Laura Elfman, the Florida girl in Canada who hoisted the flag knowing she was going into flak alley, has dropped us a note in the comment box. Welcome, and come back anytime, Laura.
Come closer, Unreconstructed Medic, and let me whisper in your ear. "Hot grits."
For y'all that don't know, that's Southern women's version of napalm.
This woman's disappearance and recovery sounds fishy to me.
She was videotaped leaving her apartment building alone and leaving the door open.
She's been gone for four days and gets treated at the hospital for less than six hours.
She was gone for four days and is found in a marsh near her apartment. No exposure. If someone had abducted her, kept her somewhere, and brought her back, she would have been pushed out of a vehicle somewhere.
She says that in February an unknown person hit her in the head and left her unconscious.
It just doesn't add up.
Never underestimate the longing of the French to be carried through life on a velvet pillow.
Rather than give up being coddled, they'll let their country be destroyed. What a degraded people. They'd drown in a spoonful of water.
"It's obvious to me that this country is rapidly dividing itself into two camps - the wimps and the warriors. The ones who want to argue and assess and appease, and the ones who want to carry this fight to our enemies and kill them before they kill us."
(Via Lucianne.)
Here he is with bassist Berry Oakley.
Berry died the year after Duane, and also in a motorcycle crash.
They needed less drugs and more food. Wail on, Skydog!
Daniel Pearl's widow tries to jump on the 9-11 compensation gravy train.
Not no but HELL, NO, lady. Get. a. job.
Being killed in Pakistan in January, 2002 isn't being killed in the 9-11 attacks in DC, New York City, or Pennsylvania. Some people have zero shame.
Now she's found true love with Eason Jordan, the contemptible sack of dog puke CNN chief news executive who hid Saddam's crimes so he could maintain his access. Let's see who steals the other's silverware first.
Here's a picture of a freak. This is what happens when you live your life with no brakes. Even brain-fried Ozzy Osbourne had sense enough to know he had to keep someone around who could put on the brakes for him.
Even the never-met-a-black-dictator-they-didn't-like Congressional Black Caucus thinks Michael Jackson's too much of a freakshow to be seen with. Pennsylvania came through for him though in the person of Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah who called him "one of the leading celebrities in the world who has actually used his celebrity status to help people." Wrong. He used his celebrity to troll for little boys to have sex with, and it's boot-lickers like you Mr. Fattah, that helped him do it.
So CNN's lost half its audience from a year ago. Good. It lost me back in 1993 when they made the choice to show Sgt Gary Gordon's body being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu before his family had even been notified of his death. Many newspapers refused to run the picture, citing decency and ethics- things that CNN could never comprehend. That they sat on stories of Saddam's atrocities in order to keep in his good graces just further underscores this corporation's bone-deep lack of anything resembling a conscience.
Here's a nice article on Laura Bush.
For first lady, victory is in the heart.
Amid the din of a political dogfight stands a quietly confident Laura Bush, who prefers a gentle, disarming approach to sell America on the man she knows better than anyone.
What so proudly she hails
Fourteen-year-old Laura Elfman says she learned a few things about standing up for herself and for her country.
She is the Wagar High School student who was booed when she appeared on stage with the United States flag during the school's recent parade of flags.
"Don't let people mess around," she said, looking confident and determined as she responded to a reporter's questions yesterday.
And if it ever happens to you - that people boo your flag, too - don't let it stop you the next time, the U.S.-born Grade 8 student recommended.
"Try it again, because you will feel better. It makes you feel strong," she said.
Good girl. She says last year she cried, but she got up there again this year and said:
"'Hi, my name is Laura,' and when people were booing, I was talking over them (into the microphone), and I said, 'and I'm very, very proud to be holding the United States of America flag.' "
The school called her mother, asking her to keep Laura from being interviewed, but Laura was determined:
"I wanted to say what I wanted to say. Everybody else had their part. Why don't they want to hear from the person who actually got booed?"
So she showed up for the interview in her new sequined U.S.-flag running shoes.
She'll be moving back to Florida next year from Montreal and we'll be glad to have her back.
Michael over at Ramblings' Journal reflects on what he calls the "Soul Patrol" who attack blacks who dare to express conservative opinion.
Imagine if most American women were on the "Feminist Patrol".
