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 18 Aug 2003 @ 10:17
Power Outage Traced To Dim Bulb In White House
>
> The tale of the Brits who swiped 800 jobs from New York, carted
> off $90 million, then tonight, turned off our lights
>
> [link]
>
> by Greg Palast
>
> Palast is author of the New York Times bestseller, "The Best
> Democracy Money Can Buy" (Penguin USA) and the worstseller,
> "Democracy and Regulation," a guide to electricity deregulation
> published by the United Nations (with T. MacGregor and J.
> Oppenheim).
>
> I can tell you all about the ne'er-do-wells that put out our
> lights tonight. I came up against these characters -- the Niagara
> Mohawk Power Company -- some years back. You see, before I was a
> journalist, I worked for a living, as an investigator of
> corporate racketeers. In the 1980s, "NiMo" built a nuclear plant,
> Nine Mile Point, a brutally costly piece of hot junk for which
> NiMo and its partner companies charged billions to New York
> State's electricity ratepayers.
>
> To pull off this grand theft by kilowatt, the NiMo-led consortium
> fabricated cost and schedule reports, then performed a Harry
> Potter job on the account books. In 1988, I showed a jury a memo
> from an executive from one partner, Long Island Lighting, giving
> a lesson to a NiMo honcho on how to lie to government regulators.
> The jury ordered LILCO to pay $4.3 billion and, ultimately, put
> them out of business.
>
> And that's why, if you're in the Northeast, you're reading this
> by candlelight tonight. Here's what happened. After LILCO was
> hammered by the law, after government regulators slammed Niagara
> Mohawk and dozens of other book-cooking, document-doctoring
> utility companies all over America with fines and penalties
> totaling in the tens of billions of dollars, the industry leaders
> got together to swear never to break the regulations again. Their
> plan was not to follow the rules, but to ELIMINATE the rules.
> They called it "deregulation."
>
> It was like a committee of bank robbers figuring out how to make
> safecracking legal.
>
> But they dare not launch the scheme in the USA. Rather, in 1990,
> one devious little bunch of operators out of Texas, Houston
> Natural Gas, operating under the alias "Enron," talked an
> over-the-edge free-market fanatic, Britain's Prime Minister
> Margaret Thatcher, into licensing the first completely
> deregulated power plant in the hemisphere.
>
> And so began an economic disease called "regulatory reform" that
> spread faster than SARS. Notably, Enron rewarded Thatcher's
> Energy Minister, one Lord Wakeham, with a bushel of dollar bills
> for 'consulting' services and a seat on Enron's board of
> directors. The English experiment proved the viability of Enron's
> new industrial formula: that the enthusiasm of politicians for
> deregulation was in direct proportion to the payola provided by
> power companies.
>
> The power elite first moved on England because they knew
> Americans wouldn't swallow the deregulation snake oil easily. The
> USA had gotten used to cheap power available at the flick of
> switch. This was the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt who, in 1933,
> caged the man he thought to be the last of the power pirates,
> Samuel Insull. Wall Street wheeler-dealer Insull creator of the
> Power Trust, and six decades before Ken Lay, faked account books
> and ripped off consumers. To frustrate Insull and his ilk, FDR
> gave us the Federal Power Commission and the Public Utilities
> Holding Company Act which told electricity companies where to
> stand and salute. Detailed regulations limited charges to real
> expenditures plus a government-set profit. The laws banned "power
> markets" and required companies to keep the lights on under
> threat of arrest -- no blackout blackmail to hike rates.
>
> Of particular significance as I write here in the dark,
> regulators told utilities exactly how much they had to spend to
> insure the system stayed in repair and the lights stayed on.
> Bureaucrats crawled along the wire and, like me, crawled through
> the account books, to make sure the power execs spent customers'
> money on parts and labor. If they didn't, we'd whack'm over the
> head with our thick rule books. Did we get in the way of these
> businessmen's entrepreneurial spirit? Damn right we did.
>
> Most important, FDR banned political contributions from utility
> companies -- no 'soft' money, no 'hard' money, no money PERIOD.
>
> But then came George the First. In 1992, just prior to his
> departure from the White House, President Bush Senior gave the
> power industry one long deep-through-the-teeth kiss good-bye:
> federal deregulation of electricity. It was a legacy he wanted to
> leave for his son, the gratitude of power companies which ponied
> up $16 million for the Republican campaign of 2000, seven times
> the sum they gave Democrats.
