Obusha opens new war front; lamestream media yawns: Mullen worried Yemen becoming terrorist 'haven' --Adm. refused to discuss whether US played active role in recent operation 20 Dec 2009 Adm. Mike Mullen is applauding a military strike in Yemen against suspected members of the al-Qaida terrorist group civilians. The top U.S. military officer said Sunday he has been concerned for some time that Yemen could become "another safe haven" for terrorism. He applauded the effort to go after an al-Qaida cell which he said has grown significantly over the last couple of years. Mullen said the United States will continue to help Yemen develop its ability to 'fight' terrorism, but he refused to discuss whether the United States played an active role in the recent operation. ['Could' become. We're bombing the sh*t out of civilians again, because of what 'could' happen. --LRP]
Saudi jets kill 18 civilians in Yemen 21 Dec 2009 Fresh Saudi air strikes on northern villages of Yemen have claimed the lives of 18 civilians, all women and children, the Houthi fighters say. According to a statement released by the fighters, Saudi forces carried out more than 40 air raids on al-Razih, al-Nazir, al -Malaheet, and the district of Ghamra in northern Yemen on Monday.
Police Headquarters Attacked in Southeastern Afghanistan 21 Dec 2009 An provincial government official said that Afghan security forces and American troops killed five heavily armed men who attacked a police headquarters in the center of Gardez, the capital of the southeastern province of Paktia Province. Four police and three civilians were wounded, said the official, Rahullah Samon, a spokesman for the governor’s office. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said that five suicide bombers entered the Gardez police headquarters around 9 a.m. and attacked a class of police recruits while foreign mentors were taking daily attendance. [Gee, looks like the US 'plan' for training Afghan police is a big ice cream cone in the dirt, isn't it? No worries. US taxpayers will just build a new police HQ in Afghanistan so Blackwater can blow it up again.]
Soldier killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan --A military policeman killed on patrol in Afghanistan is feared to have been the victim of friendly fire. 21 Dec 2009 The fatal shot is thought to have come from a member of his own patrol but sources were unable to say whether he was caught in cross fire during a firefight or was shot as a result of the accidental discharge of a weapon. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence confirmed that there was a "possibility that the latest death in Afghanistan was caused as a result of friendly fire."
Sabotage cuts Iraqi oil pipeline [What a shame!] 20 Dec 2009 Oil exports from northern Iraq have stopped following an attack on a pipeline that leads to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Assem Jihad, an Iraqi oil ministry spokesman, told journalists on Sunday that a 55km section of the pipeline was damaged, causing a large oil spillage, around 325km north of Baghdad. "Exports have stopped and technicians from the Northern Oil Company have gone to the site to survey the damage", Jihad said.
Iraq: Bombs kill 5 in northern city, Baghdad 21 Dec 2009 A suicide [Blackwater?] bomber attacked the convoy of a city council chief in northern Iraq on Monday, killing the official and three guards, police and health officials said. The slain official, Hussein Akrash, was affiliated with the country's largest Sunni political party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, and was a member of the Turkoman minority.
Obama signs $636.3 billion defense-spending bill 21 Dec 2009 President Obama signed into law legislation that provides $636.3 billion for the U.S. military in fiscal 2010, including $128.3 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the White House announced today. About $65 billion of the war funding is for operations in Afghanistan. The administration says it will need about $30 billion more to finance the addition of 30,000 more troops there that begins this month. That request is likely to come with the fiscal 2011 budget to be submitted in February.
Obama Says New Contracting Rules Saved $19 Billion 21 Dec 2009 President Barack Obama said changes in federal contracting rules he ordered have saved the government about $19 billion, almost half-way to a target of $40 billion in savings by Oct. 1, 2010. Waste costs the taxpayers more each year than the budgets of the Departments of Education and Homeland Security combined, Obama said today at the White House.
