CLG REPORT: 17 June 2011- News Updates from Citizens for Legitimate Government

News Updates from Citizens for Legitimate Government 17 Jun 2011

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Obama Overruled 2 Top Lawyers on War Power in Libya 18 Jun 2011

President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.

Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, and Caroline D. Krass, the acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, had told the White House that they believed that the United States military’s activities in the NATO-led air war amounted to “hostilities.”

Under the War Powers Resolution, that would have required Mr. Obama to terminate or scale back the mission after May 20. But Mr. Obama decided instead to adopt the legal analysis of several other senior members of his legal team… who argued that the United States military’s activities fell short of “hostilities.”

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Israeli troops cross into Lebanon 17 Jun 2011

Israeli troops have once again crossed into Lebanon in a failed kidnapping operation inside the country. Israeli troops crossed the border and entered the village of Kfar Shouba on Friday to abduct Lebanese Shepherd Ala Nabaa, a Press TV correspondent reported, adding that the Lebanese national managed to escape. Meanwhile, four Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace, flying over different parts of the country for more than two hours, a statement released by the Lebanese military read on Friday.

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Second Nebraska Nuclear Plant Threatened By Flooding 17 Jun 2011

A second nuclear power plant in Nebraska is being threatened by rising floodwaters, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a federal watchdog lapdog agency, says the plant’s owners are taking the appropriate steps to ward off danger, according to a report in the Omaha World-Herald.

The Cooper Power Station would have to go into cold shutdown should floodwaters rise an additional six feet, a prospect local officials say is highly unlikely. The Cooper plant is located 70 miles south of Omaha. The other nuclear plant at risk of flooding, the Fort Calhoun power station, is just north of Omaha.

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FAA restricts airspace over Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant, under ‘Emergency Classification’ By Lori Price, http://www.legitgov.org/ 17 Jun 2011 FDC 1/6523 –

CALHOUN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT, BLAIR, NE !FDC 1/6523 ZMP FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS FORT CALHOUN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT BLAIR, NE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 91.137(A)(3) TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS ARE IN EFFECT FOR FLOOD RELIEF EFFORTS WITHIN A 2 NAUTICAL MILE RADIUS OF 413113N/0960438W OR THE OMAHA /OVR/ VORTAC 316 DEGREE RADIAL AT 26.1 NAUTICAL MILES AT AND BELOW 3500 FEET MSL… OPPD

Declares Notification of Unusual Event –Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station will not move out of this emergency classification until it is confident the water will remain below the 1,004-foot level. 06 Jun 2011

As mentioned last week, the rising Missouri River waters have reached a level where OPPD is declaring a Notification of Unusual Event (NOUE) at its Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station. According to projections from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the river level at the plant site is expected to reach 1,004 feet above mean sea level later this week, and is expected to remain above that level for more than one month. OPPD notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and emergency management agencies in Nebraska and Iowa of the declaration.

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Japan Plant Starts Treating Radioactive Water 17 Jun 2011

A system for decontaminating highly radioactive water incorporating U.S. and French technology began full operations at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex Friday, a development that will help reduce the vast amount of irradiated water that has become a major obstacle to bringing the plant to stability. The water has flooded the reactor buildings and adjacent facilities, preventing workers from conducting necessary repairs, and has periodically contaminated the ocean through spillages.

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Marine reservist held in Pentagon bomb scare 17 Jun 2011

The decorated Marine reservist lurking in Arlington National Cemetery who prompted a bomb scare near the Pentagon on Friday morning has been determined not to be a public threat. Fort Myer police spotted and initially detained Yonathan Melaku, 22, of Alexandria, in the cemetery around 1:30 a.m., well past the normal closing time, the FBI said in a statement on the case. Melaku, a lance corporal in the Marine Corps reserves, was carrying a backpack that the FBI said “contained unknown materials which initially caused public safety concerns.”

