Swine flu advisers' ties to drug firms: Five WHO experts linked with vaccine producers 13 Aug 2010

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Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
13 Aug 2010
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Swine flu advisers' ties to drug firms: Five WHO experts linked with vaccine producers --Gov't squandered more than £1.2 billion tackling swine flu, most of it for vaccines 13 Aug 2010 A third of the experts advising the World Health Organisation about the [lab-generated] swine flu pandemic had ties to drugs firms, it has emerged. Five of the 15 specialists who sat on the emergency committee had received funding from pharmaceutical giants, or were linked to them through their research. The revelation will prompt speculation that the 'pandemic' was wildly overestimated and largely fuelled by the drugs industry who stood to benefit from the panic.

Leaking Sarin Rocket Discovered at Kentucky Depot 12 Aug 2010 The U.S. Army said Tuesday a leaking sarin nerve agent-filled rocket had been discovered during inspections of chemical weapons storage structures at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky. "The low-level agent vapor was confined to the interior of the [shipping and firing] tube and no agent vapor was detected within the igloo atmosphere," according to a press release.

Pat Tillman's Father to Army Investigator: 'F--- You... And Yours' By Sam Stein 13 Aug 2010  The Weinstein Company [backers of 'The Tillman Story,' a documentary film to be released 20 August] sent the Huffington Post two previously unseen letters written by Tillman's father at the peak of frustration with the army's investigation into his son's death. The notes, penned to Brigadier General Gary M. Jones (the man spearheading the investigation) as well as the Senate Armed Services Committee (which oversaw Jones's work), paint a picture of a man increasingly convinced that a massive conspiracy was emerging around the death of his son.

Wikileaks to publish 15,000 US files 13 Aug 2010 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has declared that the remaining 15,000 classified US military files will be released despite US pressure to withhold the documents. Assange made the announcement on a video link to a London audience, AFP reported. On August 5, US press secretary Geoff Morrell formally demanded that Wikileaks return all the classified documents in it's possession including the 15,000 unreleased cache that have not been released as of yet.

U.S. denies asking other nations to attack Wikileaks 12 Aug 2010 The U.S. State Department has denied asking other countries to open criminal investigations into Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange. "We have not approached any country to encourage them to do anything," Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state, told CNET. The main Wikileaks.org Web site is located in Sweden. Crowley acknowledged that U.S. officials have "had conversations with a variety of countries" about Wikileaks, but said those discussions were limited to expressing "concerns that we've had."

U.S. Urges Allies to Crack Down on WikiLeaks By Philip Shenon 10 Aug 2010 The Obama administration has asked Britain, Germany, Australia, and other allies to consider criminal charges against Julian Assange for his Afghan war leaks. The Obama administration is pressing Britain, Germany, Australia, and other allied Western governments to consider opening criminal investigations of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and to severely limit his nomadic travels across international borders, American officials say.

US airstrike kills 8 Afghan civilians 13 Aug 2010 At least eight Afghan civilians were killed in a US airstrike in the south of the country amid growing public discontent over the ever-growing number of civilian casualties. The US airstrike took place in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province on Friday, a Press TV correspondent reported. The Afghan civilians were killed when foreign forces targeted a house in the suburbs of Lashgargah city.

Three US-led troops die in Afghanistan 13 Aug 2010 Three US-led soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan's south as the Taliban intensify their operations in the volatile region. On Friday, NATO said in a statement that one soldier was killed during an exchange of fire with militants in the country's south, and the British Ministry of Defenses (MoD) announced the death of two UK soldiers. The MoD said one British soldier was killed in a "helicopter incident" on Tuesday, while another one was killed by a small fire arm on Thursday.

Iran digging graves for U.S. troops if they attack 11 Aug 2010 Iran has dug mass graves in which to bury U.S. troops in case of any American attack on the country, a former commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard said. The digging of the graves appears to be a show of bravado after the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said last week that the U.S. military has a contingency plan to attack Iran, although he thinks a military strike is probably a bad idea. Footage obtained by APTN showed a large number of empty, freshly dug graves in a desert region of Khuzestan. The digging of the graves was first reported earlier this week by Iran's semiofficial news agency Fars.

