Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government 07 Nov 2008

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government
07 Nov 2008
http://www.legitgov.org/
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http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

Mission accomplished: Shell secures 25-year access to Iraq's oil, gas 07 Nov 2008 A joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell and Iraq's state-owned South Gas Co. could give Shell a 25-year monopoly on production and exports of natural gas in much of southern Iraq - the biggest foreign role in Iraq's oil and gas sector in four decades. The planned venture, spelled out in a 16-page document obtained by United Press International, goes well beyond descriptions provided by Iraqi and Shell officials on Sept. 22, when they held a public signing ceremony in Baghdad.

Judge asks media whether to release Guantanamo Bay 'torture' evidence 07 Nov 2008 A High Court judge has invited the media for advice about publishing legal evidence in a case concerning a British terror suspect held at Guantanamo Bay. Binyam Mohamed, a British resident... was later secretly rendered to Morocco, where he says he was tortured by having his penis cut with a razor blade. The US subsequently flew him to Afghanistan and he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in September 2004. Mr Mohamed wants access to documents held by the British Government he believes support his claim that he was subjected to extraordinary rendition and ill-treatment.

Judge Is Told 6 Algerians Should Remain Detained 07 Nov 2008 A Justice Department lawyer yesterday urged a federal judge to continue the detention of six Algerians at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, contending they would "take up arms" and attack Americans if released. The accusations came during the first habeas corpus hearing ever held for a Guantanamo prisoner, a landmark in the prisoners' legal saga of more than six years.

'The discussion of these issues will have to take place in a closed courtroom outside the presence of the public and the detainees.' Judge Opens First Habeas Corpus Hearing on Guantánamo Detainees 07 Nov 2008 After years of legal clashes over whether prisoners have the right to contest their detention in court, a federal judge on Thursday opened the first hearing into the government’s justification for holding suspects at the naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But after opening statements that did not detail the evidence, the judge, Richard J. Leon of Federal District Court here, closed the courtroom, saying the evidence was classified.

Sadrists reject US-Iraq security deal White House calls final 07 Nov 2008 Yesterday, the White House called it final. Today, Shiite leaders are calling on the Iraqi government to reject the security deal it's been negotiating with the U.S. U.S. and Iraqi officials are trying to finalize the agreement, which would remove U.S. soldiers from Iraq's cities by June 30, and see the last American troops leave the country by 2012.

Blackwater could face sanctions for improper arms shipments 07 Nov 2008 Private security contractor Blackwater Worldwide soon may face new legal problems. A grand jury in Washington is expected to decide soon whether to indict individual Blackwater guards mercenaries involved in a widely publicized shooting incident in Baghdad last year, two people familiar with the investigation said. And the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, which is responsible for export controls on some arms, is moving to hit the North Carolina-based firm with what could be millions of dollars in fines for shipping weapons to police training facilities in Iraq and Jordan without proper licensing, according to three officials briefed on the probe.

Day One: Obama faces a Cold War threat and a warning from Israel 07 Nov 2008 Barack Obama was confronting a looming international crisis just hours after his White House election triumph. The U.S. President-elect faced a triple threat with Russia, Israel and Afghanistan all threatening to test his mettle. Locked away in his Chicago home, Mr Obama received his first national security intelligence briefing yesterday as he wrestled with appointments for his Cabinet.

Iran's Ahmadinejad congratulates Obama 06 Nov 2008 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a message to the US President-elect Barack Obama, has congratulated him on his victory. "I congratulate your Excellency on receiving the majority of votes in the [presidential] election. You know that the opportunities given by the God to the people are transitory, they could be used for the progress of the people or against them. I am hopeful that by preferring the real needs of the people over the insatiable demands of a selfish and corrupt minority, you take the chance and make a good name for yourself in history," Ahmadinejad said in his message.

Georgia Claims on Russia War Called Into Question 07 Nov 2008 Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression. Instead, the accounts suggest that Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.

