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The SMH reports that some sectors of the Australian business community are demanding action on climate change (not that either of the major parties seems inclined to listen – dumb and dumber) – Greenies and business unite on climate action.

BUSINESSES are planning an unlikely alliance with the Australian Conservation Foundation to prod the nation’s leaders into fundamental action on climate change.

The federal government’s decision to shelve its carbon emissions trading scheme has jeopardised investment worth hundreds of millions of dollars, driving some companies to plan a climate circuit-breaker.

One plan under review is a revival of the Australian Business Roundtable on Climate Change, which emerged four years ago when the Howard government was baulking at action.

The roundtable was remarkable for teaming an environmental group, the Australian Conservation Foundation, with six big members of the corporate world: Westpac, the re-insurer Swiss Re, Insurance Australia Group, Origin Energy, Visy Industries and BP Australasia.

The group’s landmark report of 2006 warned of grave economic harm if Australia did not take early action on global warming – a view that ” took courage” at the time, one of the founding members recalled this week.

”Between them the chief executives of these companies lobbied all the east coast premiers, the then prime minister, and the opposition leader. A lot of senior-level heavy lifting went on behind the scenes after the launch of our report, and that probably had more effect than the report itself.”

When the Howard government reluctantly moved to adopt an emissions trading scheme, the group faded, thinking its work done.

But the decision to delay the emissions trading scheme raised the prospect of a new alliance.

” We have got some early feelers out to resuscitate something like the roundtable,” a key player told the Herald.

It’s official: Campbell Brown is done at CNN.

The reporter is giving up her post at the network — and not because she simply wants to spend more time with her family.

The “No Bias, No Bull” anchorwoman announced Tuesday that weak ratings have fueled her decision to step down as primetime host at the struggling network. Brown said she could say she was leaving to spend more time with her two young children or pursue new opportunities, and both would be partly true.

“But I have never had much tolerance for others’ spin, so I can’t imagine trying to stomach my own,” she said. “The simple fact is that not enough people want to watch my program, and I owe it to myself and to CNN to get out of the way so that CNN can try something else.”

Campbell was regularly bulldozed in the ratings. Brown’s time slot is dominated by Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly, who is averaging 3.3 million viewers this year, and MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, who has about 1 million viewers.

The 41-year-old mother of two is married to former foreign policy advisor Dan Senor. She spent 11 years at NBC News before joining CNN.

The European Commission published on 18 May a report on the progress of Member States in addressing water scarcity and droughts. Despite more rainfall in southern European countries in 2009 than in previous years, greater efforts are still needed to stop and reverse the over-exploitation of Europe’s limited water resources. An effective water pricing policy, water efficiency and water saving measures are essential to ensure that Europe has enough good quality water to meet the needs of users and to face the challenges of a changing climate.

The JRC contributes to the Commission’s preparatory activities in view of the 2012 water scarcity and droughts policy review with the development of the prototype of the European Drought Observatory. The European Drought Observatory (EDO) will give access to drought information from various sources from continental overview level to national and regional level through monitoring and detection of drought events, thus contributing to preparedness and early warning on droughts in Europe.

WASHINGTON–The reluctance of the U.S. Congress and the Obama White House to move on immigration reform — and the controversial Arizona law — plus cross-border drug war violence will be on the agenda during a two-day visit by Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his wife, Margarita Zavala.

President Obama and first lady Michelle host a State Dinner tonight for Calderon and Mrs. Zavala — the couples both have young children and both women are lawyers who gave up careers when their husbands became president. Mrs. Obama dined at Los Pinos, the Mexican presidential residence, last month during her swing through Mexico City.

The U.S.-Mexico relationship is close, but the new Arizona state law — where state law enforcement could demand that people produce papers (already opposed by Obama and Calderon) — raises the question of how and when Calderon will deliver an Arizona rebuke. Calderon is under some domestic political pressure to say something while here, but I am told he does not want to make Arizona the highlight of his visit — there are many other other issues on the agenda.

Calderon has two prime opportunities. Obama and Calderon hold a press conference today, and Thursday Calderon addresses a joint session of Congress. Obama and Calderon held a joint press conference on April 16, 2009, at Los Pinos. Calderon said then, “This is an historic event that will inaugurate a new era, a new relationship between our two countries.”