What a freaking nightmare. There'd be murder, mayhem, and chaos in the streets.
Better be glad they just teach college classes and write newspaper columns.
Someone else wanting to raise our awareness:
Student lied about campus attacks
An international student who claimed he was the victim of two racially-motivated assaults has now admitted that he fabricated the attacks – duping the police and the media into investigating his story.
Rayan Malik, 21, pleaded guilty in Saint John court Thursday afternoon to public mischief and leading police on a false investigation.
Damn your eyes, Dead Man Eating!
I was so happy to have scooped him with the Colwell last meal menu, but damned if he doesn't best me by including condiments and pizza toppings. And the coca cola. This guy's just too good.
One of my all-time favorite videos, "I Wanna Talk about Me", is viewable online. This one always makes me smile.
I see Toby Keith and his wife have donated the max for President Bush. Somebody else, though, never caught on about backing up your beliefs with your wallet.
Just in case y'all missed it. I don't want this woman's actions to get swept under the rug.
KERRI DUNN'S LETTER TO COLLEAGUES
Following is a letter Professor Kerri Dunn e-mailed to many associates and colleagues just after the vandalism of her car was first reported. This letter was sent before Claremont and federal authorities accused her of staging the vandalism herself, an allegation she has denied.
Dear friend,
I am sorry for the mass-e-mailing, but I have received so many comforting and supporting e-mails that I simply couldn't respond to everyone individually. I truly feel honored to be part of a community that cares so much about its members. The events last week have left me with a storm of emotions, ranging from gratitude to anger to fear.
Thank you so much for taking the time to reach out to me. Many of you made remarks about courage and strength. I am doing the best I can to muster both of those attributes, but the reality is, I am afraid. In addition to being afraid for myself personally, I am afraid simply knowing that people could hate anyone so much. I am also afraid by the fact that in 2004, words in favor of equality and diversity are inflammatory.
Finally, I am afraid that what has happened to me (a white woman) has overshadowed the larger problem. That is, people of color, minority religious groups, women, gays and lesbians are too often targets for hate speech. Please stay with me in the fight against bigotry.
Yours in friendship,
Kerri
Quote of the day
"One just hopes that one is strong enough to remain who one is and become what one is supposed to become.''
-Teresa Heinz Kerry
One is confused.
Gabby Hayes offers clarification.
Yay, an article on Laura
"I think her popularity stems from the way she's handled the office, the dignity she's brought to it without getting into controversial issues. She's handling the role of first lady the way people want it handled, unlike the previous occupant."
That about sums it up.
This is my first chance to scoop Dead Man Eating and I'm going for it.
Lawrence Colwell, executed in Nevada last night, dined on a last meal of pizza, a cheeseburger, french fries and ice cream. He said his murder of an elderly tourist "was like taking a walk in the park, taking a drive down the street.''
I understand that Brian Cherrix, lately executed in Virginia, refused to have the menu for his last meal revealed! He was rotten to the end, that guy.
Update: One day I will build a temple to DME's enunciation, much like Ed Leedskalnin built his Coral Castle for Sweet Sixteen.
At a Canadian school's multicultural parade, they booed the little American girl carrying the Stars and Stripes. She started crying and left the stage.
Michael Cristofaro, the principal of Wagar High, says the Montreal school is a "model of tolerance", with no ethnic or racial problems and questions why this incident is being noted. They also booed the flag-bearer in last year's multicultural parade.
The principal later held an assembly and issued an apology to the girl.
I told you McAuliffe stole it from Saddam. They're brothers under the skin.
Dem Party Chairman swiped one of Saddam's old welcome mats
Entering McAuliffe's new corner office, which is equipped as a TV studio, visitors walk over a doormat bearing a likeness of President Bush and the words, "Give Bush the Boot".
(Via Drudge.)
The story on Annie Liebowitz's Allman Brothers photo.
[Sorry for the length. This is part of the famous (and entertaining) Rolling Stone article that I'd typed up for some fellow Duane fans. Contributor James wanted to know the story of the pic. Be careful what you ask for.]
Early the next afternoon, enter the photographer, looking cheery. An easy-going zaftig lady, she's been promised a 2 o'clock shooting session with the band, but whatever else they're doing, the boys are *not* hitting the note today. Half of them, in fact, are still asleep at the appointed time, and to a man they resist being roused. "Aw, Duane and Greg'll do that, you know," Willie Perkins explains sheepishly. "They'll stay up for three, four days, and then crash like they'us dead."
