*Runaway* bride? Why don't you cover *runaway* deaths in Iraq, *runaway* health insurance costs *runaway* Neo-CONmen, *runaway* Exxon Mobil/shell profits, *runaway* imperialistic policies of the Bush regime

News Update from Citizens for Legitimate Government
02 May 2005
http://www.legitgov.org/ 

Tsunami Victims Face Land Grab 02 May 2005 --Thousands of Thais in the six provinces hit by the December 2004 tsunami are now threatened with eviction from land the government or private enterprises claim is not theirs. Many say they could lose property or homes where their families lived for decades, if not centuries. ...Intimidation has been incessant. Recently, five men fired gunshots into the air to scare away Thais and foreign volunteers who came to help residents rebuild their houses, the villagers said. 

GOP Wins Election Challenge in Washington --The Republicans won an important victory Monday in their legal challenge to the election of Gov. Christine Gregoire when a judge allowed them to use a type of statistical analysis to try to prove illegal votes swayed the race. Republican Dino Rossi is trying to have the election results from November declared invalid. 

Polio Detected in Indonesia, Indicating It Crossed an Ocean 02 May 2005 --A case of polio has been detected in Indonesia [Gee, right after the U.S. military showed up to 'help,' in the aftermath of the tsunami. Holy coincidence, Batman!], World Health Organization officials said today. The virus, found in a village in Java, is most closely related to a strain that was found in Saudi Arabia in December, they said, and the most likely explanation is that it was brought back either by an Indonesian working there or by a pilgrim [?!?] who went to Mecca in January.[Yeah, the *pilgrim* from Fort Detrick.]

Mutated virus raises bird-flu danger level 03 May 2005 --Deadly bird flu is mutating to spread from person to person, bringing a disastrous global pandemic closer, experts fear. The bird flu virus - codenamed H5NI - has crossed the first two barriers, and experts fear it is now about to breach the third. 

Avian flu pandemic could be massive disaster - and few are noticing 01 May 2005 --by Tom Saler "Experts are unsure if the bird flu virus will mutate enough to facilitate easy person-to-person transmission. ...According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, even a 'medium-level' pandemic in the United States could infect about one-third of the population and cause up to 200,000 deaths. If that same infection rate were applied globally, roughly 2 billion people would fall ill; assuming a mortality rate of just 1% (down from the current 67%), that translates to 20 million fatalities."

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
03 May 2005 
http://www.legitgov.org/ 

Bomb attacks on the rise as 'New Baath party' is born --The scale of the continuing violence in Iraq over the past year was underlined by a US report... that reveals there were 15,527 attacks on occupation forces, largely American, from July 2004 to late March 2005... The report was first issued by the US in a heavily censored form with sensitive information blocked out. But an Italian computer specialist discovered that the censorship was easy to remove. The picture painted by the uncensored military report is in sharp contrast to the more optimistic views given by the Pentagon to the US media.

Halliburton trolling for more corporate welfare: Bush's media whores at the NYT publish lead article regarding Iraq's 'lagging oil production' --A Promise Unfulfilled: Iraq's Oil Output Is Lagging --Two years after Saddam Hussein was toppled, production is limping along at about two million barrels a day, less than before the war, and even at that rate it may be causing long-term damage to poorly maintained fields. American officials had hoped that output at this stage would be at three million barrels a day, generating badly needed funds for reconstruction. ...Despite close to $2 billion worth of American corporate welfare ['technical aid'] to the oil sector has brought only limited gains. [LOL, why, let's give even *more* money to Halliburton, to 'upgrade' the oil fields - only to have Negroponte's terror teams blow them up, again!! See: Shell profit at £1.6m an hour 29 April 2005 --Shell yesterday reported an "excellent" first quarter [*duh*] with a strong financial performance across its businesses. The oil giant, which reported the biggest annual profits in UK corporate history in February, said its income had risen by 42% to $6.7bn (£3.5bn) in the period.]