>
> But Poppy Bush's gift of deregulating of wholesale prices set by
> the feds only got the power pirates halfway to the plunder of Joe
> Ratepayer. For the big payday they needed deregulation at the
> state level. There were only two states, California and Texas,
> big enough and Republican enough to put the electricity market
> con into operation.
>
> California fell first. The power companies spent $39 million to
> defeat a 1998 referendum pushed by Ralph Nadar which would have
> blocked the de-reg scam. Another $37 million was spent on
> lobbying and lubricating the campaign coffers of legislators to
> write a lie into law: in the deregulation act's preamble, the
> Legislature promised that deregulation would reduce electricity
> bills by 20%. In fact, when San Diegans in the first California
> city to go "lawless" looked at their bills, the 20% savings
> became a 300% jump in surcharges.
>
> Enron circled California and licked its lips. As the number one
> life-time contributor to the George W. Bush campaign, it was
> confident about the future. With just a half dozen other
> companies it controlled at times 100% of the available power
> capacity needed to keep the Golden State lit. Their motto, "your
> money or your lights." Enron and its comrades played the system
> like a broken ATM machine, yanking out the bills. For example, in
> the shamelessly fixed "auctions" for electricity held by the
> state, Enron bid, in one instance, to supply 500 megawatts of
> electricity over a 15 megawatt line. That's like pouring a gallon
> of gasoline into a thimble -- the lines would burn up if they
> attempted it. Faced with blackout because of Enron's destructive
> bid, the state was willing to pay anything to keep the lights on.
>
> And the state did. According to Dr. Anjali Sheffrin, economist
> with the California state Independent System Operator which
> directed power movements, between May and November 2000, three
> power giants physically or "economically" withheld power from the
> state and concocted enough false bids to cost the California
> customers over $6.2 billion in excess charges.
>
> It took until December 20, 2000, with the lights going out on the
> Golden Gate, for President Bill Clinton, once a deregulation
> booster, to find his lost Democratic soul and impose price caps
> in California and ban Enron from the market.
>
> But the light-bulb buccaneers didn't have to wait long to put
> their hooks back into the treasure chest. Within seventy-two
> hours of moving into the White House, while he was still sweeping
> out the inaugural champagne bottles, George Bush the Second
> reversed Clinton's executive order and put the power pirates back
> in business in California. Enron, Reliant (aka Houston
> Industries), TXU (aka Texas Utilities) and the others who had
> economically snipped California's wires knew they could count on
> Dubya, who as governor of the Lone Star state cut them the
> richest deregulation deal in America.
>
> Meanwhile, the deregulation bug made it to New York where
> Republican Governor George Pataki and his industry-picked utility
> commissioners ripped the lid off electric bills and relieved my
> old friends at Niagara Mohawk of the expensive obligation to
> properly fund the maintenance of the grid system.
>
> And the Pataki-Bush Axis of Weasels permitted something that must
> have former New York governor Roosevelt spinning in his
> wheelchair in Heaven: They allowed a foreign company, the
> notoriously incompetent National Grid of England, to buy up NiMo,
> get rid of 800 workers and pocket most of their wages - producing
> a bonus for NiMo stockholders approaching $90 million.
>
> Is tonight's black-out a surprise? Heck, no, not to us in the
> field who've watched Bush's buddies flick the switches across the
> globe. In Brazil, Houston Industries seized ownership of Rio de
> Janeiro's electric company. The Texans (aided by their
> Frenchpartners) fired workers, raised prices, cut maintenance
> expenditures and, CLICK! the juice went out so often the locals
> now call it, "Rio Dark."
>
> So too the free-market cowboys of Niagara Mohawk raised prices,
> slashed staff, cut maintenance and CLICK! -- New York joins
> Brazil in the Dark Ages.
>
> Californians have found the solution to the deregulation
> disaster: re-call the only governor in the nation with the
> cojones to stand up to the electricity price fixers. And unlike
> Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gov. Gray Davis stood alone against the
> bad guys without using a body double. Davis called Reliant Corp
> of Houston a pack of "pirates" --and now he'll walk the plank for
> daring to stand up to the Texas marauders.
