US mulls federal troops for bird flu quarantine

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
13 October 2005
http://www.legitgov.org/
All links to articles as summarized below are available here:
http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

US mulls federal troops for bird flu quarantine 12 Oct 2005 The Pentagon is looking at the possibility of using federal troops to enforce a quarantine in the event of an outbreak of pandemic bird flu in the United States, a senior official said on Wednesday. Dictator George W. Bush said last week he would consider using the military to "effect a quarantine" in response to any outbreak of avian influenza, but provided few details. [Others mull *insurrection.* We're not going to FEMA's concentration camps, folks.] http://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities.html

Cheney's role in outing of CIA agent under examination, sources close to prosecutor say 12 Oct 2005 Cheney's role in CIA outing not known Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is trying to determine whether Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney had a role in the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame-Wilson, individuals close to Fitzgerald have confirmed. Plame’s husband was a vocal critic of prewar intelligence used by President [sic] George W. Bush to build support for the Iraq war. [Oops! *Down* goes the Bush regime and *up* goes the quarantines!]

SEC Issues Subpoena to Frist, Sources Say --Records Sought On Sale of Stock 13 Oct 2005 Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Terrorist-Tenn.) has been subpoenaed to turn over personal records and documents as federal authorities step up a probe of his July sales of HCA Inc. stock, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Anti-terror laws 'could be unlawful' --QC warns over 90-day detention plans 13 Oct 2005 The government's plan to detain terror suspects for up to 90 days without charge could be struck down by the courts as a breach of human rights, its own official anti-terror watchdog warned last night.

Government publishes anti-terror bill 12 Oct 2005 (UK) The anti-terror bill is intended to make it easier for police to arrest and question suspects who may be planning an attack but do not have sufficient evidence against them to be charged... The 90-day detention period was included in the bill at the request of the police.

Blair unveils tough British anti-terrorism laws 12 Oct 2005 Britain published sweeping plans to fight [foment] terrorism on Wednesday which, if passed into law, would let police hold suspects for three months without charge, sparking anger from senior judges and civil rights groups.

Terrorism bill 2005 (Text) 12 Oct 2005

Indonesia promises terrorism review 13 Oct 2005 Canberra has persuaded Indonesia to consider toughening up its counter-terrorism laws, and will send a team to Jakarta to discuss Australia's experiences and offer assistance.

Bush gets Homeland Security funding bill 12 Oct 2005 Congress last week approved legislation that would fund the Department of Homeland Security next year, sending it to Dictator Bush for his signature. The Senate passed the $31 billion bill by a voice vote, while the House approved it 347-70.

New York subway threat was a hoax, security sources admit 12 Oct 2005 The alleged terror threat that sparked a big security alert on New York's trains and subway last week turned out to be a hoax concocted by an unreliable [but well-paid] US informant in Iraq, it emerged yesterday.

US publishes 'al-Qaeda's letter' [LOL!] 12 Oct 2005 US intelligence has published in full what it says is a letter from al-Qaeda's number two to the man said to head the movement in Iraq. US officials insist they believe it is genuine and recent. But it is impossible to check that independently.

If the 2000 election was not stolen... Al Gore: "We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people. We would be a different country." 12 Oct 2005 President Al Gore said Wednesday he had no intention of ever running for president again, but he said the United States would be "a different country" if he had won the 2000 election, launching into a scathing attack of the Bush regime.

Torture and the "Controversial" Arc of Injustice 09 Oct 2005 "Torture. Controversial. In 2005 -- not 1505, 1705 or 1905 -- in the 21st century, in a country that claims to be at the world’s vanguard of democracy and human rights... Should the U.S. military be engaging in torture? Evidently, such questions are now controversial. That should tell us something about the news media’s current political climate in the United States of America."

CIA faults Iraq prewar plans 12 Oct 2005 A newly released report published by the CIA rebukes the Bush administration for not paying enough attention to prewar intelligence that predicted the factional rivalries now threatening to split Iraq.

Iraq stability could take 10 years: Jack Straw 13 Oct 2005 Iraqis may have to wait up to 10 years before their country becomes a stable democracy, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said.

Australian troops under fire in Iraq 13 Oct 2005 Unidentified gunmen have opened fire on Australian soldiers patrolling near Iraq's southern city of Samawah, the chief of the Australian Defence Force said today.

The death squads of Iraq By Truth_About_Iraqis 12 Oct 2005 "Don't tell me terrorists destroyed Iraq. Oh, wait, you meant the illegal invaders, the foreign occupiers. The ones wearing the stars and stripes on their sleeves, the ones wearing the union jack. Yes, they are terrorists and they have destroyed Iraq. They started destroying Iraq in 1990 and it hasn't stopped. Yes, I worry about all my people from these terrorists... You created a battleground in my front yard and a morgue in the backyard for my children, my sisters and my brothers."