During a Tuesday briefing, a White House official who would not allow his name to be used said the U.S. fully expects Calderon to speak out on Arizona, “to also discuss his views, as he has been doing in public, on recent developments, be it the Arizona immigration law and more generally the issue of immigration and efforts in Mexico [and] his efforts in Mexico to create the kind of economic opportunity that allows Mexicans to live out their dreams in their country of origin.”

Among the agenda items:

* Drug wars. U.S. consumption of drugs and feuding Mexican drug cartels are fueling the cross-border drug war, and getting use down is a major bilateral issue. Mexico blames U.S. guns ending up in Mexico and U.S. drug demand. On May 11, the Obama White House released its long- awaited drug-fighting stategy with the goal: “a 15-percent reduction in the rate of youth drug use over five years.” In March, top Obama Cabinet officials–led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton–were in Mexico City to discuss the escalating cross- border violence.

* Energy. “I think you’ll see a number of concrete deliverables in — on each of — on energy cooperation and on clean- energy cooperation,” the White House official said.

* Border infrastructure. The Sun-Times has learned that the Obama White House will annunce three new border bridge projects to allow faster border crossings.

* Trade and a long standing issue about Mexican trucks being allowed entry to the U.S.

U.K. inflation just blew past expectations, and is well above the inflation target of 2%.

The government once again tried to say that this was a temporary situation, but not all are sold.

Telegraph’s Jeremy Warner:

Excuses, excuses. The fact of the matter is that as Simon Ward, chief economist at Henderson Global Investors, points out in his always excellent blog, at 5.3 per cent, RPI inflation is now higher than at any stage since the Lawson boom. Savers are in effect being milked to subsidise the profligate and allow them to escape their debts. If this is called rebalancing the economy way from debt fueled consumption towards saving and investment, then I’m a banana.

Rewind to the Bank of England’s Inflation Report of May last year and you will see that the central forecast for CPI inflation by now was less than 1 per cent. The 2.7 per cent discrepancy cannot be wholly explained by energy prices and VAT. Nor does the weakness of sterling provide an adequate explanation. Sterling is in fact slightly stronger against the euro than it was a year ago.

Basically, don’t write-off a U.K. inflation problem in the works as we speak. The latest April data showed an acceleration vs. March after all.

Join the conversation about this story »

Via Prison Planet.com » World News

Alex Spillius
London Telegraph
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

The biggest loser from Rand Paul’s win in the Kentucky Republican Senate primary is Mitch McConnell.

When the party’s base ignores an endorsement from a sitting senator and minority leader then candidates anywhere who become labeled as the establishment figure are in trouble. Both parties will be affected by anti-incumbent fever in November, and the Democrats are likely to sustain heavy losses.

But there will be places, and Kentucky is one, where a Right-winger running for the Republicans could hand victory to the Democrats.

Rand Paul has some interesting ideas, and is much more of a real libertarian than many others jumping on the tea party bandwagon.

Full article here

Via Prison Planet.com » Prison Planet

Kate Schneider
news.com.au/
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

US scientists are warning that radiation from controversial full-body airport scanners has been dangerously underestimated and could lead to an increased risk of skin cancer – particularly in children.

University of California biochemist David Agard said that unlike other scanners, the radiation from these devices is delivered at low energy beam levels, with most of the dose concentrated in the skin and underlying tissue.

“While the dose would be safe if it were distributed throughout the volume of the entire body, the dose to the skin may be dangerously high,” Dr Agard said.

“Ionizing radiation such as the X-rays used in these scanners have the potential to induce chromosome damage, and that can lead to cancer.”

Of further concern is that a failure in the device – like a power or software glitch – could cause an intense radiation dose to a single spot on the skin.

Full article here

Via Prison Planet.com » Commentary

PR Web
May 19, 2010

International best-selling author Daniel Estulin will make an unprecedented speech before the European Parliament on June 1st, 2010 at its headquarters in Brussels.

Brussels, Belgium (Vocus/PRWEB ) May 18, 2010 — International best-selling author Daniel Estulin will make an unprecedented speech before the European Parliament on June 1st, 2010 at its headquarters in Brussels.

Daniel Estulin, author of “The True Story of the Bilderberg Group” and “Shadow Masters”, has been invited to speak at the European Parliament by Mario Borghezio, the most senior Member of European Parliament from Italy. The European Parliament is one of the most powerful legislatures in the world. Estulin’s talk is equivalent to addressing a joint session of Congress. In fact, never before has Bilderberg as a subject seen the light of day in front of such a highly respectable audience – elected senators of European nations.