'Israel could go rogue on Iran in 1 yr.' 12 Aug 2010 Israel could launch a military attack against Iran within a year in an attempt to stop Tehran's nuclear program, even without a green light from the US, a report says. Jeffrey Goldberg, the author of the article published in the September issue of the Atlantic magazine, writes that "a consensus emerged that there is a better than 50 per cent chance that Israel will launch a strike by next July."

Israel to block future Gaza flotillas 12 Aug 2010 Defending Tel Aviv's deadly attack on the Gaza-bound flotilla, Israel's army chief has vowed to block future aid shipments heading toward the besieged strip. "If they come, they will be stopped by our defensive shield," Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi said in his address to the audience at the naval graduation ceremony in Haifa on Wednesday, Haaretz reported.

'Bushehr plant to come online Aug 21' 13 Aug 2010 Iran's long-delayed first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr will come online next week, a spokesman for the Russian atomic agency says. "The fuel will be charged in the reactor on August 21. From this moment, Bushehr will be considered a nuclear installation," AFP reported Rosatom spokesman Sergei Novikov as saying on Friday. "This can be considered as the physical launch," he went on to say.

2 killed, 16 wounded in violence in northern Iraq 13 Aug 2010 Two people were killed and at least 16 people were wounded in multiple bombings targeting police and anti-al Qaeda fighters in the city of Samarra, Iraq, Friday evening, according to local police. Several bombs exploded outside the house of a police officer, severely damaging his home and setting his car on fire. When police and Sons of Iraq [puke] fighters arrived at the scene and entered the apparently booby-trapped house, it exploded, wounding eight people, including two children and a woman, police said.

Amnesty International says Omar Khadr trial should not go ahead 13 Aug 2010 The rights group Amnesty International has condemned the US government for allowing the military commission trial of Omar Khadr at the Guantánamo Bay detention centre to go ahead. The group has said the trial will only prove to be another violation of human rights by the USA in the name of countering terrorism. Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was taken into US custody as a 15-year-old in 2002 while he was in Afghanistan.

NORAD-Russia hijack drill a success: commander --Dubbed Vigilant Eagle, $375,000 exercise was first of its kind 12 Aug 2010 A military exercise to gauge how well Russian and North American air forces can work together in the event of a plane hijacking unfolded without a hitch, according to a Canadian commander who participated in the drill. Col. Todd Balfe, deputy commander of the Alaskan region with the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), said the exercise "went off exactly as scripted, with no safety infractions, good lessons learned on everyone's part."

U.S. sends help as fires close in on Russian nuclear base 13 Aug 2010 The United States is sending firefighting equipment to Russia to help deal with 500 wildfires burning across the country, one of which threatens a nuclear base. The blazes have been sparked by the hottest summer ever recorded in Russia, which has seen the death rate in Moscow alone double to 700 a day. President Obama has called Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to express his condolences, and the White House said agencies including the Defence Department were airlifting firefighting gear to Russia.

As Gibbs Attacks Progressive Critics, ACLU Says Obama White House Enshrining Bush-Era Policies (Democracy Now!) 12 Aug 2010 As White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs attacks progressives for comparing President Obama’s polices to George W. Bush's, we look at a new ACLU report on how the Obama administration is permanently enshrining into law many of President Bush’s most controversial policies. The report, "Establishing a New Normal," warns: "There is a very real danger that the Obama administration will enshrine permanently within the law policies and practices that were widely considered extreme and unlawful during the Bush administration."

1 Million Strong in the Professional Left --Obama has out-Bushed Bush! 13 Aug 2010 This is a group established to oppose Robert Gibbs's use of the term "professional left," which is meant to suggest those who oppose Obama's corporatist, imperialist agenda are part of a narrow, special interest group with peculiar interests. No matter that Obama opposes the interests of the vast majority, whose interests are represented in the "left" opposition to Obama. But none of the real "left" can be seen or heard on TV. WE are the professional left, and we profess it boldly. --MDR

Report a crime and end up on a secret database: Police force has logged 180,000 names 12 Aug 2010 Tens of thousands of innocent members of the public who report crimes are having their personal details stored on a 'secret' police database. Those calling 999 about an incident or witnesses to crimes are routinely being asked for their ethnicity and date of birth, it has emerged. The details are being kept without their knowledge on a 'Big Brother' file  -  where thousands of suspected criminals' details are also held.

