strapped their feet to a ceiling while dunking their heads in water and applied electric shocks, according to court documents, letters and interviews with their relatives and defense lawyers.