U.K. Troops May Have to Go Without Equipment, Lawmakers Say 13 Oct 2005 The U.K. armed forces have to operate older, less-capable equipment as delays and cost overruns strain the defense budget, a group of British lawmakers said. The Ministry of Defence's "performance on delivering equipment to cost and to time is disappointing,'' the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee said in an e-mailed statement today.

Britain says Iran training Iraqi bombers: papers 11 Oct 2005 Britain has accused Iran of running training camps to teach militants how to carry out roadside bomb attacks on British troops in southern Iraq [?!?], according to newspaper reports on Wednesday.

Syrian interior minister 'commits suicide' 12 Oct 2005 One of the most senior members of the Syrian government has committed suicide [?!?] days before the publication of a UN report into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, it was reported today.

Chavez kicks out U.S. evangelists for spying 12 Oct 2005 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday ordered U.S. New Tribes evangelical missions working with indigenous groups to leave the country after accusing them of "imperialist infiltration" and spying. [We don't want them in the U.S., either.]

DARPA Autonomous Vehicle Race Proves What's Possible 12 Oct 2005 Five unmanned vehicles crossed the finish line last weekend after a 132-mile race through the Mojave Desert... The DARPA Grand Challenge was the first race of its kind in which autonomous ground vehicles used nothing but onboard sensors and navigation equipment to steer themselves along the desert course in under 10 hours.

ABC Investigation Finds Gaping Lapses in Security at Nuclear Reactors 12 Oct 2005 A four-month ABC News investigation found gaping security holes at many of the little-known nuclear research reactors operating on 25 college campuses across the country. Among the findings: unmanned guard booths, a guard who appeared to be asleep, unlocked building doors and, in a number of cases, guided tours that provided easy access to control rooms and reactor pools that hold radioactive fuel...

Professor slams intelligent design in Penn. schools 12 Oct 2005 A professor on Wednesday slammed the teaching of intelligent design as a blow to science education as he testified in a lawsuit over whether the theory should be introduced in schools as an alternative to evolution.

Contempt Finding Is Lifted in Case of Times Reporter 13 Oct 2005 A federal district judge here lifted a contempt order Wednesday against Judith Miller, a 'reporter' for The New York Times [the GOP], after she testified before a grand jury investigating the C.I.A. leak case about recently discovered notes relating to a conversation she had with a senior White House official.

Reporter testi-lies over CIA leak 12 Oct 2005 A New York Times 'reporter' has appeared for the second time before a grand jury investigating the leaking of the identity of a secret CIA agent. Bush media whore Judith Miller is reported to have found [?!?] notes about previously undisclosed talks with a vice-presidential aide.

N.Y. Times 'frustrated' by Miller story 12 Oct 2005 Now that New York Times 'reporter' Judith Miller has testified again in the investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's name, many are wondering when the newspaper will publish the detailed account it has promised on their own reporter's [sic] role in the case.

AP: Frist accumulated stock outside trusts 11 Oct 2005 Outside the blind trusts he created to avoid a conflict of interest, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist earned tens of thousands of dollars from stock in a family-founded hospital chain largely controlled by his brother, documents show.

Scalia Turns Journalists Away From Speech Wednesday 12 Oct 2005 In Washington, journalists were turned away from Supreme Court injustice Antonin Scalia's speech to life insurance executives... Scalia talked about gossip-seeking reporters during a court argument about free speech rights. A court spokeswoman said the speech should have been open to some reporters.

You're cool, court nominee told Bush in private letter 12 Oct 2005 The Guardian George Bush's already uphill struggle to put his nominee, Harriet Miers, in the supreme court got harder yesterday with the publication of personal correspondence that added weight to charges of cronyism. Notes that Ms Miers sent to Mr Bush in the late 1990s, when he was Texas governor and she was his personal lawyer and the head of the state lottery commission, range from deferential to fawning.

Bush approval dips below 40 percent --NBC-WSJ poll shows only 28 percent believe U.S. headed in right direction 12 Oct 2005 For the first time in the poll, Bush’s approval rating has sunk below 40 percent, while the percentage believing the country is heading in the right direction has dipped below 30 percent. In addition, a sizable plurality prefers a Democratic-controlled Congress, and just 29 percent think Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers is qualified to serve on the nation’s highest court.