Bunky Odum promises that he'll deliver both Allmans to the photographer's studio before the evening's concert at Winterland. "Gawddamn, honey," Odum booms, "you gonna have to come down to Macon and git laid back with us when this bid-ness is over. We'll take you ridin' on our motors and...uh...feed you some *down-home collard greens*."
But Odum fails to deliver on his promise that evening when both the Allman brothers balk at the notion of being photographed apart from the rest of the group. They seem, in fact, outraged by the notion. "Fuck, man, we ain't on no fuckin' *star trip*," Duane snarls. "Naw, man, we ain't on no fuckin' *star trip*," Greg echoes. Trying to smooth things over, Odum arranges for the photographer to join the group's swing back to Southern California the next day.
Exit the photographer, looking addled.
Exit the fellow traveler, looking for a movie far from the madding goons at Winterland.
Sleepy and hanging over, the group assembles in the hotel parking lot the next morning for the drive to airport and an early flight to Santa Barbara. Only Dicky Betts seems in high spriits; after last night's gig, he'd gotten a new tattoo at Lyle Tuttle's south-of-Market studio - a dove entwining the name "Sandy" on his right bicep. "Ever'body in the band got one a these, too," Dicky says proudly, pulling up his pantleg to show a tattoo of a mushroom on his calf. Willie Perkins nods shortly: "It's the band's emblem. We all got one, and we use the same design on all our litachoor, too."
Dicky catches sight of Duane and guffaws: "Hey, brother you got coke all over in your muss-tache." Peeved, Duane rakes the white grains out the hair on his lip and glares steadily at the photographer, who's snapping individual candids of the band members. When she moves in toward him, he turns his back with a growl.
On the drive to the airport, Berry Oakley is literally holding his head with both hands. "I run into this ol' girl last night who had a whole purseful of tequila," he groans. "Then when that run out, we got into some Red Ripple. *Jesus*."
On the flight south, Butch Trucks reads the opening chapter of D.T. Suzuki's "Zen Buddhism". "You read this un?" he asks Dicky Betts. Betts' eyes flick over the title. "Yeah, good, ain't it," he grunts. An hour later, one of the stewardesses remonstrates repeatedly with Duane to return his seat to the upright postion for landing. Irritably, he complies, but when the stewardess moves on, he reclines the chair again, muttering balefully under his breath. "The boys are gettin' pretty tahrd," Willie Perkins sighs.
The band puts up for the night at the Santa Barbara Inn, a plush beach resort for the middle-aged rich, where, once again, Duane refuses to show up for a picture session with the photographer. Looking positively shell-shocked by now, she pleads her case to Bunky Odum. "Goddamn, honey, he booms, "you're gonna have to come down to Macon and git laid back with us when this bid-ness is over. We'll take you ridin' on our motors and feed you some *down-home collard greens.*"
That night's concert is held in Robertson's Gym at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The band plays a tight subdued set that sets a gaggle of bra-less nymphets near the stage to jiggling like fertilized eggs frying in the ninth circle of hell, but the general ambience in the hall - high humidity, surly security guards, a surfeit of bum acid - gives the evening a jagged unpleasant edge, and streams of people begin leaving before the set is done.
Duane and Dicky lope backstage afterward to "do some sniff," as Dicky terms it. Duane grabs a towel and mops his streaming face while Dicky spoons out the coke. "Goddamn, I'm *sopped*, brother," Duane complains. Dicky snorts the powder and bobs his head in pleasure. "Sheeit, my man, I druther sniff this ol' stuff than a girl's bicycle seat." Jo Baker, a black singer with the Elvin Bishop Group, hovers nearby, eyeing the coke. Duane fixes her with a cold stare. "Look-a-here, sister," he says loudly, "I'm sorry, but I got just a little bit of this shit left, so I can't give you none." "Oh, that's all right," Jo says, looking embarrassed. "Sure, as a musician, I understand."
