CLG News

Oil pollution fears after blazing rig sinks 23 Apr 2010 A crew member from an oil platform that sank off the Louisiana coast last night reported an initial explosion three hours before the rig went up in flames in a second, larger explosion, the Coast Guard said... The sinking of the rig could unleash more than 300,000 gallons (1,135,600 liters) of crude a day into the water. The environmental hazards would be greatest if the spill were to reach the Louisiana coast. 

Arizona immigration bill: Obama says it's 'misguided' 23 Apr 2010 President Barack Obama says the government must enact immigration reform at the national level - or leave the door open to "irresponsibility by others." Obama says a failure to act will lead to more of what he called "misguided" efforts like an immigration bill in Arizona. If signed by the state's governor, the bill would require police to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in the country illegally.

SEC Staffers Watched Porn As Economy Crashed 22 Apr 2010 Senior staffers at the Securities and Exchange Commission spent hours surfing pornographic websites on government-issued computers while they were being paid to police the financial system, an agency watchdog says. The SEC's inspector general conducted 33 investigations of employees looking at explicit images in the past five years, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. The memo says 31 of those probes occurred in the 2 1/2 years since the financial system teetered and nearly crashed.

U.S. Faces Choice on New Weapons for Fast Strikes --The final price of the system remains unknown. 22 Apr 2010 In coming years, President Obama will decide whether to deploy a new class of weapons capable of reaching any corner of the earth from the United States in under an hour and with such accuracy and force that they would greatly diminish America’s reliance on its nuclear arsenal...  the White House has asked Congress for about $250 million next year to explore a new alternative, one that uses some of the most advanced technology in the military today as well as some not yet even invented.

NATO raid kills 5 Afghan civilians 23 Apr 2010 The US-led forces in Afghanistan have killed at least five civilians and injured several others in the war-torn country's eastern province of Logar. The fatal incident happened during a pre-dawn raid on Friday against Afghan homes. Two NATO forces were also killed in the attack.

Bomb blasts kill 70 in Baghdad 23 Apr 2010 Bomb blasts across the Iraqi capital kill at least 70 people in one of the deadliest string of attacks which took its toll on Shia mosques among other places. The explosions, which ripped through Baghdad on Friday, also injured more than 180 people according to Iraq's Interior Ministry, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Obama reassures Wall Street on bank regulation bill By Barry Grey 23 April 2010 President Barack Obama went to lower Manhattan Thursday to deliver a message to Wall Street: Your profits and bonuses will not be disturbed by the regulatory overhaul making its way through Congress. In a deferential speech pitched to top bankers in the Cooper Union audience, Obama urged what he called the “titans of industry” to call off their lobbyists and “join us” in passing his so-called reform. The subtext was that the White House and congressional Democrats had already removed most of the provisions to which the bankers objected, and were prepared to go even further in accommodating them.

Federal judge in NC allows former Blackwater president, 4 others to remain free pending trial 21 Apr 2010 The former president of Blackwater Worldwide and four of his past colleagues at the North Carolina security firm can remain free as they await trial on federal weapons charges, a judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. Magistrate Judge James Gates denied the government's request to set a bond for the suspects, including a proposed $250,000 bond for former Blackwater President Gary Jackson.

Potentially deadly fungus spreading in US, Canada --Fungus is unique genetic strain 22 Apr 2010 A potentially deadly strain of fungus is spreading among animals and people in the northwestern United States and the Canadian province of British Columbia, researchers reported on Thursday. The airborne fungus, called Cryptococcus gattii, usually only infects transplant and AIDS patients and people with otherwise compromised immune systems, but the new strain is genetically different, the researchers said.

FDNY teams with Marines to stage mock suicide bomb, poison gas attacks 22 Apr 2010 The New York City fire department teamed  with Marines Thursday morning to respond to simultaneous mock suicide bomber and poison gas attacks. An FDNY team raced around the mangled shell of an MTA bus, herding wounded "victims" to a triage area as real fire burned in the street... About 100 firefighters joined 100 marines in the chillingly realistic exercise at the FDNY Fire Academy on Randall's Island.

Arizona border plan: Add National Guard, have Feds pay for it 22 Apr 2010 Gov. Jan Brewer (R) pledged $10 million in federal stimulus funds to beef up local law enforcement efforts along the Arizona-Mexico border, and called on President Obama to pay for deployment of 250 National Guardsmen to the area to combat illegal immigration. Brewer said in a Thursday afternoon news conference that she had pleaded five times in letters to Obama for a federal response to help Arizona stanch the flow of illegal immigrants across its southern border by deploying additional troops here.