Israeli held in investigation of serial stabbings --Authorities probe 20 attacks, 5 deaths in three states since May 12 Aug 2010 A man suspected in 20 stabbings across three states that left five people dead was arrested at the Atlanta airport as he tried to board a plane bound for Israel, authorities said. Michigan officials said Thursday that Elias Abuelazam, 33, is currently charged with assault with intent to murder in a July 27 stabbing in Flint. Further charges are pending. A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the agency's officers arrested Abuelazam, an Israeli citizen, about 10 p.m. Wednesday night at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, as he attempted to board a Delta flight for Tel Aviv. He was handed over to the FBI and Atlanta police. [And, from that point, his Langley handlers will be taking over.]

Suspected US serial killer nabbed en route to Israel --Abuelazam was arrested carrying expired Israeli passport 12 Aug 2010 A man suspected of killing five people in a rash of 20 stabbings in three US states over three months was arrested in Atlanta as he tried to board a flight to Israel, a US official said Thursday. "He was apprehended by US Customs and Border Patrol officers and the Atlanta Police Department and arrested as he was attempting to depart on a flight to Tel Aviv," said customs spokeswoman Sandy Hasegawa. --MSNBC: Suspect lived in Virginia and had been arrested on an assault charge in Arlington, VA -- but was released.

BP to proceed with relief well after tests --Earlier this week, Allen had raised the possibility that the relief well might not be necessary. 13 Aug 2010 BP Plc will proceed with a relief well to kill its blown-out Gulf of Mexico well, the top U.S. spill official [retired Coast Guard Admiral, BP spokeswh*re Thad Allen] said on Friday. The decision to continue with the relief well came as Alabama announced it was suing BP for the "catastrophic harm" that the spill had caused the state.

New Hampshire Lawmaker Resigns After "Dead Palin" Comment 12 Aug 2010 A Democratic New Hampshire state lawmaker has resigned after speculating on Facebook about Sarah Palin's death. A second New Hampshire Democrat, an activist running for the state legislature, is apologizing for the same gaffe. Responding to a thread on Facebook, New Hampshire State Rep. Timothy Horrigan reportedly posted a message Wednesday night that read, "Well a dead Palin wd be even more dangerous than a live one...she is all about her myth & if she was dead she cldn't commit any more gaffes." Today, Horrigan posted on his website a resignation letter to the New Hampshire House speaker. [Democrats don't want Sarah Palin dead. She's their greatest asset! Without the Sarah Palin, how could they threaten their disaffected voters so that they stay in line and vote for the party? After all, what do they have to offer other than that they're not the Republicans (in name, at least)? These Republican bogeys are the Democrats' best friends. --Michael Rectenwald]

Ill.-based bank is 110th U.S. failure of the year --FDIC: Bank's failure will cost the deposit-insurance fund $72 million 13 Aug 2010 Palos Heights, Ill.-based Palos Bank and Trust Company was closed by regulators Friday, marking the 110th U.S. bank failure of 2010. Palos Bank and Trust Company had $493.4 million in assets and $467.8 million in deposits as of June 30, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said in a statement.

U.S. bailouts benefited foreign firms, report says 12 Aug 2010 The federal government's effort to stabilize the financial system turn over the US Treasury to Bush's corporaterrorist cronies in 2008 by flooding money into as many banks as possible resulted in a boon to many foreign firms and left the United States shouldering far more risk than governments that took a narrower approach, according to a new report by a panel overseeing the Treasury's $700 billion bailout fund. Members of the Congressional Oversight Panel, in a report due Thursday, note that America's broad financial rescues had more impact internationally than the narrower bailout programs of other countries had on U.S. firms.

30,000 queue for housing assistance in Atlanta 12 Aug 2010 Some 30,000 people lined up outside a local shopping centre in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday in the hope of receiving public housing assistance. The authorities were unprepared for the throng, which was unruly at times. Amid sweltering conditions, 62 people were hurt and 20 needed hospital care. Only 455 rent assistance vouchers and 200 public housing spaces were on offer - while 13,000 applications were taken. Some had lined up since Sunday for the possibility of discounted rent.

The Bush tax plan vs. the Obama tax plan in one chart By Ezra Klein 12 Aug 2010 (Chart)

Obama Signs Border Bill to Increase Surveillance 14 Aug 2010 President Obama signed into law a $600 million bill on Friday to pay for 1,500 new border agents, additional unmanned surveillance drones and new Border Patrol stations along the southwest border. The measure sailed through Congress in little more than a week with broad bipartisan support, demonstrating the pressure on politicians to look strong on border enforcement. Mr. Obama requested the funds in June, after he announced he would send 1,200 National Guard troops to support agents along the border.