These are Blair's last days --Iraq is our greatest foreign policy calamity in modern history and the reckoning has only just begun --by George Galloway "When I first called the prime minister a liar on air over his repeatedly denied plans to invade Iraq - in the wake of the Texas meeting with George Bush in spring 2002 - the BBC presenter was aghast at my presumption. Today there can scarcely be a sentient being in the land who would disagree... He lied, and more than 100,000 died: the real blood price of his grotesque special relationship with Bush... There was no al-Qaida in Iraq before the arrival of US and British troops. Now fundamentalists are descending like spores of anthrax on the gaping wounds torn open by the war. It is without doubt the biggest foreign policy calamity in modern history." [a must read] 

130 dead since Thursday in Iraq --In latest attack, 6 killed in car bombing in Baghdad --A car bomb exploded in an upscale shopping district of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least six Iraqis and setting fire to an apartment building, in a surge of violence that has left at least 130 people dead since a new government was formed last week.

Car bombs strike Baghdad, killing eight --Three car bombs have killed at least eight people in Baghdad on Monday. The blasts targeted an Interior Ministry official, policemen and a busy shopping district, police said. 

U.S. soldier killed by roadside bomb in Iraq --One soldier from the 1st Corps Support Command was killed and another injured by an improvised explosive device (IED) at the Baghdad International Airport on Monday, the U.S. military said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Blair faces Iraq families' anger --The wife of the latest British soldier to be killed in Iraq has blamed Tony Blair for his death. Guardsman Anthony Wakefield was killed by a roadside bomb on Monday. His wife, Ann Toward, said Mr Blair should not have sent him to war. 

Bomb kills British soldier on Iraq patrol --A Coldstream Guardsman was killed and another injured by the blast of a roadside bomb in southern Iraq late yesterday, the Ministry of Defence said. The dead soldier was named as Guardsman Anthony John Wakefield, 24, from Newcastle upon Tyne, who was married with three children. 

Two U.S. F-18s reportedly collide over Iraq --Navy officials said Monday that two F-18 fighter jets apparently were involved in an "air-to-air collision" [?!?] over southern Iraq. There was no immediate word on the fate of the crew members. 

Downer asks UN to assist in Australian hostage release --Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has asked the United Nations to assist in securing the release of an Australian held hostage by insurgents in Iraq. 

Italy Rebuts U.S. Report That Cleared G.I.'s in Killing --Italy on Monday issued a strongly worded rebuttal to an American report clearing United States soldiers of responsibility for the shooting death of an Italian intelligence agent at a roadblock in Iraq, saying "inexperience and stress" on the part of the soldiers were major reasons for the agent's death.

US guard England admits guilt in Iraq abuse --U.S. Army reservist Lynndie England, the woman pictured holding a naked Iraqi on a leash at Abu Ghraib prison, pleaded guilty to abusing prisoners on Monday and said what she did was morally wrong. 

Dereliction of Duty Regarding Iraq --by Scott Ritter "In the months that have passed since Iraq's much-hyped democratic elections, one word keeps creeping into my mind as I assess the tragic events unfolding in Mesopotamia today: Vietnam."

Pentagon Says Iraq Effort Limits Ability to Fight Other Conflicts --The concentration of American troops and weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan limits the Pentagon's ability to deal with other potential armed conflicts, the military's highest ranking officer reported to Congress on Monday. 

New to Market: Alliant delivers weapon system to Army --Alliant Techsystems Inc. delivered the first six prototype XM25 advanced air-bursting weapon systems to the U.S. Army for field testing. The XM25 fires a high-explosive air-bursting 25-millimeter round capable of reaching an enemy behind a wall, inside a building or in a foxhole. 

Cache Explodes in Afghanistan, Killing 34 --A cache of explosives stored at a former commander's house exploded Monday in a village in northern Afghanistan, destroying much of the village, killing 34 people and injuring 16, most of them women and children, local officials said. 

Army Misses Its Recruiting Goal Again --The Army missed its recruiting goal in April, marking the third consecutive monthly shortfall.

High Court to Review Ban on Campus Recruiters --The Supreme Court announced today that it would decide whether some law schools may curb military recruiters' access to their students in protest of the U.S. armed forces' ban on openly homosexual members. 

Army Recruiters Say They Feel Pressure to Bend Rules --Interviews with more than two dozen recruiters in 10 states hint at the extent of their concern, if not the exact scope of the transgressions. Several spoke of concealing mental-health histories and police records. They described falsified documents, wallet-size cheat sheets slipped to applicants before the military's aptitude test and commanding officers who look the other way. 