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Man arrested near Pentagon with bomb-making materials –Law enforcement official: Officials found what appeared to be unknown quantity of ammonium nitrate 17 Jun 2011

One person was taken into custody early Friday after being found near the Pentagon with suspicious materials in his backpack, authorities said. The man was detained after he was found after hours inside Arlington National Cemetery and was initially ‘uncooperative,’ authorities said. Officers searched his nearby car, a red 2011 Nissan, but found nothing suspicious inside, said Brenda Heck, special agent in charge of the counterterrorism unit of the FBI’s Washington field office.

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CLG REPORT: 16 June 2011

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government 16 Jun 2011

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#breaking_news Lulzsec takes down the US CIA

16 Jun 2011 Lulzsec took down the CIA web site yesterday, ‘for the lulz’.

The group, which hacks or takes down up to three or more online presences a day, announced the hack last night on its twitter feed, saying “Tango down – cia.gov – for the lulz”. The apparent denial of service attack came on the same day that the hackers opened up a phone request line for targets…

This attack seems to have been a brief one and apparently took the US spooks’ web site down for only about an hour.

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CIA website hacked by Lulz Security 16 Jun 2011

The public website of the US Central Intelligence Agency has gone down after the hacker group Lulz Security said it had launched an attack.

Lulz Security has claimed responsibility for recent attacks on the Senate, Sony Corp, News Corp and the US Public Broadcasting System television network.

The CIA site initially could not be accessed from New York to San Francisco, and Bangalore to London. Later in the evening service was sporadic.

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Hackers again break into Senate website 15 Jun 2011

Hackers broke into the Senate’s public website for the second time in a week but were prevented from getting any sensitive data, a security spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The Senate’s website had also been hacked over the weekend, leading to a review of all its websites, in the latest embarrassing breach of security to hit a major U.S.-based institution. This attack was similar in that hackers broke into the public site and downloaded information, said Martina Bradford, the deputy Senate sergeant at arms.

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Secret Grand Jury Investigating War Crimes and Torture at Abu Ghraib –Subpoena: ‘

The grand jury is conducting an investigation of possible violations of federal criminal laws involving War Crimes (18 USC/2441), Torture (18 USC 243OA) and related federal offenses’ 13 Jun 2011

It has been nearly a decade since Manadel al-Jamadi, an Iraqi prisoner known as “the Iceman” — for the bungled attempt to cool his body and make him look less dead — perished in CIA custody at Abu Ghraib.

TIME has learned that a prosecutor [John Durham] tasked with probing the CIA has begun calling witnesses before a secret federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., looking into, among other things, the lurid Nov. 4, 2003, homicide.

TIME has obtained a copy of a subpoena signed by Durham that points to his grand jury’s broader mandate, which could involve charging additional CIA officers and contract employees in other cases. AP source:

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CIA drone base set for Persian Gulf region –W.House already increased numbers of CIA officers in Yemen 14 Jun 2011

The United States is building a secret CIA air base in the Persian Gulf region to target [alleged] terrorists in Yemen, The Associated Press has learned.

The anti-al-Qaida effort in Yemen is being run by the Joint Special Operations Command, the top U.S. military counterterrorism outfit, and the CIA provides intelligence support. JSOC forces have been allowed by the Yemeni government to conduct limited strikes there since 2009 and have recently allowed expanded strikes by U.S. armed drones and even war planes against [alleged] al-Qaida targets.

Secret US and Afghanistan talks could see troops, spies and air power stay for decades –Russia, China and India concerned about ‘strategic partnership’ in which Americans would remain after 2014 13 Jun 2011 American and Afghan officials are locked in increasingly acrimonious secret talks about a long-term security agreement which is likely to see US troops, spies and air power based in the troubled country for decades.

Though not publicised, negotiations have been under way for more than a month to secure a strategic partnership agreement which would include an American presence beyond the end of 2014 — the agreed date for all 130,000 combat troops to leave — despite continuing public debate in Washington and among other members of the 49-nation coalition fighting in Afghanistan about the speed of the withdrawal.

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Two Marines from Camp Pendleton killed in combat in Afghanistan 13 Jun 2011

Two Marines from Camp Pendleton commands have been killed in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced Monday. Lance Cpl. Sean O’Connor, 22, of Douglas, Wyo., and Lance Cpl. Jason Hill, 20, of Poway were killed Sunday during combat operations in Helmand province.