Estulin will be part of a presentation titled Bilderberg Group – Towards Creation of One World Company Ltd., given by the author, as well as Borghezio, Nigel Farage (Member of European Parliament for South East England) and Gerard Batten (Member of European Parliament for London).

Estulin is the world’s top authority on the Bilderberg Group. Because of the worldwide appeal of the author’s book (over 3.5 million sold in nearly 50 languages), this once incredibly powerful and highly secretive organization is now a private forum of lesser stature. Who knows what the group will now transmogrify itself into?

“This is an opportunity to bring Bilderberg into the mainstream,” said Estulin. “A subject that was once considered to be in the domain of conspiracy theories is now being taken very seriously indeed.”

The Bilderberg Group is an annual, invitation-only conference with over 100 of the globe’s most influential movers and shakers, including heads of state, business tycoons and others. It is closed to the public and the press. This year the conference will be held from the 3rd to the 6th of June in Sitges, Spain.

“The True Story of the Bilderberg Group” and “Shadow Masters” are published in the US by TrineDay. For more information, go to www.trineday.com

Contact: Kent Goodman or Kris Millegan 1.800.556.2012

Via Prison Planet.com » Prison Planet

The Economic Collapse
May 19, 2010

Today, the number of Americans who are able to financially survive without any reliance on the U.S. government whatsoever is declining at a staggering rate.  Whether it is through direct handouts, entitlement programs, student loans, government bailouts, government contracts or direct employment, the truth is that now a solid majority of the American people are at least partially dependent on the federal government for their economic survival.  The sad thing is that the majority of the American people say that there is too much government in their lives when opinion polls are taken, but if you try to take the government check that they are getting away from them those same people will scream bloody murder.  But the truth is that it is getting to be really, really hard to be completely independent of the U.S. government economically.  That is because the U.S. government has their hands in almost everything.  The ideal of a “limited federal government” has long since faded away.  Very few people seem to believe in it anymore.  Instead, Americans today look to the federal government as the answer to all of our problems, as the provider of all of our needs, and as the regulator of every single detail of our lives. 

The U.S. government has become the “Big Mother” that we all scramble to for a handout when we get into trouble.

When you sit down and really analyze it, you quickly realize that there is no way that the U.S. government can be extricated from the U.S. economy now.  Instead of the free enterprise system that we once had in this country, today we have a situation where the U.S. government has become the very core of the economy.  It is the hub around which everything else in the economy revolves.

You don’t believe this?

The following are 11 signs that the U.S. government has become an overgrown monstrosity that almost every American is dependent upon for economic survival…. 

#1) The Explosion Of Government Handouts

39.68 million Americans are now on food stamps.  Millions of others are completely dependent on the extended unemployment benefits that they are receiving.  Millions of other Americans are able to survive financially because of the dozens of other welfare programs that the U.S. government subsidizes.  More Americans are receiving some form of welfare than ever before in history, and each month the numbers continue to go up.  Could there come a day when we all receive government handouts every month?

#2) The Entitlements Programs That Threaten To Destroy U.S. Government Finances

Entitlements are the single biggest U.S. government expense.  These programs include Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other social Ponzi schemes.  Tens of millions of Americans receive government assistance through these programs.  In fact, nearly 51 million Americans received $672 billion in Social Security benefits in 2009.  We all have friends or family members who receive these kinds of payments.  But cutting so many people a check year after year is slowly but surely destroying U.S. government finances.  According to an official U.S. government report, rapidly growing interest costs on the national debt together with spending on major entitlement programs will absorb approximately 92 cents of every dollar of federal revenue by the year 2019.  That is before a penny is spent on anything else.  This is clearly not a sustainable financial situation by any definition, but who wants to tell tens of millions of Americans that their checks are going to be reduced?

#3) The U.S. Government Is Now Even Paying Mortgages

Yes, you read that right.  As part of the “stimulus” package, the U.S. government is going to send money to some of the states that were hit the hardest by the real estate crisis.  So what is that money going to be used for?  Well, Florida, Michigan, California and Arizona have all announced that they plan to use $1.4 billion the Obama administration is sending their way to help the unemployed and the “underwater” pay their mortgages.

#4) Without The Student Loan Program A Huge Percentage Of College Students Would Not Get An Education

The federal student loan program (which was recently entirely nationalized) helps millions of college students pay for their education.  Without this assistance by the government, a lot less students would be going to college.  In fact, many of you that are reading this article directly benefited from the federal student loan program.