North Korea Calls U.S. 'Kingpin' of Terrorism --North Korea described the U.S. as "the kingpin of state-sponsored terrorism,'' a day after the U.S. government said North Korea launched a short-range missile into the Sea of Japan. [Well-said!]

Rice warns North Korea of American might --Secretary of State [and Reichwing whackjob] Condoleezza Rice yesterday issued a blunt warning to North Korea, which test-fired a missile on Sunday, that the United States can "deter whatever the North Koreans are up to." 

Rice to N. Korea: U.S. Can Defend Itself --Talking tough, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice informed North Korea on Monday the United States is able to defend itself and its allies against nuclear and missile threats. 

3 Ex-Officials Describe Bullying by Bolton --Three former senior government officials have provided new accounts of what they described as bullying and intolerance shown by John R. Bolton to subordinates and other officials who disagreed with his views on policy and intelligence matters.

O.A.S. to Pick Chile Socialist U.S. Opposed as Its Leader --In a rebuff to the Bush regime's efforts to press Latin America to take a tougher stance on Cuba and Venezuela, a Chilean Socialist emerged Friday as the consensus choice to become secretary general of the Organization of American States. 

Chavez's Popularity at 70 Percent --A newly released poll gives President Hugo Chavez a 70-percent approval rating among Venezuelans, but his 'critics' [U.S. corpora-terrorists] are increasingly asking where his plans for a new brand of "socialism" will take the country's economy. 

Venezuela's Chavez Vows to Fund Companies That Empower Workers --Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his government will help finance companies in need of investment that give workers a bigger role in management. 

U.S. Called Unprepared For Nuclear Terrorism --Experts Critical of Evacuation Plans --More than 3 1/2 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the U.S. government has failed to adequately prepare first responders and the public for a nuclear strike, according to emergency preparedness and nuclear experts and federal reports. Two closely held government reports obtained by The Washington Post describe in chilling detail the effects of a nuclear detonation, using the scenario of a strike on Washington. They make clear the need for split-second execution by top officials of the Department of Homeland Security... [This means, Bush would have to actually stop reading My Pet Goat, put the book down, and not continue sitting for a twenty-minute photo op, during the next attack.]

Cheney says al Qaeda is still 'very active' [He should know - it's his crew.] Al Qaeda is still "very active" recruiting and seeking to attack the United States, although it has been hurt since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, Vice pResident Dick Cheney said on Monday. 

(Flashback) UK Hijack 'suspects' alive and well Sunday, 23 September, 2001, 12:30 GMT 13:30--Another of the men named by the FBI as a hijacker in the suicide attacks on Washington and New York has turned up alive and well. The identities of four of the 19 suspects accused of having carried out the attacks are now in doubt. 

Secret Service Searches Home of Protester --Renee Jensen of Elkins, West Virginia, likes to express herself. She has put up as many as a dozen signs in her yard over the past year, protesting the war in Iraq, Bush and Cheney, and the crackdown on civil liberties. In the fall, the Secret Service gave her a call... Then on January 11, she had some unexpected visitors.

Congress May Require Closer Scrutiny to Get a Driver's License --Congress is moving quickly toward setting strict rules on how states issue driver's licenses, requiring them to verify whether each applicant for a new license or a renewal is in this country legally. ...Civil rights organizations and privacy advocates say that they are concerned that a standardized driver's license would amount to a national identification card and that a central database would be vulnerable to identify theft.

Evolution on trial as Kansas debates Adam vs Darwin --Evolution is going on trial in Kansas. Eighty years after a famed courtroom battle in Tennessee pitted religious beliefs about the origins of life against the theories of British scientist Charles Darwin, Kansas is holding its own hearings on what school children should be taught about how life on Earth began. 

GOP Wins Election Challenge in Washington --The Republicans won an important victory Monday in their legal challenge to the election of Gov. Christine Gregoire when a judge allowed them to use a type of statistical analysis to try to prove illegal votes swayed the race. Republican Dino Rossi is trying to have the election results from November declared invalid. [So are we, whackjob, so are we --the presidential coup d'etat. While we're at it, we need to have the results from the *2000* coup d'etat declared invalid, as well.]