Early the next morning, "Frown" - Jai Johanny Johnson - is living up to his nickname in the hotel restaurant. Slurping a triple Gold Cadillac, which is a positively depraved concoction of liquor and liqueurs, he growls, "Bullshit, my man. I'm into playin' *music*, not this sittin-around-bullshit. Seems like when we was unknown, all we did was play. Now all we do is get publicity...Ten years from now, if I be livin' I expect to be playin' music...Naw, not with this same band...I got my nickname, the full thing of which is 'Jaymo King Norton Frown,' from drinkin' Robitussin H-C, that cough syrup. It makes you nod and frown. All the cats in the band used to drink that shit, so they finally got me to drink it too...Shit, I don't know what my attitude is towards dope....I don't guess they ever gonna stop it comin' in the country and all that shit. Sure has caused a lot of hang-ups, if you can dig what I mean...Hittin' the note is - well, that don't be nothing' but a phrase. What the cats in the band mean by it is...gettin' out of it whatever you're lookin' for..."
Bunky Odum has again promised the photographer that he'll line up the boys for some shots when the group checks out of the hotel, so she stations herself near the parking garage and nervously waits for them to show up. Soon, Butch Trucks and his wife join her, and Butch apologizes to her for the runaround she's been getting. "Aw ol' Greg and Duane don't mean no harm, I reckon, but they still ortn't to act that-a way," he mutters, looking pained. "We been on the road too long, I guess. It's been five weeks now, and you get awful tahrd and wore out bein' out that long, playin' the same tunes every night and all. It gets to where sometimes it ain't any fun. And this definitely ain't the kind of business to be in if you ain't havin' no fun."
One by one, the boys straggle out ot the cars, again looking sleepy and hungover. When they've assembled in a loose semi-circle, the photographer explains that she'd like to get a group shot showing the tattooed mushrooms on the calves on their legs. Then Duane shakes his head angrily and stomps out of camera range. "This is jive bullshit, man," he rasps, it's *silly*." "Yeah, *silly*," Greg echoes, and follows suit. "Jive bullshit," Dicky Betts agrees, stuffing his pant leg back into his boot. At the fellow traveler's teasing suggestion that it's no sillier to shoot a picture of everyone's tattoos than it is to have them put on in the first place, Duane coldly offers to punch him on the spot. Well, what the fuck, hare krishna; Duane is, after all, the walrus.
The entourage crowds into two rented cars for a tensely silent ride down the coastal highway to L.A. Along the way, Duane gruffly agrees to stop for a last try at the photos on a beach road. When the photographer tries to position the group around the cars so all their faces will be visible, Duane goes out to lunch entirely. "Fuck it," he bellows at her, "either take the fuckin' picture of don't take the fuckin' picture. I'm not gonna do any of that phony posin' shit for you or nobody else."
He's still grumbling and snuffling when the cars swing back onto the highway. "I don't lke any of that contrived shit, man. We're just plain ol' fuckin' Southern cats, man. Not ashamed of it or proud of it, neither one. Ain't no superstars here, man." When he finally shuts up and falls asleep, his fellow traveler gladly crouches down toward the floorboard so the photographer can shoot both the Allmans with their mouths agape in the rear seat. It's uncomfortable for a few miles, but it beats the hell out of getting punched.
Quartered once again atthe Continental Hyatt House on the Karmic Strip in L.A., the Allman group whiles away the afternoon snorting coke, reading comics, mounting a seek-out-and-buy raid on Tower Records, and watching "The Thief of Baghdad" on color TV. When it's time for the evening's gig, Willie Perkins rounds them up and herds them toward Artie's black Cadillac limo for the half-mile ride down Sunset Boulevard to the Whisky-a-Go-Go. "C'mon, brothers," Michael Callahan, the sound man, calls out as the band mills about the driveway, "they gonna eat you *alive* at the Whuskey-a-Dildo."
In the upstairs dressing room at the Whisky, amid the usual groupie babble and turmoil, the photographer determinedly tries to shoot some final pictures. Politely, she asks a busboy to replace some burnt-out light bulbs in the ceiling. When the busboy fetches a ladder and the bulbs, Greg Allman saunters up and mumbles, "Don't screw that bulb in, my man. I like it in here the way it is." "Please screw the bulb in," the photographer entreats. "Don't screw the bulb in, man," Greg says to the busboy stonily. This happens a few times. "Oh, screw it," the photographer says finally in exasperation, and leaves.