U.S. airstrike kills 37 civilians in southern Afghanistan: report 07 Nov 2008 An investigation by the Afghan government says the Taliban was largely responsible [?!?] for the deaths of as many as 37 women and children killed in an air strike earlier this week by the U.S. military. The air strike was ordered after a U.S. military convoy was ambushed Monday by Taliban militants. The bombs struck a compound in the Shah Wali Kot district where the women and children were attending a wedding celebration

Morales: US encourages drug-trafficking 07 Nov 2008 Bolivian leader Evo Morales has accused the US government of encouraging drug trafficking and says he has evidence to back up his charges. Morales announced last Saturday that he was suspending the work of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Bolivia. Morales also accused the DEA of shooting and killing 19 Bolivians in the course of their anti-drug operations in September and early October, including two members of the coca farmers' movement who were gunned down on October 4.

Pakistan sets death penalty for "cyber terrorism" 06 Nov 2008 Causing death through "cyber terrorism" will be punishable by death in Pakistan, according to a decree issued by President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday. The Prevention of Electronic Crimes law will be applicable to anyone who commits a crime detrimental to national security through the use of a computer or any other electronic device, the government said in the ordinance.

Man Charged with Plotting Terrorism Attack, Found with IEDs, Nazi Handbook 06 Nov 2008 British police charged a 43-year-old man Thursday with plotting an act of terrorism and having two improvised explosive devices, chemicals, timers, and a Nazi-themed handbook. Neil Christopher Lewington was first arrested last week after police discovered a suspected explosive device when they searched him at a railway station in Lowestoft, a coastal city in eastern England.

ACLU wants probe into police-staged DNC protest 07 Nov 2008 When a Jefferson County deputy unleashed pepper spray at unruly protesters on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, he did not know that his targets were undercover Denver police officers. Now the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado is questioning whether that staged confrontation by police pretending to be violent inflamed other protesters or officers during the most intense night of the four-day event.

Palin backlash continues as Republican lawyers head to Alaska to take back her $150,000 campaign clothes 07 Nov 2008 The bitter McCain backlash against Sarah Palin continued today as it emerged that Republican Party lawyers were heading to Alaska to retrieve her $150,000 (£95,000) campaign clothes. The vice-presidential candidate's hopes of challenging Barack Obama in 2012 took a big dent as simmering tensions with the McCain camp finally boiled over into wide-ranging criticism of her conduct.

Good riddance: Lieberman in talks about caucusing with Senate GOP 07 Nov 2008 Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is talking to Connecticut 'independent' Sen. Joe LieberBush (R-Israel) about the possibility of Lieberman caucusing with the GOP. Lieberman's affiliation with Democrats is up in the air. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, angered by Lieberman's support of Republican John McCain for president, is considering yanking Lieberman's chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as punishment.

CT Dems' Lieberman resolution: "extraordinary disloyalty" means he must resign from party By Rick Green 06 Nov 2008 Connecticut Democrats fed up with Sen. Joe Lieberman are eagerly waiting to hear what happens in Washington, but their own censure resolution now pending before the state central committee is pretty clear about what should be done. Lieberman's "extraordinary disloyalty" means he should resign from the party.

Dems take full control in 3 more states 07 Nov 2008 Democrats emerged from Election Day gaining control over more state governments, and they now dominate both the legislature and governor’s office in 17 states, compared to just eight for Republicans. The party, which swept into the White House and padded its majorities in Congress, also won complete control of Delaware, New York and Wisconsin state governments in Tuesday’s (Nov. 4) contests. The GOP, meanwhile, lost its grip on Missouri and Alaska and is within 25 votes of losing full control of Texas, too.

Obama wins electoral vote in Nebraska 07 Nov 2008 Barack Obama made history today in Nebraska. The Democratic presidential candidate claimed an electoral vote in the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District -- the first time in more than four decades a Democrat won any of Nebraska’s electoral votes. The Omaha World-Herald is calling the race after Obama won 8,434 out of 15,039 early votes that arrived too late to be included in Tuesday’s results.

Obama's change begins with transition Web site 07 Nov 2008 President-elect Obama's got a new Web site, www.change.gov, that gives people a chance to say what they think his priorities should be, track the transition to his new administration, tell their personal stories and even apply for federal jobs. The site -- a down payment on Obama's pledge to create a more "transparent and connected government" -- still has lots of white spaces and promises of future features.

Gibbs will be WH press secretary 06 Nov 2008 Robert Gibbs, a top aide to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on his campaign and in his Senate office, will be named the White House press secretary, a top Democratic official said. Gibbs was usually the senior official on Air Obama, the campaign plane. As communications director of Obama's Senate office, Gibbs was a key strategist in Obama's rapid move to the national stage.