Frist Protest at Princeton Is Lesson in Art of the Filibuster --If only Senate filibusters were this enlightening. Princeton University students and faculty have been talking round-the-clock to protest the legislative strategy of a famous alumnus and benefactor, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Cat Torturer-Tenn.). [See: Dr. Bill Frist, Moral Monster: He'd Do Anything for Pussy --by Alexander Cockburn]

House approves Medicaid changes that would hit poor, disabled (FL) Spending caps on the health care coverage they'll receive each year. Limits on the number and types of medications prescribed. No assurance of getting to see a physician of their choice. Poor and disabled Floridians - beginning with 227,000 of them who live in Broward County - would face harsh changes under a restructuring of the state's Medicaid program that the Florida House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved Monday. 

House-Senate committee agrees on Medicaid budget cuts --Missouri state officials estimate the budget would eliminate Medicaid coverage for about 90,604 low-income parents, seniors and disabled over the next year. Numerous others would be forced to pay more out of their pockets through premiums, co-payments and personal medical expenses. Hundreds of thousands of adults remaining on Medicaid would have their benefits cut. 

DHHR plans to reshape Medicaid to cut costs (WV) Medicaid recipients would receive only the services they need and would have to show up for medical appointments under a proposed restructuring aimed at cutting costs. 

State increases Medicaid co-pays --Many to owe more for certain drugs --About half of Kentucky's nearly 700,000 Medicaid recipients will pay as much as $2 more for each brand-name prescription drug they order because of changes intended to save the state money. 

House cuts target Montana's poor 18 April 2005 --Hundreds of Montana residents could lose their food stamps, medical care and welfare checks if the House goes forward with a proposal to cut funding for federal programs for the poor... Montana's Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, who voted against the Medicaid cuts, said program supporters can't sit back and relax. 

Governor Asks Hospitals to Cut $21 Million In Spending to Help Reduce Deficit --Paul Bengtson, CEO of Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital, will head up an effort by Vermont's hospitals to reduce their Medicaid spending.

Ducks Move Upstream From Treasury Dept. --The Treasury duck has been moved from her prime nesting spot in the midst of heavy tourist traffic a block from the White House to a more peaceful setting along a quietly flowing stream. 

Treasury Duck Hatches Ducklings --The Treasury ducklings are hatching. The brown mallard duck, which became Washington's newest tourist attraction a block away from the White House, began hatching her ducklings Saturday afternoon. The Secret Service uniformed division, which normally guards the pResident and other dignitaries, has been protecting the duck and her nest since she laid her eggs in early April, keeping the mother duck safe from throngs of tourists who stopped to snap pictures.

[02 May lead stories:] U.S. may allow nuke strikes over WMD --Proposal would reverse 10-year policy --The March 15 paper, drafted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is titled "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations," providing "guidelines for the joint employment of forces in nuclear operations . . . for the employment of U.S. nuclear forces, command and control relationships, and weapons effect considerations." "There are numerous nonstate organizations (terrorist, criminal) and about 30 nations with WMD programs, including many regional states," the paper says in recommending that commanders in the Pacific and other theaters be given an option of pre-emptive strikes against "rogue" states and terrorists and "request presidential approval for use of nuclear weapons" under set conditions. The paper identifies nuclear, biological and chemical weapons as requiring pre-emptive strikes to prevent their use. 

Draft U.S. paper allows commanders to seek preemptive nuke strikes 01 May 2005 (Kyodo) The U.S. military plans to allow regional combatant commanders to request the president for approval to carry out preemptive nuclear strikes against possible attacks on the United States or its allies with weapons of mass destruction, according to a draft new nuclear operations paper. The paper, drafted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces, also revealed that submarines which make port calls in Yokosuka, Sasebo and Okinawa in Japan are prepared for reloading nuclear warheads if necessary to deal with a crisis. 

Revealed: Blair to upgrade Britain's nuclear weapons --PM secretly signs up to new deterrent as UN tries to cut global threat --Tony Blair has secretly decided that Britain will build a new generation of nuclear 'deterrent' to replace the ageing Trident submarine fleet at a cost of more than £10bn - a move certain to dismay thousands of Labour Party loyalists in the approach to polling day.