'US policy toward Iran is duplicitous' 22 Dec 2009 Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has criticized the United States over its 'failed' strategy towards Iran. "It seems that the Americans have an internal problem in regard to their strategy toward Iran. They have failed to adopt a unified and wise strategy on this issue," Larijani said in Cairo, where he travelled to attend the three-day meeting of the Parliamentary Union of Organization of the Islamic Conference member states (PUOICM), which opened on Monday.
Israeli military admits harvesting organs 21 Dec 2009 The Israeli military has admitted harvesting organs from dead Palestinians after an interview conducted over the issue in 2000 was broadcast again. Over the weekend, Israel's Channel 2 TV broadcast an interview conducted in 2000 with the then-head of Israel's Abu Kabir forensic institute, Dr. Jehuda Hiss who revealed that forensic pathologists harvested organs from dead bodies, including Palestinian corpses in the 1990s, the Associated Press reported.
Former Israeli premier Olmert pleads not guilty 21 Dec 2009 Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert is pleading not guilty to charges of illegally accepting funds from an American supporter and double-billing Jewish groups for trips abroad. Olmert spokesman Amir Dan says Olmert and his office chief, Shula Zaken, denied all charges at the Jerusalem district court Monday.
'You were tied to a chair and they would tip you over on your back, put a towel over your face and pour water over you.' British Army 'waterboarded' suspects in 70s --Evidence casts doubt on guilt of man sentenced to hang for killing soldier 21 Dec 2009 Evidence that the British army subjected prisoners in Northern Ireland to waterboarding during interrogations in the 1970s is emerging after one of the alleged victims launched an appeal against his conviction for murder. ...The jury did not believe Liam Holden's insistence that he made the confession only because he had been held down by members of the Parachute Regiment, whom he says placed a towel over his face before pouring water from a bucket over his nose and mouth, giving him the impression that he was drowning. But now the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has referred Holden's case to the court of appeal in Belfast after unearthing new evidence, and because of doubts about "the admissibility and reliability" of his confession.
UK drops terrorism charges against Libyan 21 Dec 2009 A Libyan national who has been under restriction for the past six years in the United Kingdom on terrorism charges has won his long court battle against the UK Home Office and Security Services. Faraj Hassan told Press TV over phone on Monday that his solicitors tried hard and finally succeed in convincing a High Court judge that he is not a terrorist threat to the United Kingdom.
David Headley Said to Have Helped Terrorists Target Nuclear Plant --Authorities Say Chicago Man Cased, Photographed Facility at Tombroy, India, that Produces Plutonium for Nuke Weapons 21 Dec 2009 The Chicago man charged with helping plot the terror attacks one year ago in Mumbai also photographed and conducted surveillance of a nuclear weapons fuel plant [Bhabha Atomic Research Center] in Tromboy, India, according to Indian and U.S. law enforcement authorities. The authorities say David Headley was sent to Tromboy, a northwest suburb of Mumbai, by his [CIA] handlers in the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, an affiliate of al Qaeda. [See: Did America keep mum on 26/11? By Vir Sanghvi 20 Dec 2009 ...These papers showed that Headley had been convicted and sent to jail. But after 9/11, he had been set free and sent to Pakistan to work as an undercover agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). According to US journalists, Headley had been given a new passport in the American name of David Headley (his American mother’s maiden name is Headley) rather than his original name of Daood Gilani.]
White House picks new cyber coordinator 21 Dec 2009 President Barack Obama has chosen a national cyber security coordinator to take on the formidable task of organizing and managing the nation's increasingly vulnerable digital networks. A senior White House official says Obama has tapped Howard A. Schmidt, a longtime computer security executive with extensive ties to the corporate world, to take the job.
Tarmac Delays Get Three Hour Limit in DOT Airline Crackdown --New Rule Requires Airlines to Deplane Passengers, Provide Food and Water 21 Dec 2009 The U.S. Department of Transportation today announced it's getting tough with airlines that keep passengers stuck in planes on airport tarmacs for more than three hours, issuing a "hard time limit" after which carriers must let the passengers off the plane or face fines. The rules also require airlines to provide food and water to passengers within two hours of a delay, keep the lavatories functional and provide medical attention to passengers who may need it.
