Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government
04 Jan 2008 http://www.legitgov.org/ All items are here:

http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news A Historic Victory (and a
New Dynamic Duo) --The Rec Report By Dr. Michael Rectenwald 04 Jan
2008 Barack Obama has already made history. If he goes on to win
the presidency, he will make even greater history by being the first
black President of the United States. This possibility makes tonight
one of the most historic moments in centuries.

Iowa upsets deliver wins for Huckabee and Obama 04 Jan 2008 Barack
Obama swept away any sense of inevitability about Hillary Clinton's
march to the White House last night, scoring an upset victory in
the Iowa caucuses that dramatically alters the Democratic race.
Republican voters also rejected the established order, awarding a
convincing victory to Mike Huckabee, the Baptist preacher who until
two months ago was a virtual unknown outside his native Arkansas.

Huckabee and Obama win Iowa caucuses 04 Jan 2008 Democrat Barack
Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee swept to victory Thursday night
in the Iowa caucuses, dispatching their more established rivals and
shredding any sense of inevitability in the 2008 presidential race.

What America saw this morning: Hope By Sam Graham-Felsen 04 Jan
2008 Barack Obama's victory last night was nothing short of historic.
Here are some of the front pages from newspapers around the country.

"I see in America, where Exxon Mobil's profits were 40 billion
dollars in one year. 35 Million people went hungry last year, in
the richest nation in the world." --John Edwards, in Iowa speech

Edwards Makes His Case to N.H. Voters 04 Jan 2008 Democratic
presidential hopeful John Edwards implored New Hampshire voters
Friday to repudiate the Iowa caucus results and vote for a candidate
"who will fight for the middle class" against corporate interests
that he accuses of moving jobs overseas and making health care
expensive.

Edwards Vows Vigorous Campaign Vs Obama 03 Jan 2008 John Edwards
tried to put the best face on a disappointing loss in the Iowa
Democratic caucus, but vowed a vigorous campaign against winner
Barack Obama in New Hampshire. "The status quo lost and change won,"
Edwards told a crowded ballroom of supporters. He said he would go
to New Hampshire, which votes Tuesday, "to determine who's best
suited to bring about the change this country so desperately needs."

Edwards Statement On the Price Of Oil Reaching $100 A Barrel 02 Jan
2008 "Today's report that the price of oil has reached $100 a barrel
is just another example of how corporate greed is squeezing the
middle class. This increase shows the urgency of taking on the big
oil companies so we can build a new energy economy and transition
away from oil to other affordable sources of energy... It's time
for us to rise up and take on the corporate greed that is taking
over our democracy so we can leave a better America to our children."

Reuters/CSPAN/Zogby New Hampshire Poll: McCain Leads Romney; Clinton
Leads Obama as Edwards Hits 20%% --Huckabee a distant third, Rudy
fourth 04 Jan 2008 Republican John McCain has leapt into first place
in the GOP primary race in New Hampshire, while Clinton holds on
to a sixpoint edge in the first threeday Reuters/CSPAN/Zogby telephone
tracking poll of likely voters shows.

Dodd and Biden both drop out of race 03 Jan 2008 U.S. Sens. Chris
Dodd and Joe Biden withdrew from the race for the Democratic
presidential nomination tonight after each recorded scant support
in the leadoff Iowa caucuses.

ABC Cuts 3 From Presidential Debates 04 Jan 2008 ABC News is
eliminating Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter and
Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel from its prime- time
presidential debates Saturday night because they did not meet
benchmarks for their support.

AOL Poll: Do You Agree with Removing Ron Paul from the Debate? [No,
but I agree with removing George Bush from 'office.' --LRP] Hot
Seat By Ed Morrissey 03 Jan 2008 Do you agree with Fox News' decision
to exclude Ron Paul from the next debate?

Vehicle ban ordered in Baqouba following series of bomb attacks 04
Jan 2008 Iraqi authorities ordered a vehicle ban in the city of
Baqouba on Friday in the wake of a series of deadly suicide bombings
and other attacks by al-Qaida [al-CIAduh] in Iraq against predominantly
Sunni fighters that have allied with the United States. The ban
also comes as the US military stepped up operations against al-Qaida
cells and networks in Diyala province, of which Baqouba is the
capital.