Former Blackwater guard sentenced for killing of Afghan civilian 14 Jun 2011

A mercenary in Afghanistan for the former Blackwater security firm was sentenced Tuesday in Norfolk, Va., to more than three years in prison for shooting an Afghan civilian in Kabul in May 2009.

The contractor, Christopher Drotleff, 31, worked as a firearms instructor for Paravant LLC, a subsidiary of Blackwater’s successor firm Xe Services. He and a colleague, Justin Cannon, who is to be sentenced later this month, were convicted in March of involuntary manslaughter.

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Pakistan ‘blocking supplies to US base’ 16 Jun 2011

Pakistan is blocking food and water from reaching a remote base used by the US for its secret drones programme, severely hampering counter terrorism strategy, according to a senior American official.

Both sides are now briefing against the other as hostility between the two countries grows more intense — and more open — day by day. A senior U.S. official told The New York Times that supplies had been choked off to the airbase and that they were gradually “strangling the alliance” by making things difficult for the Americans in Pakistan. [Great! Less eight-year-olds will have bombs dropped on their heads by USociopaths’ killer drones.]

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Pakistan arrests ‘five CIA informants’ 15 Jun 2011

Five suspected informants have been detained by Pakistan on accusations they helped the CIA monitor Osama bin Laden’s hideaway in the weeks before he was shot dead in a US raid, Pakistani and American officials said. A Pakistani official told The Daily Telegraph the group included a military officer and the owner of a CIA safe house.

No one from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency was available to comment on the allegations it had arrested the five informants.

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Pakistan Arrests C.I.A. Informants in Bin Laden Raid 15 Jun 2011

Pakistan’s top military spy agency has arrested some of the Pakistani informants who fed information to the Central Intelligence Agency in the months leading up to the raid that led to the death of ‘Osama bin Laden,’ according to U.S. officials.

Pakistan’s detention of five C.I.A. informants, including a Pakistani Army major who officials said copied the license plates of cars visiting Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in the weeks before the raid, is the latest evidence of the fractured relationship between the United States and Pakistan.

U.S. helicopters fire on attackers in Iraq oil hub: military 15 Jun 2011 U.S. military helicopters fired on suspected militia fighters in southern Iraq on Wednesday, killing one, in a rare American air strike responding to a rocket attack on an airport, the U.S. military said.

The U.S. response at Basra came at a sensitive time as Baghdad and Washington debate whether American soldiers need to stay past a planned withdrawal at the end of 2011 after they finished combat missions last year. Gunmen storm Iraqi government building after car bomb attacks 14 Jun 2011 Gunmen have stormed an Iraqi provincial council building in Baquba city – northeast of Baghdad – after two bombs exploded outside, killing at least 8 people and wounding 27 more, police and health officials said.

The attack, in which hostages are believe to have been taken, in Diyala province’s capital was the latest on a government building to test Iraqi forces as they prepare for the planned withdrawal of US troops at the year end. [US mercenaries are carrying out these attacks so that Iraq is ‘forced’ to ask the US to stay.]

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US Congress threatens to block Libya campaign over lack of consultation 17 Jun 2011

The American military’s continuing participation in Nato operations in Libya appeared to be in jeopardy last night as Congressional leaders, angered by what they say has been the White House’s refusal to properly consult them, threatened to block funding.

A row has been brewing for weeks over the perceived failure of the White House to give Congress a say in whether the Libyan action is justified.

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‘It doesn’t pass the straight face test’:

Republican Speaker pours scorn on Obama claim of authority for Libya mission 16 Jun 2011

The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has slammed President Barack Obama’s claim he can carry on military action in Libya without a vote from Congress.

The administration had claimed American forces were not facing the ‘hostilities’ that would force the President to seek Congressional approval for the campaign.

‘Yet we’ve got drone attacks under way. We’re spending $10 million a day, part of an effort to drop bombs on [Colonel] Gaddafi’s compound,’ said John Boehner (R-OH), Speaker of the House of Representatives.