>
> So where's the President? Just before he landed on the deck of
> the Abe Lincoln, the White House was so concerned about our brave
> troops facing the foe that they used the cover of war for a new
> push in Congress for yet more electricity deregulation. This has
> a certain logic: there's no sense defeating Iraq if a hostile
> regime remains in California.
>
> Sitting in the dark, as my laptop battery runs low, I don't know
> if the truth about deregulation will ever see the light --until
> we change the dim bulb in the White House.
>
> -----
>
> See Greg Palast's award-winning reports for BBC Television and
> the Guardian papers of Britain at www.GregPalast.com. Contact
> Palast at his New York office: media@gregpalast.com.
> More >
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16 Aug 2003 @ 13:49
Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
August 15, 2003
[link]
-- BREAKING NEWS AND COMMENTARY--
Links to these and other stories are found on our website at:
[link]
Terror Not Ruled Out --No Signs of Deliberate Attack in Blackout, But Possibility Not Ruled Out --Despite official assurances to the contrary, could terrorists have exploited a vulnerable power grid to cause Thursday's massive blackout? While there is no indication the power grid was sabotaged, some experts caution it is too soon to rule out any possible explanation — including cyber-terror.
Power Outage Traced To Dim Bulb In White House --- The Tale of The Brits Who Swiped 800 Jobs From New York, Carted Off $90 Million, Then Tonight, Turned Off Our Lights --by Greg Palast (WebLog) "After LILCO [Long Island Lighting Company] was hammered by the law, after government regulators slammed Niagara Mohawk and dozens of other book-cooking, document-doctoring utility companies all over America with fines and penalties totaling in the tens of billions of dollars, the industry leaders got together to swear never to break the regulations again. Their plan was not to follow the rules, but to ELIMINATE the rules. They called it 'deregulation.' It was like a committee of bank robbers figuring out how to make safecracking legal."
[Ironically, the power outage began when the NYSE closed, so normal daytime trading was not disrupted. Also, the Idiot Usurper referred to the blackout as a 'rolling blackout' when he 'addressed the nation'. Rolling blackouts are considered scheduled events.]
House Commerce Panel Launches Blackout Probe --The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee said on Friday it launched an investigation into the biggest power blackout in U.S. history.
Canada says U.S. nuclear plant caused outage --A severe outage at a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant seemed to be the cause of the massive power blackout that hit large areas of North America on Thursday, the office of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said. But there were still conflicting reports on the cause. Canadian Defence Minister John McCallum said on Thursday night the U.S. military had advised him [?!?] the outage at the nuclear plant did not involve an act of terrorism or sabotage.
Canada Seeks to Explain Blackout's Cause --Canadian officials gave conflicting explanations for the massive blackout across the Northeast and parts of Canada on Thursday, blaming the outage on a fire, possibly at a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant, after initially saying a lightning strike was responsible. U.S. officials in New York and Pennsylvania dismissed both claims.
Parts of Country May Enter Weekend Without Power --Tens of millions of people struggled today to manage without electricity in the summer heat as power was slowly returning to a swath of the United States and Canada paralyzed by blackouts, including New York City, its suburbs and parts of at least eight states in the Northeast and the Midwest.
Power returning to US east coast --Electricity was today returning to some of the 50 million people across the north eastern United States and eastern Canada who yesterday suffered one of North America's worst ever power cuts.
Power Slowly Returns to Northeast U.S. After Blackout Causes Major Disruptions --A huge power failure swept through parts of the Northeast, Midwest and Canada late Thursday afternoon, snarling traffic and causing major disruptions in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, but by 9:30 p.m. power gradually was being restored.
Largest-Ever Blackout Hits Eastern U.S. --A sudden blackout robbed electricity from millions of people across a vast swath of the northern United States and southern Canada on Thursday, exposing them to stifling heat and jammed rush hour streets - and then darkness.
World Sympathy And Wisecracks for U.S. Blackout --Some people voiced admiration, others worried, and some could not help but poke fun at the world's self-confessed "superpower with a Third World grid." "Now we understand why they (Americans) have been unable to get the electricity running in Baghdad," said 47-year-old engineer Ghassan Tombin in the Gulf Arab country of Dubai.