#5) The Bailout Of AIG

One of the biggest insurance companies in the world, AIG, would not be in existence today if not for direct federal government intervention.  It kind of makes you wonder what George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would think about a federal government that hands big bags of cash to a giant insurance company so that it can survive.  Whether it was so they could pay off their debts to Goldman Sachs or whether it was so that they could keep paying out record-setting bonuses, the truth is that AIG would not have made it without the federal government stepping in.

#6) The “Too Big To Fail” Banks

But it wasn’t just AIG that got bailed out.  A number of big banks may have gone under if not for the U.S. government.  The U.S. government decided that they were “too big to fail”.  Well, what about all the small banks that are going under?  The truth is that they are “too small to bother with”.  We now live in a nation where the U.S. government is the one who decides which banks live and which banks die like dogs.  Doesn’t that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy?

#7) The Bailout Of General Motors

But not only does the federal government bail out financial institutions – it is also now in the car business.  Yes, grand old General Motors may have ended up on the scrap heap of history if not for the U.S. government stepping in.  So if you work for General Motors or if you work for any company that does business with General Motors, you can thank Uncle Sam for the fact that you still have a job.

#8) The Bailouts Of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

If the U.S. government had not bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we may not have much of a mortgage industry at this point at all.  According to Inside Mortgage Finance, government-related entities backed 96.5% of all home loans during the first quarter of 2010, which was up from 90% in 2009.  So if you borrowed money to buy a home over the past couple of years, there is a very strong likelihood that the U.S. government was involved.

#9) The U.S. Government – The Nation’s Biggest Employer

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 2 million civilians work for the federal government, excluding the Postal Service.  When you add in all U.S. military personnel, that number goes much higher. 

The truth is that as the government continues to expand (become more bloated), more Americans than ever are hopping aboard the gravy train.  Today, the average federal worker now earns about twice as much as the average worker in the private sector.  So if you want to do little work, produce little of real value and enjoy super cushy benefits, maybe you should apply for a job with the federal government too.

#10) Millions Of Americans Are Employed By Firms That Rely On Government Contracts

When considering the impact of the U.S. government on the economy, you can’t forget the hundreds of companies that would go out of business if their U.S. government contracts were taken away.  There are literally millions of people who work for companies that do business with the government.  If the government disappeared it would cause economic chaos for those firms.  The truth is that a whole lot of people make a really good living plugging into the sweetest revenue source of them all – the U.S. government.

#11) The U.S. Government Takeover Of The Health Care System

The U.S. government takeover of the health care system is going to fundamentally change the economics of the health care industry.  The U.S. government will now play a major role in deciding which hospitals get built and which do not.  Approximately 17% of U.S. GDP is spent on health care, and now the U.S. government has unprecedented control over where that money goes.  Over a dozen new taxes have been established by the new health care reform law, and the U.S. government is going to pour an unprecedented amount of money into the system.  So will this result in all of us getting better health care?  We’ll just have to wait and see.

The truth is that the Founding Fathers never envisioned a federal government that completely dominated that national economy.  But that is what we have got.  As of now, only a very small percentage of Americans are still able to say that they are completely financially independent of the U.S. government. 

You see, in economic terms the U.S. government is not just the elephant in the room.  It is the elephant that sat on the room and nearly suffocated everything else out of existence.

As Americans, we live in an economy that is so intertwined with the government that it is impossible to separate the two anymore.

But the really bad news is that the U.S. government is in massive financial trouble.  According to one new report, the U.S. national debt will reach 100 percent of GDP by the year 2015.  Many economists regard that as an incredibly dangerous threshold to cross.

If U.S. government finances collapse, it will mean the collapse of the entire U.S. economy as well.  There is simply no separating the two.  And considering the fact that the U.S. government has piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world, things don’t look promising.

America is headed for an unprecedented economic collapse, and the U.S. government is leading the way.  If you can get financially independent, now is the time to try to do that, but the reality is that we will all feel massive economic pain when this thing comes crashing down.

Toyota is receiving bomb threats… no really, we’re not kidding. A fake bomb threat led to the evacuation of a southern Indiana post office yesterday, the fourth since Friday sent to Toyota’s U.S. headquarters and production plants in three states.

A company spokesman said that the package was addressed to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana in Princeton and was discovered this morning at the local post office. The post office was immediately evacuated before a bomb technician determined it was harmless, authorities said.