When the band's set gets underway downstairs, the usually-comatose Strip crowd yells its lusty approval from the first chorus of "Statesboro Blues." By the time Dicky Betts thunderballs into his solo jam on "Elizabeth Reed," people are standing on their chairs yodeling cheers. As the band jam-drives to a sexy and demonic close, sounding not unlike tight early Coltrane, a flaxen-haired waitress is passing out draughts of beer to the screaming patrons in the second-story gallery. The beer is streaming amber and glistening down her bare arms, and the Allman Brothers Band from Macon, Gawgia, is - what else- Hitting the Note.
Arafat's asking for us to protect him, but we have to see a man about a dog.
Larry and Jean Elliott's funeral was today up in North Carolina. Hundreds of people attended, and it sounds like it was really nice. They were a blessing to other people's lives.
If you want the story, get it from the horse's mouth.
I love modern communications. An LA Times reporter writes about the Green Zone, and Firas of Iraq and Iraqis gets to fact-check his butt.
I saw this link the other day on Ace of Spades and wanted to share it.
Carolyn Scott is a professional dog trainer who heads the Musical Dog Sport Association. If you want to see how smart a dog is and how much PURE FUN he can have, watch Carolyn and her dog Rookie doing the dance number for "You're the One That I Want" from Grease.
UPDATE:
Updated link here.
Busted! Irate citizen with cellphone camera snaps pics of breakfast bunch deputies.
These bad boys were feeling peckish.
Bagel break broke rules
When five Parkland deputies were photographed hunched over coffee and bagels at a Coral Springs deli two Saturdays ago, it gave their employer, the Broward Sheriff's Office, a spot of indigestion.
BSO acknowledged Wednesday that the city of 18,312 was briefly without a patrol presence while the entire day shift, including a sergeant, went noshing together in another town.
I know how you feel, Richard - here's some Motrin.
(A) man "made the off-hand comment, 'Hey everybody. It's Richard Simmons. Let's drop our bags and rock to the '50s,'" said Phoenix police Sgt. Tom Osborne. "Mr. Simmons took exception to it and walked over to the other passenger and apparently slapped him in the face."
"I think [Kerry] has to buy some cowboy boots and get his hands dirty."
-Clotaire Rapaille, French-born marketing consultant, on what John Kerry needs to do to appeal to more Americans.
Police want Romanian village to knock it off with the vampire slaying
Before Toma Petre's relatives pulled his body from the grave, ripped out his heart, burned it to ashes, mixed it with water and drank it, he hadn't been in the news much.
That's often the way here with vampires. Quiet lives, active deaths.
Villagers here aren't up in arms about the undead - they're pretty common - but they are outraged that the police are involved in a simple vampire slaying. After all, vampire slaying is an accepted, though hidden, bit of national heritage, even if illegal.
"What did we do?" pleaded Flora Marinescu, Petre's sister and the wife of the man accused of re-killing him. "If they're right, he was already dead. If we're right, we killed a vampire and saved three lives. ... Is that so wrong?"
For some reason, Romanian vampires only kill family members:
"That's the problem with vampires," said Doru Morinescu, a 30-year-old shepherd who, like many in the village, has a family connection to the current case. "They'd be all right if you could set them after your enemies. But they only kill loved ones. I can understand why, but they have to be stopped."
If it's Wednesday, it must be Duane Allman. The pic Annie Liebowitz went through hell to get.
Wail on, Skydog!
This is typical. Miami hogs all the Homeland Security money because it thinks it's the center of the universe. The Broward County paper refers to four counties in SE Florida as "South Florida" because it thinks it's the center of the universe. It's all the same mentality.
County and city leaders in Miami-Dade County are keeping virtually all of $13.2 million in federal aid meant to prevent terrorism throughout South Florida, despite the objections of Broward County and local members of Congress.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security put the city of Miami in charge of dividing the money earmarked to help areas viewed as at highest risk for attack. Miami officials decided to split $10.3 million with Miami-Dade County and give Broward the remaining $2.9 million and nothing to Palm Beach and Monroe counties.
At my brother's request, I called in twice about Port Everglades, which is in Broward. He'd been there on a job and was concerned about the security there.
Dade County is such a banana republic that people fling bunches of bananas on the courthouse steps there. It's so fiscally irresponsible that the state threatened to take over the management of the county entirely, and even now has an overseer in place.