Bush Panel May Curb Tax Breaks for Homeowners, Health 11 Oct 2005 pResident George W. Bush's tax advisory panel, rejecting a fundamental overhaul, agreed to recommend limiting tax breaks for homeowners and employer- provided health-care benefits to help pay for repealing the alternative minimum tax.

States Aim to Protect Poor From Heat Bills 13 Oct 2005 With fuel bills expected to rise sharply this winter, states are setting aside extra money for the poor, dispensing energy-conservation tips and pleading for federal aid to help Americans keep the heat on when the weather turns cold.

Great Lakes activists say Bush waffling on cleanup 13 Oct 2005 In an executive order last year, pResident Bush set in motion a state-federal effort to rid the Great Lakes of invasive species, toxic pollutants, raw sewage and other environmental threats. Now after the leak of an internal report that doused a $20 billion cleanup strategy, the administration faces a mini-tempest over the degree of Bush's commitment to saving the lakes.

Halliburton gets another Hurricane Katrina contract for $33 million 12 Oct 2005 The U.S. Navy awarded $33 million to Halliburton for 'clean-up' work at naval air stations damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the Department of Defense announced last night. The money will be added to the $12 million awarded to Halliburton on August 29, the day Katrina made landfall. Both awards, totalling $45 million, require the company to repair structures and remove debris at naval air stations in Pascagoula and Gulfport, Mississippi and in Louisiana.

Oops! 400-500 gallons of acid spills from Halliburton truck onto highway 12 Oct 2005 Authorities in Mesa County are working to clean up hundreds of gallons of acid that fell from a truck early Wednesday morning. Assistant fire chief Greg Martin says two containers carrying the acid belonging to the Halliburton Company fell off a truck on Colorado 141 about a mile-and-a-half south of Interstate 70. [Maybe they can take some of the *$33 million* and use it to clean up after *themselves,* prior to going to the Gulf Coast.]

Mobile Homes, Campers Wait at FEMA Sites 12 Oct 2005 More than 9,000 mobile homes and campers meant for the victims of Hurricane Katrina are sitting unused at government staging areas while displaced families continue to live out of tents and shelters.

FEMA to rebid four large contracts --Few deals went to minority or local businesses 12 Oct 2005 Under fire for awarding large noncompetitive hurricane recovery contracts that included few local or minority-owned businesses, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Tuesday it will rebid four large jobs.

Katrina evacuee shot to death in Houston 12 Oct 2005 A Hurricane Katrina evacuee was found shot to death at his southwest Houston apartment this morning. Investigators found no signs of forced entry and have no suspects in the case.

Abuse, Forced Labor Rampant in New Orleans Justice System By Jessica Azulay 12 Oct 2005 The videotaped beating of a New Orleans resident offers but a small sample of the widespread brutality, deprivation and railroading that have come to characterize the city’s response to alleged crimes.

Italy police on trial for G8 abuse 12 Oct 2005 Forty-five police, prison guards and medical staff went on trial on Wednesday, accused of beating and abusing protesters detained after outbreaks of [police-generated] violence during a summit of major world leaders in Genoa in 2001.

Lawyer: Ailing Vet Deported From Canada 13 Oct 2005 An Army veteran who fled to Canada to avoid prosecution for growing marijuana to treat his chronic pain was yanked from a hospital by Canadian authorities, driven to the border with a catheter still attached, and turned over to U.S. officials, his lawyer says. "This is totally inhumane. He's been tortured for days for no reason," attorney Douglas Hiatt said.

Experts call for creating US bird flu czar 12 Oct 2005 The United States needs a top official, backed by authority and cash, to prepare for a possible bird flu pandemic, experts said on Wednesday.

Scientists warn of possibility of drug-resistant avian flu 11 Oct 2005 US scientists warn that a drug-resistant Avian flu strain could arise with unrestrained and improper use of available drugs. The warning came as governments around the world are stockpiling [useless] antiviral drugs and the H5N1 avian flu strain threatens to break out into a flu pandemic.

U.S. airlines on guard for bird flu 12 Oct 2005 The airline industry is monitoring the burgeoning threat of bird flu but plans to wait before instituting any special precautions to guard against the spread of the disease.

World temperatures keep rising --Climate data show 2005 on track to be hottest on record 13 Oct 2005 New international climate data show that 2005 is on track to be the hottest year on record, continuing a 25-year trend of rising global temperatures.

[12 Oct lead stories:] Bird flu could be used as a weapon 12 Oct 2005 Counter-terrorism authorities have drawn up plans to defend Australia against terrorists spreading avian influenza. The National Counter Terrorism Committee has included the use of bird flu strain H5N1 as a weapon in possible terrorism attack scenarios, Attorney-General Philip Ruddoc