3 U.S. soldiers killed, 1 wounded in operations in Iraq 04 Jan 2008
Two U.S.

soldiers were killed in military operations in the province of Diala
while a third was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED)
south of Baghdad, the U.S. army in Iraq said.

Next few days to see date for meeting with Iran Crocker 04 Jan
2008 The U.S.

is having contacts with the Iraqi government to set a date for
holding the fourth round of talks with Iran, U.S. ambassador in
Baghdad Ryan Crocker revealed on Friday.

Bomber strikes Indian workers in Afghanistan 04 Jan 2008 A suicide
bomber attacked Indian road construction workers and their Afghan
police escorts yesterday in southwestern Afghanistan, killing seven
and wounding 12.

Bhutto had "proof" state, spy agency rigging poll 01 Jan 2008 Benazir
Bhutto was poised to reveal proof that Pakistan's election commission
and shadowy spy agency were seeking to rig an upcoming general
election the night she was assassinated, a top aide said on Tuesday.
Senator Latif Khosa, who authored a 160-page dossier with Bhutto
documenting rigging tactics, said they ranged from intimidation to
fake ballots, and were in some cases unwittingly funded by U.S.
aid. Bhutto had been due to give the report to two visiting U.S.

lawmakers over dinner on Dec. 27, the day she was killed in a suicide
bombing.

CIA in 2003 Planned Destruction of Torture Tapes 04 Jan 2008 A key
member of Congress disclosed yesterday that the CIA said in February
2003 that it planned to destroy videotapes of harsh interrogations
torture after the agency's inspector general finished probing the
episodes, an account that adds detail to recent CIA statements about
the circumstances surrounding the tapes' destruction. Rep. Jane
Harman (D-Calif.) released a declassified copy of a letter she
secretly wrote to the CIA in February 2003, in which she quoted
then-CIA General Counsel Scott W. Muller as telling her a tape of
the agency's interrogation of Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Hussein,
better known as Abu Zubaida, "will be destroyed after the Inspector
General finishes his inquiry."

Lawmaker Told CIA Not to Destroy Tapes 03 Jan 2008 The top Democrat
on the House Intelligence Committee warned in a 2003 letter that
destroying videotapes of terrorist interrogations would put the CIA
under a cloud of suspicion, according to a newly declassified copy
of the letter. "Even if the videotape does not constitute an official
record that must be preserved under the law, the videotape would
be the best proof that the written record is accurate, if such
record is called into question in the future," Rep. Jane Harman,
D-Calif., wrote in a Feb. 10, 2003 letter to then-CIA general counsel
Scott Muller. "The fact of destruction would reflect badly on the
agency."

Haneef wants to attend inquiry - lawyer 04 Jan 2008 Former terror
suspect Mohamed Haneef wants to return to Australia to attend a
full judicial inquiry into his case, his lawyer says. Peter Russo
said he would speak to Dr Haneef today to discuss his future after
his return home to Bangalore, India.

W.Va. OK With Challenged Voting Machines 03 Jan 2008 The West
Virginia Secretary of State's office is standing firm in its support
of electronic 'voting' machines, despite security and accuracy
concerns raised by other states.

Oops! Election Software Lost in Transit 19 Dec 2007 More than a
hundred computer chips containing 'voting' machine software were
lost or stolen during transit in California this week. Two cardboard
shipping tubes containing 174 EPROMs loaded with voting machine
software were sent via Federal Express on December 13th from the
secretary of state's office in Sacramento to election officials in
San Diego County for use in optical-scan machines made by Diebold
Election Systems. But on Monday, the two shipping tubes arrived
empty.

Stocks plunge on jobless report; Nasdaq off 6.3%% for week 04 Jan
2008 U.S.

stocks on Friday sank after a jump in the unemployment rate pointed
to a possible recession for investors, with the Nasdaq Composite
hit with its steepest drop since Feb. 27, 2007. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average fell 256.5 points, or nearly 2%%, to 12,800.3,
giving the blue chips a weekly decline of 4.3%%. The Nasdaq Composite
shed 98.03 points, or 3.8%%, to 2,504.65, down 6.3%% from a week ago.

