Citizens for Legitimate Government--October 24, 2011

McCain raises prospect of military option in Syria 23 Oct 2011 US Senator John McCain raised the prospect Sunday of possible armed intervention to protect civilians in Syria. "Now that military operations in Libya are ending, there will be renewed focus on what practical military operations might be considered to protect civilian lives in Syria," McCain told a World Economic Forum meeting in Jordan. McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's "regime should not consider that it can get away with mass murder." [Right, only the US can do that.]

Iraq rejects US request to maintain bases after troop withdrawal 21 Oct 2011 The US suffered a major diplomatic and military rebuff on Friday when Iraq finally rejected its pleas to maintain bases in the country beyond this year. Barack Obama announced at a White House press conference that all American troops will leave Iraq by the end of December, a decision forced by the final collapse of lengthy talks between the US and the Iraqi government on the issue.

Mission accomplished! Iraq, Exxon Mobil Agree to Build Oil Field Water Injection Plant 19 Oct 2011 Iraq has agreed with oil majors to build a multi-billion-dollar oil field water injection plant in the south of the country... a senior Iraqi official said Wednesday. Exxon Mobil Corp. was picked on behalf of foreign oil firms to lead the mega water-injection project, needed to boost crude oil production rates from Iraq's southern oil fields. International oil companies have expressed willingness to set up the common water injection project, and include U.K. super major BP PLC, Russia's OAO Lukoil Holding, Italy's ENI SpA and U.K.-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which is expected to join in later.

Afghanistan to back Pakistan if wars with U.S.: Karzai 22 Oct 2011 Afghanistan would support Pakistan in case of military conflict between Pakistan and the United States, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in an interview to a private Pakistani TV channel broadcast on Saturday. "God forbid, If ever there is a war between Pakistan and America, Afghanistan will side with Pakistan," he said in the interview to Geo television.

Afghan forces will take over in 3 years -- US general 21 Oct 2011 The Afghan security forces will be prepared to take the leading role in their country's security when foreign troops withdraw in around three years' time, a top US military official said yesterday. Lieutenant General William Caldwell, commander of the Nato Training Mission in Afghanistan, told a small group of journalists in Dubai yesterday that after December 2014 the role of international troops will become more advisory and supporting.

Afghan minister survives assassination attempt 23 Oct 2011 Afghanistan's Interior Minister Bismullah Khan has survived a failed assassination attempt in an area north of the capital, Kabul. Security guards have shot dead the suicide bomber responsible for Sunday's attempted assassination in Parwan, AFP reported. According to officials, the attacker attempted to detonate the explosives on a convoy of vehicles sent in advance of Khan's car heading towards Panjshir Valley.

US-led soldier killed in S. Afghanistan 23 Oct 2011 A militant attack has killed at least one US-led soldier in troubled southern Afghanistan, the Western military alliance, NATO, says. This is the second US-led soldier who has died today in what NATO calls a Taliban attack in Afghanistan.

Pakistanis protest US drone strikes 22 Oct 2011 Hundreds of Pakistanis have taken to the streets in the northwestern city of Peshawar to protest continuing non-UN-sanctioned US drone strikes in the country's tribal regions, Press TV reports. The latest protests were organized by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, the country's religious-political party. The protesters chanted anti-US slogans and condemned civilian deaths in US drone strikes. "We strongly oppose US drone attacks on our country. This is in violation of our sovereignty. I feel the military operation against Taliban militants is no solution, we should hold dialogue with Taliban militants," rally organizer Qazi Ayaz said.

Portland high schools set to permit anti-war protesters to recruit students alongside military 23 Oct 2011 The Portland school board is set to adopt a rule Monday to give "counter-recruiters" skeptical about the value of joining the military the same access to high school students that military recruiters enjoy under federal law. Instead of standing out on the school sidewalk waving signs and offering fliers, as they have done regularly outside Portland high schools, anti-war activists will be able to staff recruiting tables and hand out pamphlets in the school career center or cafeteria, just like military recruiters in uniform.

Occupy arrests mount in Chicago, Cincinnati 24 Oct 2011 Anti-Wall Street demonstrators of the Occupy Chicago movement stood their ground in a downtown park in noisy but peaceful defiance of police orders to clear out, leading to 130 arrests early Sunday, authorities said. Occupy Chicago spokesman Joshua Kaunert vowed after the arrests that protests would continue. Elsewhere, police reported 11 arrests overnight in the Occupy Cincinnati protests

Occupy Chicago protesters to spend second evening behind bars 24 Oct 2011 A group of Occupy Chicago protesters arrested Saturday is expected to spend a second night behind bars. Police confirmed Sunday that some of the protesters arrested Saturday night were also taken in to custody in the first round of Occupy Chicago arrests last weekend. Those individuals are being held for violating the conditions of their bail bond, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien. The protesters arrested for a second time are expected to remain in jail until they go before a judge, police said.