Former Bush Official Charged With Contempt of Congress In Geeks On Call Case 22 Apr 2010 Former U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch was charged today with criminal contempt of Congress in connection with his notorious use of Geeks On Call to scrub his computer while under investigation for misusing his office, according to a court filing in federal court in Washington. The "information" filed today alleges that, responding to a request from the House oversight committee, Bloch failed to "state fully and completely the nature and extent of his instructions that Geeks On Call perform 'seven level wipes' on his [Office of Special Counsel]-issued computers" and the computers of two other appointees in the office. That was in late 2006.

Search Ends for Missing Oil Workers 23 Apr 2010 The Coast Guard called off its search Friday for 11 oil rig workers who had been missing since an explosion on the rig Tuesday night in the Gulf of Mexico. "We have just made a very difficult decision," said Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry, the commander of the Coast Guard’s Eighth District. "After a three-day search covering 5,300 miles, we have reached a point where reasonable expectations of survival has passed."

Pakistan allows US to question Taliban leader Baradar 22 Apr 2010 Pakistan's main intelligence agency has eased restrictions for US investigators to interrogate a top Afghan Taliban commander, officials have told the BBC. Security sources say the Americans began getting "limited access" to Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar last month.

US had 'specific concerns' in issuing terror warning 22 Apr 2010 Describing terrorism as a "shared challenge" for India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States, Washington says it had some "specific concerns" in warning Americans about possible terror attacks in well-known markets in New Delhi. State Department spokesman P J Crowley Wednesday called the warden message issued by the US embassy in New Delhi "a prudent warning" but would give few details.

US renews Syria threats over Scuds 22 Apr 2010 The United States has repeated its warning to Syria over an alleged transfer of ballistic missiles to Lebanon's Hezbollah, boasting all options are on the table. Speaking to a congressional committee on Wednesday, Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said that Washington has alarmed Damascus officials several times since late February against sending arms to the Lebanese resistance movement.

Pakistan holding thousands in indefinite detention, officials say 22 Apr 2010 The Pakistani military is holding thousands of suspected militants in indefinite detention, arguing that the nation's dysfunctional civilian justice system cannot be trusted to prevent them from walking free, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials. The majority of the detainees prisoners have been held for nearly a year and have been allowed no contact with family members, lawyers or humanitarian groups, the Pakistani officials and human rights advocates said.

'Killed,' arrested, devalued, re-arrested, 're-killed' Recycled al-Qaeda: Ayyub al-Masri 'killed' on Sunday, captured in 2008 By Lori Price, http://www.legitgov.org/ 19 April 2010 Head of al-Qaeda in Iraq 'killed in raid' 19 Apr 2010 The US said that its forces had dealt a devastating blow to al-Qaeda after the terror network’s top two leaders in Iraq were killed in a night-time raid. Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq [reported dead in 2007], and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, his close associate and the purported leader of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), were tracked to a safe house near Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown, on Sunday night. Except that... Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri captured 08 May 2008 Iraqi forces claimed tonight to have arrested the head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq during an operation in the northern city of Mosul, one of the terrorist organisation’s last major hold-outs in the country. Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the nom de guerre of Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, was captured in a joint US-Iraqi operation, according to Iraqi military sources quoted by the Arabic news channel al-Arabiya. Al-Masri's death was reported by the Iraqi military last year and later proved to be wrong. [Note: A *certain website* stole this item, including the subtitle. --LRP]

Let U.S. pay cost of Flight 253 terror trial security, Miller asks 21 Apr 2010 A Michigan congresswoman wants the U.S. Department of of Homeland Security to provide federal funds to defray any state and local costs arising from the trial of a man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound flight on Dec. 25. U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, a Harrison Township Republican and a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said struggling state and local governments shouldn’t have to bear the additional costs of security for a civilian court trial for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

'Toxic stew' of chemicals causing male fish to carry eggs in testes 21 Apr 2010 More than 80% of the male bass fish in Washington's major river are now exhibiting female traits such as egg production because of a "toxic stew" of pollutants, scientists and campaigners reported yesterday. Intersex fish probably result from drugs, such as the contraceptive pill, and other chemicals being flushed into the water and have been found right across the US.