Feinstein in line to chair Senate Intel Committee 07 Nov 2008 California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is in line to become the first female chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The opening was created Friday amid a chairmanship shuffle sparked by the announcement that Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia was stepping down as head of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Bush officials moving fast to cut environmental protections 06 Nov 2008 In the next few weeks, the Bush administration is expected to relax environmental-protection rules on power plants near national parks, uranium mining near the Grand Canyon and more mountaintop-removal coal mining in Appalachia. The administration is widely expected to try to get some of the rules into final form by the week before Thanksgiving because, in some cases, there's a 60-day delay before new regulations take effect.

Houston's Franklin Bank closed, 18th failure this year 07 Nov 2008 Houston, Texas-based Franklin Bank S.S.B. was closed by regulators Friday, the 18th bank failure this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said in a statement that Franklin Bank had total assets of $5.1 billion as of Sep. 30, and $3.7 billion in total deposits. El Campo, Texas-based Prosperity Bank will assume Franklin Bank's deposits, and Franklin's 46 offices will reopen as Prosperity branches, the FDIC said.

Unemployment rate hits 6.5%, a 14-year high --The economy lost 240,000 jobs in October, bringing the total to 1 million jobs lost this year. 07 Nov 2008 Employers slashed jobs from one end of the economy to the other, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.5% -- the highest in 14 years -- and making a deep recession a virtual certainty. The Labor Department reported today that the economy lost 240,000 jobs in October, the steepest one-month decline in a contraction that began last January. It also revised downward the number of jobs lost in September, to 284,000 from an initially reported 159,000.

Obama Plans to Confront Economy 'Head On' --Obama Gave First Presser Since He Won the Election: Vows to Act Swiftly to Cure Economic Woes 07 Nov 2008 President-elect Barack Obama promised today that a "particularly urgent priority" of his administration would be to pass a second stimulus plan and extend unemployment benefits. The Illinois Democrat stood behind a podium that read "President Elect" and was backed by a row of economic advisers as he spelled out a series of measures meant to "confront this economic crisis head-on.

Obama likely to boost FDA oversight of imports 06 Nov 2008 The Food and Drug Administration, bedeviled by a salmonella outbreak and tainted medicine from China, is likely to monitor imports and fresh produce more closely under an Obama administration. With President [sic] Bush no longer a roadblock, health officials also can expect new powers to control tobacco.

President-Elect Obama: I Want a Mutt 'Like Me' 07 Nov 2008 The main topic of the day was the economy, but President-elect Barack Obama did say Friday, at his first press conference since his election, that he is dealing with a topic close to home. "With respect to the dog," said Obama, "this is a major issue." ..."Our preference would be to get a shelter dog," which would point to the possibility of a mixed breed, or, as Obama said, "a mutt, like me."

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Previous lead stories: George Bush plans to push through agenda in last days in office 06 Nov 2008 President [sic] George W Bush is planning to push through a series of potentially unpopular regulation changes in his final weeks in office. Democrats fear the president will try to ram through new rules on the environment, civil liberties and abortion rights before December 20, the deadline for changes before the new president is inaugurated a month later. The alterations could take months or years to undo. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has already rushed out new guidelines for the FBI that make domestic surveillance easier, including the use of informants to infiltrate lawful groups and prolonged physical surveillance.

'Impeach Obama' groups pop up on Facebook 05 Nov 2008 Barack Obama has not even been sworn in yet as the 44th president of the United States but groups are springing up online calling for his impeachment. On Facebook, an "Impeach Barack Obama" group has attracted more than 700 members and a lively debate about the Democrat's election victory on Tuesday over Republican John McCain. Another Facebook group of the same name has 160 members and urges others to join because "we might as well get a head start on the impeachment of Obama."

Airstrike kills 90 in Afghan wedding party 05 Nov 2008 There are accusations that U.S. airstrikes struck a wedding party in southern Afghanistan Monday - killing scores of women and children and sending the bride and groom to hospital. "When the fighting started the jets came and bombed," said Juma Khan, who helped bring his mother and nine other women and children to Kandahar's Mirwais Hospital.

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CLG Managing Editor: Lori Price. Copyright © 2008, Citizens For Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved.

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