‘It doesn’t pass the straight face test in my view that we’re not in the midst of hostilities.’

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White House defends legality of Libya mission 16 Jun 2011

Defying congressional criticism, the White House insisted Wednesday that President Barack Obama has the authority to continue U.S. military action in Libya even without authorization from Congress.

In a detailed, 32-page report to Congress, the White House also put the cost of U.S. military operations and humanitarian assistance in Libya at about $715 million, as of June 3, with the total to increase to $1.1 billion by early September.

The report marks the first time the administration has detailed publicly its legal rationale for continuing the Libya campaign without receiving congressional authorization within the 60-day window set in the War Powers Resolution.

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US Congress votes against Libya funding –Amendment introduced by Brad Sherman (D-CA) invokes 1973 War Powers Resolution 14 Jun 2011

The US House of Representatives voted to prohibit the use of funds for American military operations in Libya. Lawmakers adopted the amendment to a military appropriations bill by a vote of 248 to 163.

A number of members of Congress have recently expressed their dissatisfaction at President Barack Obama’s decision to go ahead with operations in Libya in March and to continue without congressional authorization.

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Palestinians say gas canisters set fire to village land 16 Jun 2011

Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters that started a fire Wednesday and burned acres of olive trees in the occupied West Bank, witnesses said. Soldiers also fired stun grenades toward fields near the village of Bil’in, near Ramallah, locals said.

Villagers tried to put off the fires, but soldiers forbade them from entering and fired more stun grenades at them. Palestinian civil defense forces sent a fire engine but Israeli forces stopped it from entering, onlookers explained. However, an Israeli fire engine was seen arriving in the same area to put out the fire.

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Assange ‘being treated like a caged animal’: supporters —

WikiLeaks associates say British government spying on him during his house arrest 16 Jun 2011

After six months under virtual house arrest, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange acknowledged Thursday that his detention is hampering the work of the secret-spilling site. His supporters accused Britain of subjecting him to “excessive and dehumanizing” treatment. The Australian is living at a supporter’s rural estate as he fights extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over claims of rape and sexual molestation made by two women. Assange’s bail conditions require him to observe an overnight curfew, wear an electronic tag and report to police daily.

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Assange marks six months on ‘dehumanising’ bail 16 Jun 2011

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange clocked up six months on bail Thursday, with the whistleblowing website slamming his “unfair” restrictions as he fights extradition from Britain. The 39-year-old is living at a friend’s mansion in eastern England, must wear an electronic ankle tag and observe a curfew as he appeals against his extradition to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault allegations. In a statement released to some media including The Daily Telegraph newspaper, WikiLeaks bemoaned Assange’s position.

“He has not been charged with a crime in any country. The conditions of his detention are excessive and dehumanising,” the organisation said.

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WikiLeaks: statement in full 16 Jun 2011 WikiLeaks has released a statement marking six months since Julian Assange was put under house arrest, setting out his defence against sexual assault claims. Today, 16th June 2011,

Julian Assange will have spent six months under house arrest. He has not been charged with a crime in any country. The conditions of his detention are excessive and dehumanising.

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House Arrest: Julian Assange By Winston Burrows (Video) 14 Jun 2011

The video depicts bail conditions of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, under house arrest and surveillance for the past six months.

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WikiLeaks witness takes the Fifth 16 Jun 2011

A friend and leading supporter of WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning said Wednesday he refused to testify before a grand jury, citing his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. David House, one of the founding members of the Bradley Manning Support Network, told reporters after his hourlong court appearance the only information he gave the grand jury was his name and address. Army Pvt. Bradley Manning is accused of leaking classified thousands of U.S. military and State Department documents to the whistleblower WikiLeaks website.

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US Postal Union Wants Letter Carriers to Fight Terrorism14 Jun 2011

As the United States Postal Service looks at ways to cut budgets and deal with declining revenue, the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers is going against the grain by suggesting the agency should be increasing the services offered, including thwarting terrorists.