Iraqis' 10 tips to beat blackout heat --Iraqis who have suffered for months with little electricity gloated Friday over a blackout in the northeastern United States and southern Canada and offered some tips to help Americans beat the heat.
Heat apparent cause of soldier’s death --Preliminary results of an autopsy performed on a local soldier who was found dead in Iraq last week reveal that he probably died from extreme heat, the family told The Telegraph Thursday.
Case against conscientious objector stands --A judge declined on Thursday to throw out the Marine Corps' case against an openly gay conscientious objector who claims he is being court-martialed because he publicly criticized the war in Iraq. Navy judge John A. Maksym also denied Lance Cpl. Stephen Funk's lawyer access to Marine files on who else may have been absent without leave, or AWOL, and how they were punished.
More Orwellian doublespeak from the US government: Gas riots called sign economy improving --Severe gasoline shortages that contributed to two days of rioting in Basra last weekend are at least partly the result of improving economic conditions that have boosted demand, officials say.
'It was punishment without trial' --Hundreds of Iraqis civilians are being held in makeshift jails run by US troops - many without being charged or even questioned. And in these prisons are children whose parents have no way of locating them. Jonathan Steele reveals the grim reality of U.S.-U.K. occupation justice in Baghdad.
Military Rescinds Iraq Media-Access Order --The U.S. military briefly issued an order Thursday that could have restricted journalists from accompanying American troops on all but routine missions in Iraq, including operations aimed at capturing or killing Saddam Hussein. The U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad rescinded the order shortly after The Associated Press reported on it. No explanation was given.
Military to Conduct Bio-Terror Exercise --U.S. Northern Command, which is responsible for military operations inside the United States, said Friday it will begin an exercise next week to test its ability to respond to multiple domestic emergencies simultaneously, including a bio-terror attack in Nevada. The exercise, dubbed Determined Promise '03 [?!? What Bush tool *thinks* of these names?], includes a simulated hurricane, real and simulated wildfires, an airborne terrorist threat in Alaska and an outbreak of pneumonic plague in Nevada. [Was this blackout step one of the exercise?]
U.S. Cuts Terrorism Life Insurance Plan --The Treasury Department decided Friday not to extend a federal terrorism insurance program to include coverage for group life insurance policies.
FBI attacks BBC over terrorism story --The FBI has accused the BBC of ruining an operation to infiltrate al-Qaida after Tom Mangold ran an "exclusive" 10 O'Clock News report about a missile sting. But the BBC said American broadcasters were aware of the missile story and called US government officials before Mangold's first report was broadcast in the UK at 10pm.
Louisiana GOP seeks input from White House strategist Karl Rove --In the run-up to this fall's statewide elections, Louisiana Republicans turned to top White House strategist Karl Rove for advice - and a little help raising money.
Warner Blasts Bush Dictatorship --Gov. Mark R. Warner told state labor leaders Friday that Bush dictatorship policies do little to help working men and women in Virginia. The Democrat said the Bush regime is on pace to oversee a nationwide job loss unprecedented since Herbert Hoover was president.
Bush protested at San Diego fundraiser --Dictator Bush has raised another (m) million for his re-s-election campaign at a San Diego fund-raiser. Bush's motorcade through San Diego was lined with hundreds of protesters. They waved signs with messages such as "Commander 'n Thief," "Re-elect Satan in '04" and "Bush lied, our troops died."
Three Fatally Shot in West Virginia --In shootings bearing an eerie resemblance to the sniper-style attacks that plagued the Washington, D.C. region last fall, two people were killed in separate incidents Thursday, just four days after a similar killing of another man.
GOP ponders tactic: No map, no primaries (TX) Without a quorum, Legislature can't pass a bill to delay the March vote, Democrats counter - The state's Republican leadership is looking into the possibility of postponing the March congressional primaries if the boycotting Democratic senators continue to delay the GOP effort to draw new districts. And Senate Republicans, eager to enforce fines it ordered earlier this week for the missing Democrats, today are expected to OK penalties that could include withholding the Democrats' access to conference and meeting rooms, limiting their postage, eliminating their Capitol and cutting off their cell phones. [Enough of this Reichwing Fascism. We MUST undo the Bush coup!!]