President And First Lady Get H1N1 Shots 21 Dec 2009 Declaring that the H1N1 vaccine is safe [!?!], President Obama says he and the First Lady got their swine flu shots on Sunday. If it wasn't safe, he said he would not have allowed daughters Sasha and Malia, "the two people that are most important in my life," to get the vaccinations for H1N1 several months ago.
Walgreen 1Q profit rises 20 percent on drug sales 21 Dec 2009 Concerned Brainwashed customers got more than 5 million flu shots at Walgreen Co. stores in the fall, helping the company boost its quarterly profit by 20 percent. The company administered 5.4 million seasonal flu shots between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30, compared with 1.2 million in last year's entire flu season, from October to February.
How health lobbyists influenced reform bill 20 Dec 2009 An analysis of public documents by Northwestern University's Medill News Service in partnership with the Tribune Newspapers Washington Bureau and the Center for Responsive Politics found a revolving door between Capitol Hill staffers and lobbying jobs for companies with a stake in health care legislation. At least 166 former aides from the nine congressional leadership offices and five committees involved in shaping health overhaul legislation -- along with at least 13 former lawmakers -- registered to represent at least 338 health care clients since the beginning of last year, according to the analysis. Their health care clients spent $635 million on lobbying over the past two years, the study shows.
Seeing Public Subsidy (Not Public Option) Investors Flock to Health Insurers By Shahien Nasiripour 21 Dec 2009 Investors are seeing the Senate's version of health care reform as a massive public subsidy for insurance companies -- and as a result, are sending the sector's stock prices shooting up, up, up. Stripped of a government-run insurance plan, the bill would give tens of millions of Americans no option but to start paying hefty premiums to private companies. The rise in stock prices has been particularly striking in the period since Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn. Israel) said on October 27 that he would filibuster a Senate health care reform bill if it included a public option - a threat that caused Senate leaders to cave without much of a fight.
'Health' Bill Passes Key Test in the Senate With 60 Votes 21 Dec 2009 Democrats held ranks early Monday in a dead-of-night procedural vote that proved they had locked in the decisive margin needed to pass a far-reaching overhaul of the nation’s health care system corporaterrorist giveaway. The roll was called shortly after 1 a.m., with Washington still snowbound after a weekend blizzard, and the Senate voted on party lines to cut off a Republican filibuster of a package of changes to the 'health care' bill by the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada. The vote was 60 to 40 -- a tally that is expected to be repeated four times as further procedural hurdles are cleared in the days ahead, and then once more in a dramatic, if predictable, finale tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
Sen. Coburn: 'People Ought to Pray' That a Senator 'Can't Make the Vote Tonight' By Faiz Shakir 20 Dec 2009 The Senate is expected to vote very late tonight/early Monday morning "on the first of three motions to close off debate" on the health care bill and proceed to an expected Christmas Eve vote on final passage. Speaking against the health care bill on the Senate floor just moments ago, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) expressed his hope that a Senator of the majority caucus would not be able to make the vote: "What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can't make the vote tonight. That’s what they ought to pray." [Aren't people already busy praying for a polar bear to swallow Sarah Palin whole?]
Former speaker gets pricey perks 21 Dec 2009 U.S. taxpayers are spending more than $40,000 per month on office space, staff, cell phones and a leased SUV for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R), even as he works as a lobbyist for private corporations and foreign governments... In addition to the office, the government pays the salaries of three of Hastert’s assistants in his Illinois office -- each more than $100,000 in 2008.
Ford Offers Buyouts to All Factory Workers --Automaker Also Offering Hourly Workers Early Retirement Packages in Effort to Slash Factory Work Force 21 Dec 2009 Ford Motor Co. says it is offering buyout and early retirement incentives to all of its 41,000 U.S. hourly workers to further reduce its factory work force. Company spokesman Mark Truby said Ford still has too many factory workers for its current sales levels.