Michael Jackson wanted to play car ridden by boy in film
It's an odd idea for a movie, even for Michael Jackson. "Jersey Girl" director Kevin Smith says he once got an offer to direct the pop singer in a movie about a man who turns into a car that gets ridden around by a boy.
Smith tells Playboy magazine that Jackson wanted to play the car/man role. The proposed title of the film, and Smith says this is no lie, was "Hot Rod."
Smith calls it the "weirdest" script he was ever asked to direct.
It didn't make him call a cop, though.
Money talks, even for child molesters.
Don't you hate it when you're having a picnic and a man-eating tiger shows up? I'm glad he didn't have a tower and a rifle- this tiger was trying to wipe out as many people as possible.
Five Picnickers Killed By Royal Bengal Tiger
Five people ranging in age from 22 to 40 have been killed by a Royal Bengal Tiger while picnicking south of Kathmandu, Nepal.
"Five picnickers were killed yesterday after being attacked by a man-eating tiger believed to have been on the prowl for humans in the Chitwan district for the past couple of months," an official said.
One man managed to survive by climbing a tree. "Even while I was up in the tree, the tiger waited for a couple of hours lying beneath the tree," a police report quoted Rajendra Nyeupane, the surviving man.
The tiger's suspected of having killed eight other people as well.
From hate crime hoax campus:
On Walker Wall, a free speech area on the Pomona College campus, the slogan "Hate Free Campus" was painted two weeks ago in 4-foot-high letters. On Monday, that was partly changed to proclaim: "Hoax Free Campuses." A phrase on the wall that once said "Discover the other within" was altered to say "Discover the liar within."
Bertie's like a little hot potato anymore
Nigeria has agreed to a request by Caribbean leaders to grant former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide temporary asylum, the nation's presidency said Monday.
The request came from the 15-nation Caribbean Community, known as Caricom, Nigerian presidential spokeswoman Remi Oyo said in a statement late Monday.
The statement did not say whether Aristide had requested — or even agreed to — asylum in Nigeria.
The honeymoon must be over between him and Patterson of Jamaica. Will Bertie take Caricom up on the offer to go live in a lodge in Nigeria, or will he fly off into the arms of bad-boy true love Hugo Chavez?
Making a false report to a federal officer is a felony. I do hope they charge hoaxstering nutty professor Kerri Dunn with that one.
What's worse, now the students won't get their annual holiday!
Additionally, a small group of students confronted college administrators with the possibility of starting an annual holiday to commemorate the incident and the way the students marched and protested for their beliefs. Students now say the likelihood of such a holiday is slim.
I'd say so.
There was no external analysis offered on the C-SPAN program other than a Marvin Kalb intro wherein he said that he'd been there at the time and found the testimony to be lead-story-worthy.
For the call-ins, three people expressed approval of him, and eight disapproved.
The three people who expressed approval were all female. I don't know what that means.
Loved the bit where Kerry mentioned his Indian friend living "on the Indian nation of Alcatraz." Anarchy and squalor. Good times!
Set your dials:
According to Country Store:
C-SPAN, as part of its "Road to the White House," is broadcasting Sen. Kerry's 1971 testimony before Sen. Fulbright this Sunday night (6:30 & 9:30).
This type of cancer is more prevalent in men worldwide.
Muslim Veil Could Cut Cancer Risk?
RIYADH (Reuters) - Veiled women are protecting more than their modesty -- they are also less prone to nose and throat cancers because their veils screen out viruses, a Canadian doctor was quoted Friday as saying.
Professor Kamal Malaker said women in Saudi Arabia, many of whom wear a full face-covering veil, suffered a low rate of the Epstein Barr Virus which causes nasopharyngeal cancer.
"The hijab (veil) is a protection against upper respiratory tract infection," the Saudi Gazette quoted Malaker as saying. "In the kingdom, nasopharyngeal throat cancer ailment is very low among women as compared to men."
"It is interesting how a very simple social custom can have a profound effect on a human's life," said Malaker, head of radiation oncology at King Abdul Aziz hospital in the conservative Muslim kingdom.
Get your veil, Professor. It's not right for you to deprive yourself of these supposed health benefits.
It's been a George Romero kind of day here at Florida Cracker. Must be the protesters. A remake of "Dawn of the Dead" came out this weekend, but it's Romero-free, so it will also be character-development-free. Do yourselves a favor and rent the original. You won't be sorry. If you like a cracklin'-good zombie movie, that is.