Fresno council member wrote of using 'dirty bomb' to kill liberals. Duncan's e-mail note ignites fury --Fresno residents and community leaders, outraged by an e-mail message in which City Council Member Jerry Duncan wished he had a "dirty bomb" to kill every liberal in Fresno, called Thursday for his resignation, recall or reprimand.
Unfair and unbalanced / Fox News offers proof that it's a big fat idiot (Pittsburgh Post Gazette) "The Fox News Channel is upset with Mr. [Al] Franken because of his use of the network's trademark phrase 'fair and balanced' in its title. In a suit filed in a New York federal court, Fox said Mr. Franken seeks 'to exploit Fox News' trademark, confuse the public as to the origins of the book and accordingly boost sales of the book'. Of course, it's an absurd claim."
Air Controllers Clash With White House --After years of labor peace under a friendly Democratic administration, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association has chosen to take on the Bush dictatorship over whether the Federal Aviation Administration can continue to contract out control towers at some smaller airports.
Anti-cancer drugs cut by Medicare --Cancer doctors see a coordinated effort by the White House and Congress to siphon federal money from cancer treatment and use it for prescription drugs currently not covered by Medicare.
Climate Change Becomes a Burning Issue (Inter Press Service News Agency) "Nature and the human hand came together to set off fires this summer such as Europe has not seen before. Authorities took steps to stop people starting fires, but more difficult questions arose over steps to stop global warming."
Pro-gay Scout troop loses charter --A Boy Scout troop in Sebastopol, Calif., has lost its charter in a battle over gay rights. The Boy Scouts of America pulled the charter because the troop refused to drop an antidiscrimination statement that runs counter to the BSA national policy barring gay members and troop leaders.
Garlic Truck Crashes on Pa. Interstate --A tractor-trailer hauling seven tons of garlic powder crashed on a bridge and caught fire Friday, filling the air with the odor of burning garlic and fuel.
[August 14 lead stories:] Huge power outage from NYC to Detroit to Canada --A huge power blackout hit U.S. cities spreading from New York to Cleveland and Detroit and north into Canada Thursday afternoon.
California Confidential --Who are the mystery men behind the recall push? --by Max Blumenthal "The cabal includes Kaloogian, who was a right-wing backbencher in the state Assembly, Sal Russo, who handled banker Bill Simon's hapless 2002 gubernatorial campaign, and David Gilliard, a veteran GOP strategist with a career steeped in scandal. They're joined by former Enron pollster and Republican tactician Frank [Putz] Luntz, who devised a strategy for the recall campaign centering around negative character attacks and avoidance of policy discussion... Thanks to this handful of men and the millionaires who bankrolled them, what started with a petition and a few phone calls has become an election that may unseat a twice-elected governor and dramatically affect the lives of one in seven Americans."
Schwarzenegger Outcome Could Affect Bush in 2004 --Though rumors swirl about involvement in the Schwarzenegger campaign by Karl Rove, Bush's top strategist, the White House is officially mum. Schwarzenegger's decision to join the race have buoyed the Bush campaign's hopes of a lift in 2004. "Schwarzenegger is the only candidate who has a chance to achieve what we wanted," one adviser said. Even if a Republican governor does not deliver California to Bush next year, Republicans believe it would make Democrats spend more time and effort to win the state. "We can distract the opposition long enough to make them vulnerable elsewhere on the national political landscape," said Dan Schnur, a California GOP operative.
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7 Jul 2003 @ 12:00
"A country which has dangled the sword of nuclear holocaust over the world for half a century and claims that someone else invented terrorism is a country out of touch with reality." More >
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10 Apr 2003 @ 08:01
GET READY FOR THE UNITED SOVIET STATES OF AMERICA -- by Al Martin
March 17, 2003
You will be happy to learn that the former head of the KGB (the secret police of the former Soviet Union), General Yevgeni Primakov, has been hired as a consultant by
the US Department of Homeland Security. Do you think he will share his expertise in"security" to prepare US citizens for domestic internal passports under the pretense of fighting the never-ending "War on Terrorism"?
CAPPS II is the name of the new program which is technically under theauspices of the US Department of Transporation, but that's only technical and the only reason they did that was to
use the Transportation Department s budget to buy the computer hardware and software they need.