The package was a cardboard tube about 4 inches long and 1½ inches wide and contained electronic parts, said Gibson County Chief Deputy Sheriff George Ballard. He said that the package had an address originating from Nigeria like the other three packages.

The company does not know the motive for the hoaxes. “We have no idea. We’re not speculating,” Toyota spokeswoman Kelly Dillon said.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

Via Prison Planet.com » Prison Planet

ktvu.com
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

BERKELEY, Calif. — UC Berkeley is adding something a little different this year in its welcome package — cotton swabs for a DNA sample.

In the past, incoming freshman and transfer students have received a rather typical welcome book from the College of Letters and Science’s “On the Same Page” program, but this year the students will be asked for more.

The students will be asked to voluntarily submit a DNA sample. The cotton swabs will come with two bar code labels. One label will be put on the DNA sample and the other is kept for the students own records.

The confidential process is being overseen by Jasper Rine, a campus professor of Genetics and Development Biology, who says the test results will help students make decisions about their diet and lifestyle.

Full article here

It is called duplex kidneys, a rare medical condition that occurs in about 1% percent of the population. Such was the case of Angel Burton, now eight years old, who had kidney infections at the age of five. She was diagnosed to have bilateral reflux – urine supposed to be excreted directly gets to the kidneys. Angel, being in a delicate situation, underwent screenings and maintained regular check-ups.

Until her kidneys became infected she needed an immediate surgery at the Sheffield Children’s Hospital in 2007.After more than an hour of waiting, the surgeon reported two more healthy kidneys that turned out to save the infected kidney. It was surprising this development passed undetected by x-ray scans exclaimed the doctor.

Angel’s mother has been grateful for what she calls a miracle. Her daughter is living her life in good health. She has a younger sister and brother.

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Google has released a new Gmail API that enables developers to create what it calls “contextual gadgets” for the email service. This will enable users to enhance their email experience by integrating additional data and tools with the emails themselves. Google has been using the same API to make YouTube videos and Picasa photos viewable from the Gmail inte… (read more)

Jonathan Rhys Meyers is back in rehab.

The Irish actor, famous for his role on the Showtime period drama Tudors, was banned from boarding a United Airlines flight at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York after he hurled the N-word at a company employee in a drunken tirade.

Now Jonathan’s set to return to London where he will receive treatment for alcoholism for a fourth time, a source told PEOPLE Magazine Wednesday.

“He just really wants to get better. This has been an ongoing battle for him.”

Legendary fund manager Seth Klarman of the Baupost Group made some rare public comments recently at the CFA Institute in Boston.  Suffice it to say that he does not have a bright and sunny view of the world.

Some choice quotes relayed by Aaron Pressman at Reuters:

* “Given the recent run-up [in stocks], I’d be worried that we’ll have another 10 years of zero returns.”

* “I’m more worried about the world broadly than I’ve ever been in my whole career.”

* Current market conditions remind Klarman of a Hostess Twinkie snack cake because “everything is being manipulated by the government” and appears “artificial.”

* Publicly traded real estate investment trusts…have “rallied enormously” and are “quite unattractive.”

* Inflation is a risk that Klarman said he is particularly concerned with given the government’s high rate of borrowing to bail out the financial system. Baupost has purchased far out-of-the-money puts on bonds to hedge the risk, he said.

Baupost has 30% of its assets in cash.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Rosenberg: Stocks Now 35% — A Whole Standard Deviation — Overvalued
• THE GREAT DISCONNECT: Stocks 30% Overvalued And Still Going Up… And Housing Rolling Over
• Stocks Are 40% Overvalued, Says Smithers

Via Prison Planet.com » Commentary

Russia Today
May 19, 2010

Iran’s deal to ship its’ uranium to Turkey, while insisting on continuing to enrich nuclear fuel, is getting a mixed response globally. Russia’s giving it a guarded welcome, but the U.S. and Britain are far from convinced. They’re continuing to push the UN into more sanctions against Tehran. The sticking point for the United States is Iran’s insistance to carry on enriching its own uranium. But U.S. investigative journalist Webster Tarpley says the deal means his country’s strategy to isolate Tehran has failed.

Mitsubishi Electric today announced [PDF] it has installed five 80 person-capacity elevators at an office building in Osaka, which opened two weeks ago. The elevators, Japan’s largest, can carry 5,250 kilograms in load and offer a floor space of 9.52 square meters. That means that theoretically, up to 400 people could go up the 41 floors of said office building at once.

The cars have glass windows, allowing passengers to look outside while using the elevator.