Pressure mounting for big rate cut --An uptick in the unemployment
rate has Wall Street calling for the Fed to lower rates by a
half-point. 04 Jan 2008 With unemployment rising to 5 percent in
December and jobs growth coming in well below forecasts, economists
said the Federal Reserve may be forced to slash interest rates when
it meets later this month in order to stave off a recession.

U.S. Jobless Rate Hits Two-Year High --Unemployment Reaches 5
Percent;

Employers Creating Fewer Jobs, Conditions Worsening 04 Jan 2008
Hiring practically stalled in December, driving the nation's
unemployment rate up to a two-year high of 5 percent and fanning
fears of a recession.

U.S. Curtailing Bids to Expand Medicaid Rolls 04 Jan 2008 The Bush
regime is imposing restrictions on the ability of states to expand
eligibility for Medicaid, in an effort to prevent them from offering
coverage to families of modest incomes who, the administration
argues, may have access to private health insurance.

Top court to decide death penalty for child rape 04 Jan 2008 The
Supreme Court said on Friday it would decide whether the death
penalty can be imposed for the crime of raping a child, expanding
its review of how capital punishment is carried out in the United
States.

Plans to drill for Alaskan oil threaten polar bear numbers 04 Jan
2008 Environment groups are protesting against plans by the US
government to open up a vast area of Arctic sea off Alaska for oil
exploration, saying it would pose an unacceptable new threat to
polar bears and walruses. The Minerals and Management Service, MMS,
said it would be seeking bids for petroleum licences in the Chukchi
Sea on 6 February.

Alaskan Sea Drilling Plans Condemned 03 Jan 2008 The federal
government will open up nearly 46,000 square miles off Alaska's
northwest coast to petroleum leases next month, a decision condemned
by environmental groups that contend the industrial activity will
harm northern marine mammals.

Storm pounds Nevada, Sierra; I-80 may close 04 Jan 2008 A massive
winter storm pounded the Sierra and northern Nevada on Friday,
creating treacherous driving conditions in the mountains and prompting
state officials to warn truckers hundreds of miles away to park
where they are and stay put. A blizzard warning remained in effect
for the Sierra and Lake Tahoe region along the Nevada-California
line, where forecasters said heavy snow and hurricane-force winds
would reduce visibility to zero.

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[Previous lead stories:] Rec's Wreckage --The Rec Report By Dr.
Michael Rectenwald 03 Jan 2008 The phrase "corporate democracy" is
meaningless. That is to say, I am not arguing that we don't have
what some may call a "corporate democracy," but that such an
expression is an impossible semantic contradiction.

US General Predicts Record Poppy Haul 02 Jan 2008 The U.S. general
in charge of NATO's Afghanistan 'mission' said Wednesday he expects
another year of "explosive growth" in the country's poppy fields,
a harvest militants CIA drug lords will turn into weapons for use
against Afghan and NATO troops. [After Cheney's UNOCAL gas pipeline,
what exactly *is* the Afghanistan "mission?"]

Another Bush mission, accomplished: There was a 17 per cent boom
in poppy cultivation last year: acre for acre, Helmand is the world's
biggest opium producer. British on front line of new Afghan Poppy
War 03 Jan 2008 British troops are to be placed in the front line
of efforts to eradicate poppy crops in southern Afghanistan, the
soldier in charge of international forces in the country signalled
yesterday. General Dan McNeill, of the United States, predicted
good weather would mean "explosive growth" this year in the illegal
opium trade, which is centred on Helmand province and accounts for
more than 90 per cent of the heroin on Britain's streets. The
Scotsman can also reveal that Britain's Serious Organised Crime
Agency is to double its presence in Afghanistan.

54 journalists killed in Iraq in 2007 - IJRDA 03 Jan 2008 The annual
report of the Iraqi Journalists Rights Defending Association (IJRDA)
said on Wednesday that working as a journalist in Iraq remains the
most dangerous job in the world, noting that a total of 54 journalists
and media workers have been killed [by Blackwater?] in the country
during 2007.

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CLG Newsletter editor: Lori Price, Manager. Copyright ) 2008,
Citizens For Legitimate Government . All rights reserved. CLG Founder
and Chair is Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.