The way it works is you give them your credit card and they slide it thorough like you would in a store and then they hit a button and the monitor reads: CAPPS II, SS CTF. The SS CTF evidently stands for State Security Citizen Threat File. But it has nothing to do with the Department of Transportation. It goes directly to a division, which has been established between the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the CIA and several other federal agencies. This is a new division, referred to as the Office of Internal Security, which is coordinating the effort to establish citizen threat files on every US citizen.
It will be a huge database including credit files, medical files,political and religious affiliation, military history, attendance at anti-government rallies, etc.
The newsclip didn't point out what information is being accessed. The only thing they'll tell you is they're going to access your credit history, but like the guy giving
the interview said they will be accessing a whole lot more. They just don't tell you what it is. When the Department of Homeland Security was asked about it, they wouldn't say but replied that it would defeat the purpose if we told you what it was we were looking for.
No announcement will be made to the public about what information exactly is being accessed or exactly how much information or what type of information is going
to be included in each citizen's security threat file.
What I liked about this segment is that they interviewed General Yevgeni Primakov, who is now a consultant to the Department of Homeland Security along with General Alexander Karpov.
Primakov was laughing about it because he's getting paid a big fee to do it. He doesn't care, of course. Primakov speaks beautiful English, as you would expect a former head of the KGB to do. When he was asked what is this CAPPS II program really about, because obviously even "terrorists" could have credit ratings.
Primakov said that this is one of the steps now being employed along with NICA and new identity
upgrade features which are coming to your driver's license. It is being used to get the people
used to new types of documentation and carrying new types of identity cards pursuant to the United States instituting a formal policy of internal passports. And
he actually used the words internal passports."
It's like he said and he was pretty knowledgeable. When the NICA (National Identity Card Act) gets passed, the Posse Comitatus Act gets overturned, a few other
pieces of legislation yet to be proffered get passed, the White House will have more control over the American people than the Kremlin had over the Russian people when Stalin was alive. He said that and then he
laughed.
What Primakov finds funny are what he calls these "right wing flag wavers" that were so anti-communist and now they're supporting a state policy of internal passports. The irony is
deafening. Old right wing farts -- turn up your hearing aids for theirony is deafening.
Primakov continued by saying that he had been hired as a consultant and he was consulting on other "security" matters, an ongoing policy in various agencies of government (some of these offices haven't even been created yet) to consistently narrow the rights of the American people and to expand the power of government. He professed not to know why,
the reason for all this was, other than he admitted that "it doesn't have much to do with 'fighting terrorism.'" In other
words, it's funny that we need a commie to come over here and tell people the truth. And remember its not just any commie, it s the former head of the KGB,
who is being for with taxpayers money from all the naive flag wavers out there.
If you think about it how ironic this whole thing is. And it's not only Primakov, who was, by the way the last general of the KGB, before the KGB was changed to RFSS.
Look who else was hired. There's General Primakov. Then there's General Karpov, former
KGB station chief of their Washington station at their embassy and the first director of the Russian Federal Security
Service.
You could call this the "Sovietization of America." Primakov said he can't wait to get on the payroll (he called it the "pay corps," referring to the Heritage Foundation, the PNAC and all the other right wing foundations in the United States) He can't get over
how many ex-KGB generals and colonels still want to come over to the United States and become consultants to get on the
pay corps.
It has been reported that Nikita Krushchev Jr works for the Heritage Foundation. Another right wing foundation has Elena Stalin. The Old Soviet Brand names are all coming to Washington to get on the gravy train and teach the Bush administration how to further restrict the rights of the
American people.
And Primakov is waiting for the USSA, The United Soviet States of America. It'll probably make him feel right at home.
Al Martin's weekly column "Behind the Scenes in the Beltway" is publishedregularly online at Al Martin Raw, [link]
More >
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13 Feb 2003 @ 12:08
"CLG News" Subject
02-13 Russian threat to block Bush Date
Thu, 13 Feb 2003 12:37:36 -0500
Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
February 13, 2003 [link]
BREAKING NEWS AND COMMENTARY- Links to these and other stories are found on our website at [link]
*Note: The CLG website is updated throughout the day, so check back often for latest news Russian threat to block Bush --Russia has threatened to use its veto to block Washington's plans for a United Nations-endorsed Iraq war, as China swung behind the European proposal to beef up weapons inspections and avoid military action. The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, told French journalists yesterday that Moscow was prepared to vote against a Security Council resolution that contained the threat of "an = unreasonable use of force".