 Lawyer: Stuck Throttle Found in Car of Imprisoned Toyota Driver 21 Apr 2010 The lawyer for a Toyota owner serving an eight-year prison sentence for vehicular homicide says a new inspection of his car found a possible fault in the car's cruise control that may have jammed the throttle into an open position. "There is enough evidence now to support a new trial," said Robert Hilliard, the lawyer for Koua Fong Lee, 32, of St. Paul, Minnesota, who was convicted following a 2006 accident that killed three people when his car slammed into a vehicle at a stop sign.

Feds launch inquiry into GOP credit-card expenses --Federal authorities have begun a probe into Republican Party politicians and officials related to charges totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars on party-issued American Express cards. 20 Apr 2010 Federal law enforcement agencies have launched a criminal investigation into the use of American Express cards issued by the Republican Party of Florida to elected officials and staff, according to sources familiar with the probe. The U.S. attorney's office in Tallahassee, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service are all involved in the probe, which grew out of the state investigation into former House Speaker Ray Sansom.

White supremacists arrested in raids after booby trap attacks on California police 21 Apr 2010 The Southern California homes of dozens of white supremacists were raided Tuesday as part of a probe into a string of potentially deadly booby trap attacks targeting police officers, authorities said. Federal and local officers converged on 35 homes and took 16 people into custody in Riverside County for a variety of crimes, including weapons, narcotics and parole violations, Hemet police Capt. Dave Brown said.

U.S. doctors, minorities still wary of shots: official 19 Apr 2010 Doctors and minorities still have a dangerous wise mistrust of vaccines that became painfully clear during the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Monday. But she said the United States had "unprecedented" levels of flu vaccination for the past season and pointed to nearly $500 million in government funding to improve decades-old influenza vaccine technology. [And, here is some of that 'improved' technology: New US vaccine production techniques: Genetically modified insect cells, E. coli, caterpillar ovaries 24 Nov 2009 'Spurred by $487 million in federal funding, a sprawling new vaccine factory is opening in North Carolina Tuesday that will produce shots using dog cells instead of chicken eggs.' --Yeah, have a little *dog* with your squalene-laden, mercury-filled, Polysorbate 80-laced flu vaccine! If the US ever tries to make this sh*t mandatory, there will be coffee parties, tea parties and every party uniting in rebellion. --LRP]

Obama suggests value-added tax may be an option 21 Apr 2010 President Barack Obama suggested Wednesday that a new value-added tax on Americans is still on the table, seeming to show more openness to the idea than his aides have expressed in recent days. Before deciding what revenue options are best for dealing with the deficit and the economy, Obama said in an interview with CNBC, "I want to get a better picture of what our options are."

AWOL soldier loses sentence appeal 21 April 2010 A soldier who went absent without leave as he was about to be deployed to Afghanistan lost a Court of Appeal challenge against his nine-month sentence today. Joe Glenton, from York, who was handed the custodial term and demoted to private from lance corporal after admitting the Awol charge at a court martial last month, was present for the ruling by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, and two other judges in London.

Deputy mayor of Afghanistan's Kandahar shot dead 20 Apr 2010 The deputy mayor of Kandahar was shot dead while going to pray at a mosque, Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said on Tuesday, the latest act of violence in the southern city where NATO troops plan their next major offensive. Deputy Mayor Azizullah Ziarmal was shot dead with a pistol on Monday evening, the Interior Ministry said.

Aoun defends Hezbollah rights to arm 21 Apr 2010 A senior Lebanese politician says Hezbollah cannot be disarmed as it is the only viable option in confronting a possible Israeli aggression. Michel Aoun, the leader of Lebanon's Change and Reform bloc, said Lebanon's Armed Forces (LAF) currently does not have necessary means to withstand any Israeli attack. In an interview with Asharq al-Awsat published on Wednesday, he said the armed forces are only equipped to quell internal strife.

US: Missile transfers could lead to war 21 Apr 2010 The Obama administration's top diplomat for the Middle East says the United States has warned Syria numerous times in recent weeks that transferring ballistic missiles to Lebanon's Hezbollah militia could lead to war in the region. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said Wednesday giving such weapons to Hezbollah would be "an incendiary, provocative action." He would not confirm reports that Syria has sent Scud missiles to Hezbollah, but he said the administration viewed the matter with the gravest concern.