President of The National Association of Letter Carriers Fredric Rolando, has several ideas to increase the responsibility of some postal workers. Among them is to outfit postal trucks with sensors so letter carriers can thwart biological terrorist attacks, according to recent reports.

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‘Violent Islam’ in US prisons to be probed 15 Jun 2011

Congress is holding the second in a series of hearings about [alleged] violent Islamic radicalisation in the US, a subject so controversial that the first event drew days of protests from religious and civil rights groups and tears from a Muslim congressman who testified about his religion.

The latest House Homeland Security Committee hearing, led by New York Republican Rep. Peter King, examines Islamic radicalisation in prisons.

Radiation “hotspots” hinder Japan response to nuclear crisis 15 Jun 2011

Hisao Nakamura still can’t accept that his crisply cut field of deep green tea bushes south of Tokyo has been turned into a radioactive hazard by a crisis far beyond the horizon.

“I was more than shocked,” said Nakamura, 74, who, like other tea farmers in Kanagawa has been forced to throw away an early harvest because of radiation being released by the Fukushima Daiichi plant 300 kilometers (180 miles) away.

More than three months after the Fukushima nuclear plant was hit by a quake and tsunami that triggered the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, Japanese officials are still struggling to understand where and how radiation released in the accident created far-flung “hotspots” of contamination.

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Traces of radiation found in 2 whales off Japan 15 Jun 2011

Japanese whalers caught two animals along the northern coast that had traces of radiation, presumably from leaks at a damaged nuclear power plant, officials said Wednesday. Two of 17 minke whales caught off the Pacific coast of Hokkaido showed traces of radioactive cesium, both about one-twentieth of the legal limit, fisheries officials said. They are the first whales thought to have been affected by radiation leaked from the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

Fukushima City to give children radiation dosimeters 14 Jun 2011

Japan’s Fukushima city is to give radiation dosimeters to 34,000 children to measure their exposure from the tsunami-hit nuclear power plant. All children aged between four and 15 will wear the devices for three months, and data will be collected monthly. The city lies about 60km (37 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi plant. More than three months on the facility is still leaking radioactive material.

Earless rabbit born outside Fukushima exclusion zone raises concerns 14 Jun 2011

An albino rabbit born with no ears has prompted new concerns in Japan about radiation levels from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The rabbit was born on May 7 in the town of Namie, which is just outside the 18-mile exclusion zone that has been imposed around the crippled plant, its owner, Yuko Sugimoto, said. The discovery has triggered new concerns in Japan about the levels of radiation released into the atmosphere since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

“I have been raising rabbits for more than 10 years and this is the first time something like this has happened,” Miss Sugimoto told a magazine.

Ft. Calhoun Nuclear Facility Flood Defenses –From the air, the nuclear plant looks like it is about to be swallowed by the Missouri River. —

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Nuclear plant built to ‘withstand 500-year flood event’ 14 Jun 2011 (NE)

The Ft. Calhoun Nuclear Facility is an island right now but it is one that authorities say is going to stay dry. They say they have a number of redundant features to protect the facility from flood waters that include the aqua dam, earthen berms and sandbags.

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Anthony Weiner Announces Resignation From Congress 16 Jun 2011

Democrat Anthony Weiner resigned today as U.S. representative from the 9th District of New York, saying the decision would benefit his party, constituents and wife Huma Abedin.

“I’m announcing my resignation from Congress so my colleagues can get back to work, my neighbors can choose a new representative and, most importantly, that my wife and I can continue to heal from the damage I have caused,” Weiner said at a news conference made raucous by loud yells from hecklers.

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Weiner Resigns Over Twitter Sex Scandal In US 16 Jun 2011

Disgraced US politician Anthony Weiner has officially resigned from his post following an online sex scandal. The embattled Congressman of New York stood before the world and once again apologised for his “personal mistakes” and the “embarrassment I have caused” before saying he had no choice but to stand down.

“I’d hoped to be able to continue the work that the citizens of my district elected me to do – to fight for the middle class and those struggling to make it,” he said. “But unfortunately the distraction that I have created has made that impossible.”