Russia threatens to veto US war plan --For the first time, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council has warned that it might use its veto to deny the United States UN backing for a war on Iraq China may be trying to get off the fence --Is China about to join the Axis of Weasels? A telephone conversation on Tuesday night between French President Jacques Chirac and Chinese President Jiang Zemin has set off a flurry of speculation that Beijing is siding with a European = push to delay the looming American-led attack on Iraq.
Congress lashes out at 'old Europe' --US lawmakers are threatening to take retaliatory action against France, Belgium and Germany for their opposition to US policy towards Iraq. Anger with the French and German stand has led some US congressmen to call for a trade boycott of French products and the withdrawal of some US troops from Germany.
Bush Told Jordan's King he Wanted Iraq War in July --One account given at authoritative levels here is that King Abdullah decided to prepare for an American attack on Iraq last July, after a meeting at the White House with Dictator Bush. A Jordanian official familiar with that meeting said the king had asked Mr. Bush if there was any point in trying to persuade the American leader to abandon plans to topple Mr. Hussein. Mr. Bush, this official said, told King Abdullah that his mind was made up, prompting the king to shift his priorities to making preparations to cushion Jordan against the impact of a war.
US already knew of Bin Laden tape --The US knew about the latest Osama bin Laden tape five days before it was broadcast by the Qatar-based TV station al-Jazeera, according to a US intelligence source.
Group to file suit challenging Bush's authority to declare war = --Dictator Bush does not have the authority to launch a military invasion of Iraq without a congressional declaration of war, according to a lawsuit expected to be filed in federal court in Boston on Thursday.
U.S. eyes 'usable' nuclear bombs --Congressional support building for renewed testing --After narrowly failing last year, Republicans in Congress are poised to attempt the repeal of a law that prohibits the development of smaller, more "usable" nuclear bombs [?!?] --a decade-old cornerstone of America's cautious post- Cold War weapons policy.
Iraq missile systems struck --Warplanes from a US-British coalition have again attacked Iraqi surface-to-surface missile systems capable of striking US troops in Kuwait, the US military said..
Special Operations Units Already in Iraq --U.S. Special Operations troops are already operating in various parts of Iraq, U.S. defense officials and experts familiar with Pentagon planning said.
Israeli army chief predicts US strike on Iraq within two weeks --A = US-led offensive in Iraq is likely to be launched within the next two = weeks, Israel's chief of staff Moshe Yaalon said.
U.S. Dismisses Calls for Iraq Inspections --Senior Bush regime officials spoke dismissively Wednesday of European calls for more and better weapons inspections to disarm Iraq at the same time the Pentagon took = new steps toward war.
Tony Blair is a coward --by John Pilger "In my experience 'on his hands' applies especially to those modern political leaders who have had no personal experience of war, like George W Bush, who managed not to serve in Vietnam, and the effete Tony Blair. There is about them the essential cowardice of the man who causes death and suffering not by his own hand but through a chain of command that affirms his 'authority'.
Confronting Empire --by Arundhati Roy "Before September 11, 2001 America had a secret history. Secret especially from its own people. But now America's secrets are history, and its history is public knowledge. It's street talk... When George Bush says, 'you're either with us, or you are with the terrorists,' we can say 'No thank you.' We can let him know that the people of the world do not need to choose between a Malevolent Mickey Mouse and the Mad Mullahs. Our strategy should be not only to = confront empire, but to lay siege to it." [a must read]
Osama Rallies Muslims, Condemns Hussein --by William Rivers Pitt "Osama bin Laden rose from the dead yet again on Tuesday to prophesy doom and death for America. This is nothing new; he has been clawing his way out of various burial holes for seventeen months now, and always manages to strike fear into the American heart by way of the American media and the Bush administration at exactly the moment when incredibly important shifts in history are in the offing.”
10 million join world protest rallies --From Africa to Antarctica, people prepare to march for peace --Up to 10 million people on five continents are expected to demonstrate against the probable war in Iraq on Saturday, in some of the largest peace marches ever known.