Obama signs $600m US-Mexico border bill 13 Aug 2010 US President Barack Obama has signed into law a $600m (£385m) bill providing increased security along the US-Mexico border. The US Senate had reconvened on Thursday during its August recess to pass the measure. The funds will mostly be directed to activities on the south-west border, such as hiring 1,000 border patrol agents. Money will also pay for surveillance technology, including unmanned drones. A further 250 immigration and customs enforcement agents will also be funded by the bill.

KPHO: Brewer pals to profit from 1070? Posted by azdemparty 23 Jul 2010 July 22, 2010: KPHO (CBS 5) investigates ties between the Brewer administration and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) - and how the governor's rhetoric on border security may be damaging Arizona's tourism industry for the benefit of CCA. (Video)

Judge says gay marriages can start in Calif.; gives opponents time to appeal Prop 8 ruling 12 Aug 2010 A San Francisco federal judge today ruled that same-sex marriages should resume immediately in California, but put his decision on hold to give an appeals court an opportunity to consider whether to allow the marriage licenses to be issued while the legal challenge to the state's gay marriage ban proceeds. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who a week ago struck down Proposition 8 as unconstitutional, found there is no longer reason to bar same-sex couples from the equal right to wed, particularly in view of the fact that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown -- the state's top officials -- agree that the marriages should be legal right away.

California same-sex marriages 'can resume' next week 12 Aug 2010 A US judge who overturned California's same-sex marriage ban has ruled gay nuptials may resume on 18 August. Judge Vaughn Walker overturned the ban, known as Proposition 8, last week. Its proponents asked for a stay pending their appeal against his ruling. The measure had been passed by voters in the state in 2008.

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Previous lead stories: BP renewed insurance policy to cover its directors just ahead of rig explosion --BP nears deal to continue drilling in Gulf of Mexico --BP was on Tuesday night close to safeguarding its future in the Gulf of Mexico as it neared a break-through deal aimed at smoothing relations with the Obama administration. ['Break-through deal aimed at smoothing relations?' BP - and its spokeswh*re, Thad Allen -  have been in bed with Obama long before their Halliburton explosion.] 11 Aug 2010 The deal with the White House would allow BP to guarantee its $20bn (£13bn) clean-up fund against revenues from its operations in the Gulf, which account for approximately 10pc of its oil and gas business. If the deal were to be agreed, it would all but guarantee BP's future in the Gulf, despite efforts by certain members of the US Congress to force the company away from US shores. The negotiations continued as BP’s attempt fully to seal the Macondo well were hampered by bad weather, delaying drilling of the relief well by two to three days. The talks also came as it emerged that BP renewed its insurance policy to cover its directors just ahead of the explosion on the rig above the Macondo well on April 20.

BP Critic Drowns In His Hot Tub --Simmons was critical of BP PLC's handling of the Gulf oil spill and predicted the company would file for bankruptcy. 10 Aug 2010 (ME) Matthew Simmons, an energy investment banker who espoused the peak oil theory and became an advocate for alternative energy, has died at his North Haven island home, officials said Monday. He was 67. Simmons' body was found Sunday night in his hot tub, investigators said. An autopsy by the state medical examiner's office concluded Monday that he died from accidental drowning with heart disease as a contributing factor. [Not to mention, possible help from the 'Covert Affairs' team.]

U.S. commander stresses importance of funding Iraq security forces 10 Aug 2010 The outgoing commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said Tuesday that Iraqi security forces will continue to rely heavily on American funding as the U.S. troop drawdown accelerates, forcing them to take on more responsibility join al-CIAduh's 'resistance,' so that there's an outcry for the US (by the US) to stay. Gen. Ray Odierno and other American officials have been urging U.S. lawmakers to reconsider plans to substantially cut the amounts the military and State Department have requested for Iraq initiatives next year. In the budget for fiscal year 2011, the Pentagon requested $2 billion for initiatives to further equip and bolster the Iraqi forces.



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CLG Editor-in-Chief: Lori Price. Copyright © 2010, Citizens For Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved.
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