Mitsubishi Electric itself doesn’t say its elevators are the world’s largest, but that might very well be. Let us know in the comments if you know better.

Via Gizmodo via Gizmag

Via Prison Planet.com » World News

Press TV
May 19, 2010

Captured Jundallah leader Abdolmalek Rigi has said that while in Morocco, suspected Israeli or US agents had given him a list of people to assassinate in Tehran.

In a recent interview, Rigi told Press TV that before his arrest Jundallah had held a series of meetings in Casablanca with a group who had claimed to be NATO contacts.

“When we looked back at all the things that had happened we felt that two things were unclear. First, if they are from NATO why did they not meet with us in Afghanistan where they have bases and where they can contact us in a much more easy and secure manner,” said Rigi.

“The second issue was that the first time they informed us that NATO forces wanted to meet with us we thought they were going to speak about eastern parts of Iran, because NATO forces are stationed in Afghanistan,” he added.

“But they insisted that we should transfer our operations from the eastern border region to the capital. We thought that this was very strange. When we thought about it we came to the conclusion that they are either Americans acting under NATO cover or Israelis,” he further explained.

Accordign to Rigi, the Israeli or US agents said they would provide him with a list of names, addresses, and photos of people who they had to assassinate in Tehran as well as any other equipment and explosives they may need to carry out their operations.

He further pointed out that they had promised him very high sums for the overall project as well as specific amounts for each assassination.

Iranian security forces arrested Rigi while he was onboard a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan in late February.

Jundallah, which is based in Pakistan, has carried out numerous bombings, assassination attempts, and terrorist attacks in Iran, one of which killed at least 40 people in the southeastern city of Pishin.

After his arrest, the ringleader confessed that Western intelligence agencies supported his terror activities against Iran.

During the interview, Rigi also said that his activities were undoubtedly the result of “a mix of ignorance and hatred.”

Singapore, Fehmarn Consulting

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Attorney General Richard Blumenthal’s troubles – and how he handled them – evoked memories Tuesday of another high-profile controversy in his long career.

During his 1990 race for attorney general – his first race for statewide office – Blumenthal faced a story that a restrictive covenant on his home mortgage in Stamford prevented the sale of the property to African Americans. The covenant, which was present on other properties throughout the country, would have allowed discrimination of buyers of the property on Dolphin Cove Quay – an upscale area near Stamford’s waterfront. The home was a condominium, where the surrounding land was held in common ownership.

The story spread quickly, and Blumenthal handled it by holding a press conference in much the same way as he did Tuesday. Instead of the army of veterans who gathered around him Tuesday, Blumenthal appeared in April 1990 with state Sen. Margaret Morton, an African American from Bridgeport who supported him.

Morton spoke on behalf of Blumenthal at the time – in which he was facing a bitterly fought contest against Jay B. Levin, a New London attorney who was also seeking the Democratic nomination for attorney general.

Farmington attorney John Droney, who was a Democratic powerhouse at the time as the state party chairman, said that Blumenthal had handled the issues in the same way. Droney, who served in Vietnam, attended Tuesday’s news conference in West Hartford with the veterans.

“It’s repeating itself – both in 1990 and now,” Droney said.

Droney, though, says that the current stories about Blumenthal are far more severe than the 1990 ones about the real estate covenant.

“It didn’t have the sizzle that this thing has,” Droney said. “It wasn’t that big a deal.”

In both instances, various supporters rallied around Blumenthal.

“That’s a tribute to him – in both instances,” Droney said. “You’re going to get attacked and when you’re attacked, you stand up.”

Reached Tuesday night in Washington, D.C., Levin said that he battled Blumenthal for the nomination for 1 1/2 years, four nights a week at Democratic town committees and events around the state. He said that people brought Blumenthal’s Vietnam record to him as a source of controversy.

In addition, Levin said both in 1990 and Tuesday night that he had nothing to do with the stories about the real estate covenant. Stating that both he and Blumenthal are Jewish, Levin said that he cannot imagine anyone of Jewish ancestry being involved in the restrictive covenant.

“I accept his explanation on that as I did back then,” Levin said of the covenant.

Despite their clashes, Levin says now that he considers Blumenthal to be a friend. As such, he strongly defended Blumenthal – saying they were together numerous times in front of crowds where Blumenthal could have embellished his record.

“It was crystal clear to me that he never, ever said he served in Vietnam,” Levin said. “We were much closer to that era when we ran.”