Most of you have never had the opportunity to visit my hometown of Ft. Myers, Florida. To help make up for this, I've found a clip of a Romero travelogue that showcases our downtown area and allows our citizens to sparkle like the jewels they are.
(Note the Edison Theater. Exactly one half of all schools, businesses, etc. in Ft. Myers are named after Edison.)
Sam of Hammorabi didn't know this picture was fake until someone sent him the original.
Tim Blair's found the Mother of All Baghdad Graffiti Links. There are so many of them, I'll give just a dab. I'd call graffiti-writing the world's oldest form of blogging!
WE MUST NOT FORGET THE MASS GRAVES AND THEIR CHAMPION, SADDAM HUSSEIN THE LIBERTINE
SADDAM HAS VANISHED INTO THE CESSPIT OF HISTORY
LONG LIVE SADDAM, IN SPITE OF HIS FOOL CRAZIES!
And underneath is written:
SADDAM IS A PIMP; ASK YOUR SISTER!
PATIENCE, BAGHDAD, PATIENCE, SADDAM IS COMING BACK SOON
And underneath is written:
TO FINISH OFF WHAT REMAINS OF THE IRAQI PEOPLE OR TO FUCK YOUR MOTHER?
PATIENCE, BAGHDAD, PATIENCE, SADDAM IS COMING BACK SOON
And underneath is written:
HAND CUFFED, BY THE WILL OF GOD
LET YOUR HEADS APPEAR, YOU BAATHISTS. WHERE ARE YOU HIDING? IN THE SEWAGE PIPES?
WE SWEAR WE WILL MAKE MASS GRAVES FROM IRAQ'S LAND FOR ALL THE TRAITORS AND ALL THE AGENTS OF THE AMERICANS AND THE ZIONISTS—Army of Mohammed
And underneath is written:
WE ALREADY KNOW MASS GRAVES ARE YOUR SPECIALTY; GOD IS OUR WITNESS ON THAT
EVERYONE WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT OF IRAQ, EVEN THE PORTERS AT THE SHARJAH BAZAAR
THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MR. BUSH, AND A THOUSAND THANK YOUS FOR MR. GOOD IRAQI BREMER
THANKS MR. BREMER FOR CUTTING OFF THESE NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES FROM IRAQ'S MONEY—ONE MORE YEAR, AND THEY WILL DIE OF HUNGER. JUST A LITTLE PATIENCE, MR. BREMER, AND THESE NOSES-IN-THE-SKIES WILL COME TO NOTHING
BUSH THE FATHER LIBERATED KUWAIT. BUSH THE SON LIBERATED IRAQ, THEN SYRIA, THEN IRAN. BUSH THE GRANDSON WILL LIBERATE THE WHOLE WORLD!
A CURSE OF GOD ON THE AMERICANS AND SADDAM AND BRITISH AND RUSSIANS AND JAPANESE AND FRENCH AND ITALIANS AND LONG LIFE FOR IRAQ AND ISLAM ONLY
EVERYONE, SADDAM CRAPPED IN HIS TROUSERS
DEAR LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, SADDAM ATE FROM THE KAADAH! [a child's potty]
BAATHISTS ARE THE MICROBES OF THE WORLD, AND BUSH IS THE MICROBE KILLER
LONG LIVE GENERAL SANCHEZ: HE MADE SADDAM KICK HIMSELF LIKE A BILLY GOAT
Paul Wolfowitz has written an article with much quoting from Ali of Iraq the Model.
AFTER the horrific March 2 bombing that killed 170 at Shi'a shrines in Baghdad and Karbala, one Iraqi had an answer for those in the West who wonder if such tactics can work. His words speak to the horror of the events in Spain last week and in Baghdad on Wednesday.
His name is Ali and his Web log said this about the terrorists and their allies: "They are spitting in the face of the wind."
That is so beyond cool, Ali! Congrats!
I just heard from a writer I'd spoken with last year. His book on Southern music is going forward and he wrote to get permission to use my quotes. So if you read a book on Southern music and get to a part where there's a suspicious Cracker, that would be me.
Time for a gratuitous Duane Allman pic. Didn't he clean up nice? Wail on, Skydog!