15 Occupy Philadelphia protesters arrested after blocking Eighth Street 24 Oct 2011 Philadelphia police arrested 15 people associated with Occupy Philadelphia on Sunday after blocking Eighth Street near Race Street just outside Police Headquarters. The sit-in began about 17 hours earlier as a protest march against police brutality nationwide. They were the first arrests since the movement began in the first week of October.

Occupy Oakland shuts streets, defy eviction order --'We're not leaving.' 23 Oct 2011 Hundreds of activists with the Occupy Wall Street movement marched Saturday from Oakland City Hall, snaking their way through downtown and around Lake Merritt while they flouted an eviction order. They closed thoroughfares and freeway ramps, invaded one bank and temporarily shut down another as they spread their message against economic inequality. But after three hours, they returned to City Hall, where they cooked food over open flames, danced and slid back into their tents.

30 Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested in NY 22 Oct 2011 Police in New York arrested about 30 protesters including veteran civil rights activist Cornel West during a demonstration by the Occupy Wall Street movement. A New York Police Department spokesman said the protesters were arrested on Friday because they were "blocking the entrance" of the local police precinct in New York's Harlem neighborhood. They were charged with "disorderly conduct."

NORAD intercepts two planes near US capital 23 Oct 2011 US Air Force fighter jets intercepted two civilian planes flying in restricted airspace near Washington in separate incidents Saturday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said. The breaches occurred within 72 minutes of one another, according to NORAD, the bi-national US-Canadian command responsible for the air defense of North America and responding to unknown or unauthorized air activity.

TSA VIPR Checkpoints Across Tennessee to 'Fight Terrorism' --Agents recruiting truck drivers into First Observer Highway Security Program to 'say something, if they see something' 21 Oct 2011 TSA agents are hitting the interstates to fight terrorism with Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR). Tuesday, Tennessee was first to deploy VIPR simultaneously at five weigh stations and two bus stations across the state. The Tennessee Highway Patrol checked trucks at the weigh station with drug and bomb sniffing dogs during random inspections.

Drivers face drug checkpoints on highways near Flint 21 Oct 2011 (MI) Motorists driving on expressways around Flint are getting surprised by a stunning tactic that the Genesee County sheriff has been using to fight the flow of illegal drugs -- one that legal experts said will not withstand a court challenge. At least seven times this month, including Tuesday, motorists have said they have seen a pickup towing a large sign on I-69 or U.S.-23 that depicts the sheriff's badge and warns: "Sheriff narcotics check point, 1 mile ahead -- drug dog in use."

U.S. rating likely to be downgraded again: Merrill 23 Oct 2011 The United States will likely suffer the loss of its triple-A credit rating from another major rating agency by the end of this year due to concerns over the deficit, Bank of America Merrill Lynch forecasts. The trigger would be a likely failure by Congress to agree on a credible long-term plan to cut the U.S. deficit, the bank said in a research note published on Friday. A second downgrade -- either from Moody's or Fitch -- would follow Standard & Poor's downgrade in August.

Medical help for illegal immigrants could haunt Mitt Romney --On the Republican campaign trail, he derides any such public aid. But the healthcare law he signed as Massachusetts governor allows it. 23 Oct 2011 The Massachusetts healthcare law that then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed in 2006 includes a program known as the Health Safety Net, which allows undocumented immigrants to get needed medical care along with others who lack insurance. Uninsured, poor immigrants can walk into a health clinic or hospital in the state and get publicly subsidized care at virtually no cost to them, regardless of their immigration status.

Polar bears accumulate 'cocktail' of toxins, study finds 18 Oct 2011 A Danish study of Greenlandic polar bears has found a sinister "cocktail of environmental toxins" accumulating in their bones and tissues, according to a story posted this week by University of Copenhagen. Christian Sonne, a senior scientist at Aarhus University, examined the results of polar bear contaminant research between 2000 to 2010, and then analyzed bone and tissue samples from 100 bears living in eastern Greenland, all as part of his doctoral thesis. The stubborn accumulation of organic pollutants produced by humans and transported on air and ocean currents into the Arctic has become one of the Far North's most pressing ecological concerns.

Global temperatures in September were eighth warmest on record --Annual minimum Arctic sea ice extent second smallest ever recorded 13 Oct 2011 The Earth experienced its eighth warmest September since record keeping began in 1880. The annual minimum Arctic sea ice extent was reached on September 9 and ranked as the second smallest extent since satellite records began in 1979.

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