War protests echo at town hall meeting --Northern Virginia residents last night turned a town hall meeting in Alexandria with U.S. military representatives into a forum to vent opposition to a possible war in Iraq. The crowd was overwhelmingly against a war with Iraq and heckled Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke and Maj. Gen. Kevin Kuklok as they attempted to explain the imminent threat Iraq poses to the United States
Council to Consider Proclamation Opposing War With Iraq --Following Chicago, Detroit and dozens of other cities across the country, a coalition of six Los Angeles City Council members introduced a measure = Friday urging their colleagues to officially oppose a war against Iraq.
Sean Penn: Iraq Stance Cost Me Role --Actor Sean Penn says his opposition to a war in Iraq cost him a lucrative movie role. The feud over "Why Men Shouldn't Marry" erupted yesterday amid dueling lawsuits in Los Angeles. Penn accuses Steve Bing of "borrowing a page from the dark era of Hollywood blacklisting" by denying him a promised role in the movie, which Bing wrote and was supposed to direct.
Danny Glover bashes Bush in Brazil --Add actor Danny Glover to the growing list of celeb Bush bashers. The "Lethal Weapon" star was in Brazil recently, where he called George W. a "racist" and blasted many = of the dictator's policies.
An Average American's Point of View --by George J. Zellers "...we are going to War. No evidence of WMD, no link to 9/11, no real threat to the US. Just lots of OIL and Daddy's unfinished WAR. Well Georgie Boy, you can't still blame Clinton." [link]
Greenspan Says Threat of War Hurts Economy, Questions Need for Stimulus Plan --Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Tuesday that uncertainties over a possible war with Iraq posed "formidable barriers" to business spending and made it tough to gauge the U.S. economy's health.
State Department Does it Again (cartoon) --by Erik P Sorensen Nuclear stand-off may go to UN --With United States support, the United Nations' top atomic energy monitoring group appears set to try to increase pressure on North Korea's nuclear program by sending the issue = to the Security Council.
CIA warns of new nuclear arms race --The world is being confronted by a new nuclear arms race that threatens to dismantle more than three decades of non-proliferation efforts, CIA director George Tenet has warned
Afghans say 17 civilians killed in US-led raids --Provincial Afghan authorities said on Wednesday at least 17 civilians had been killed in bombing raids by U.S.-led forces aimed at rooting out remnants of the Taliban
Film exposing Pentagon war crimes premieres in US --A powerful film exposing the US role in the massacre of thousands of unarmed prisoners of war in Afghanistan was shown for the first time in the United States February 6... Irish documentary filmmaker Jamie Doran said that the = evidence he has gathered, and which he will use in his upcoming sequel to Afghan Massacre, indicates that the responsibility for the war crimes in Afghanistan goes "as high as [US Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld's office."
Looming Cuts in Aid to EA As Bush Embraces Sudan --Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have all been scheduled for sharp cuts in US development aid while southern Sudanese rebels stand to receive a huge increase in such = assistance.
Troops shun anthrax jab (UK) More than half the armed forces personnel deploying to the Gulf have refused to be vaccinated against anthrax, the Ministry of Defence has disclosed.
Anthrax jabs mutiny widens amid fears of cancer, sterility (AU) The anthrax rebellion in the armed forces has widened, with another eight sailors en route to or already in the Persian Gulf refusing inoculations - bringing the total to 11. The protests have been prompted by fears of serious health problems despite assurances from the Federal Government.
Australian Sailors Refuse Anthrax Jab, Leave Gulf --Eleven Australian sailors serving on a warship in the Gulf have been sent home after refusing to have an anthrax vaccination ahead of possible military action against Iraq, officials said Wednesday.
Industries warned to protect against possible terror attack --Critical industries and key infrastructure should take steps to guard against potential terrorist attacks, including checking for possible infiltrators among employees [LOL! Forcing the TIPS program again, I see], according to a new government warning.
America gripped by fear of 'dirty bomb' attack --From the anti-aircraft missiles around Washington to government recommendations that families prepare bunkers in their homes against biological, chemical, radiological weapons, America is suffering its most acute bout of terror jitters since the attacks of 11 September.
Daschle says Americans need more than duct tape --U.S. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said on Wednesday the Bush regime must do more to protect Americans against a suspected increased risk of terrorist attacks than urge them to seal a designated room with duct tape and plastic sheets.
DoD Press Release Warns of Computer Hacking Disguised as Political Activism --"Increased tensions between America and her allies and Iraq could lead to an increase in 'global hacking activities,' the government body
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