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Wisconsin Supreme Court reinstates collective bargaining law 14 Jun 2011

Acting with unusual speed, the state Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the reinstatement of Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial plan to end most collective bargaining for tens of thousands of public workers. The court found that a committee of lawmakers was not subject to the state’s open meetings law, and so did not violate that law when it hastily approved the collective bargaining measure in March and made it possible for the Senate to take it up.

In doing so, the Supreme Court overruled a Dane County judge who had halted the legislation, ending one challenge to the law even as new challenges are likely to emerge.

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Obama financial helpers obtain top positions 16 Jun 2011

Nearly 80 percent of the top donors in Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election campaign have supposedly been given top paid jobs in the White House.

An investigation, carried out by iWatch News, has claimed that around 80 percent of those who garnered more than $500,000 for Obama during his presidential election campaign have obtained key administration posts.

The news site also found that other top donors enjoyed broad access to the White House for meetings with administration officials.

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Bank of America ‘Significantly Hindered’ Review of Foreclosures, U.S. Says 14 Jun 2011

Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the largest U.S. lender, “significantly hindered” a federal review of its foreclosures on loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, the U.S. said. The bank was slow in providing data and offered incomplete information, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector general’s office, which conducted the review.

“Our review was significantly hindered by Bank of America’s reluctance to allow us to interview employees or provide data and information in a timely manner,” William Nixon, an assistant regional inspector general for the agency, said in a sworn declaration.

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CLG REPORT: ‘breaking news (Libya) – The billion dollar war’?

 

www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news The billion dollar war?

Libyan campaign breaks Pentagon estimates costing U.S. taxpayers $2 million a day

–News came as donors pledged more than $1.3 billion dollars to help support Libya’s main opposition group 09 Jun 2011

The cost of the U.S. campaign in Libya is set to exceed the $750 million Pentagon estimate set out in March, according to a leaked Department of Defence Memo.

The ‘eyes-only’ DoD dossier said the U.S. had already spent $664 million in Libya by mid-May – a running cost of $60 million a month since the bombing began in March.

At the current rate of spending, the U.S. will have to shell out at least an extra $274 million till the end of the current 90 day no fly zone extension period – brining total expenditure to a minimum of $938 million.

Libya ‘rebels’ to receive huge cash infusion 09 Jun 2011

Western and Middle Eastern countries began opening the aid spigots Thursday for Libya’s beleaguered rebels [Western-backed mercenaries, fighting for Exxon Mobil], approving measures that will immediately send at least $1 billion to the opposition and promising much larger sums in the weeks ahead.

The cash infusion came as the Obama administration took a step toward officially recognizing Libya’s main rebel group, with the State Department declaring the Transitional National Council (TNC) “the legitimate interlocutor” for the Libyan people, even as Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi clung to power.

Pentagon sees Libya military costs soar –US burning $2m a day to steal Libyan oil

09 Jun 2011 US military operations in Libya are on course to cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than the Pentagon estimated, according to figures obtained by the Financial Times…

According to a Pentagon memo which includes a detailed update on the progress and pace of operations, by mid-May US operations in Libya had cost $664m, a figure confirmed by the Department of Defence.

The document, entitled the “United States Contribution to Operation Unified Protector”, adds that US costs are running at a rate of about $2m a day or $60m a month.

Libya state TV says NATO helicopter shot down 10 Jun 2011 Libyan forces shot down a NATO helicopter in the sea off the coast of the town of Zlitan on Friday, Libyan state television said.

It quoted a military spokesman as saying it was the third aircraft to be shot down by Libyan forces since NATO began air strikes on Libya in March.

Goldman Sachs’ dealings with Libya under scrutiny 09 Jun 2011 Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and several other firms are being examined by U.S. regulators to see if they violated bribery laws when dealing with Libya’s sovereign-wealth fund, according a published report Thursday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into the firms’ relationships with the Libyan Investment Authority, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The fund, controlled by Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi, attracted banks and securities firms when it launched in 2007 with $40 billion, the Journal reported.