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." -Mark Twain.
From Alaa of the Mesopotamian
I have just listened to President Bush's speech on CNN. I just couldn't leave the keyboard without saying something. Because the warmth of the President's words of friendship and commitment to our people really did make my eyes moisten. Not even the openly hostile report by the CNN reporter could spoil the feeling.
God will be on the side of good men, and it is clear for this middle-aged man who the good men are.
Hail dear El Bush. Thanks to you and all the Coalition men and women. Long may live our alliance and friendship. Victory by the Grace and Help of Allah is assured.
(H)e spent a night with Egyptian terrorists in 1997; met a vigilante Jewish settler named Avi Shapiro in 2001; watched a Pakistani student unfold a picture of the Sears Tower and say, "This one is mine,"� in 2001; visited a suspected terrorist crossing point on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in 2002; interviewed the daughter of an Iraqi general in 2003; (and) went on a high-speed hunt for Osama bin Laden in 2003.
Is he a modern-day Indiana Jones? No, he's just another lying reporter.
His story on "Avi Shapiro" can still be found at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Somehow I doubt they'll be removing it.
More on the professor who staged her own 'hate' crime:
Kerri Dunn, a visiting professor of psychology, told police her car was spray-painted with racist and sexist epithets and vandalized with broken windows and slashed tires on March 9 as she spoke at a forum on racism.
The incident angered students, who staged sit-ins and anti-hate rallies at the prestigious group of liberal arts colleges. Classes were canceled for a day and the administration offered a $10,000 reward.
But police now say two witnesses saw Dunn drive into the college parking lot with her car already spray-painted. She then popped the tires, they said.
Dunn allegedly approached the witnesses, who were sitting in their car, and asked if they saw anyone damage her vehicle.
"I was thinking to myself, 'Yeah, we just saw you pop your tires,'" one of the witnesses told police.
Even more here.
Ace of Spades phoned me from his visit over to the Democratic Underground, and was saying the denizens there are all aflutter at the possibility of an OBL capture. The full report's over at his place, but I took some notes:
Calimary, a red-white-and-blue niece of her Uncle Sam, is nothing but thrilled to think that OBL might soon be captured; she just worries that maybe it could help Bush in November. "Yeah, better now, when there are still many months to go," this loyal American pouts about the impending capture of an Al Qaeda leader, " and the impact can be thoroughly diffused, than closer to the election. Let's hope, if it happens, that it's soon." She enthuses further: "Let's get this over with, I guess, kind of like root canal."
Ah. The capture of a mass-murderer of American civilians is a distasteful and painful experience, "kind of like a root canal." We're wiping away a tear at the poignancy of such potent patriotism.
Is was really hard to hear him over the sound of John Philip Sousa playing in the background. They were really into it too- clapping along, and hooting and hollering up a storm.
The new Ann Coulter column is up.
One Spaniard who decided to switch his vote in reaction to the bombings told the Times: "Maybe the Socialists will get our troops out of Iraq and al-Qaida will forget about Spain so we will be less frightened." That's the fighting spirit! If the violent Basque separatist group only killed more people, Spain would surely give them what they want, too.
I think this lady had to do a whole lot of stuff right in order to have both a husband and a son become President.
Update on the earlier Basra post:
The passers-by did more than pulverize the bomber. They killed him.
Way to go, guys!
Chef spills the beans about the Dear Leader
''He particularly enjoyed sashimi so fresh that he could start eating the fish as its mouth is still gasping and the tail is still thrashing,'' Fujimoto said. ``I sliced the fish so as not to puncture any of its vital organs, so, of course, it was still moving. Kim Jong Il was delighted. He would eat it with gusto.''
At least Gollum konked his on the head first.
Firas Georges of Iraq and Iraqis has had two radio interviews with the CBC, the first of which is up online now. It's so thrilling to hear the voice of one whose written words I've enjoyed so much.
(Thanks to Cynthia for sending the link.)
Ali of Iraq the Model sends a congratulatory message to Spain:
Congratulation again to the newly elected sensible government, to the newly crowned (and real) king of Spain; his royal majesty Osama Bin Laden and to the Spanish people for proving that they are a 'sovereign nation' and that they don’t submit to any outside pressure, not from the USA nor from any other…government.
Long live the King.
Residents detain car bomber in Basra, hand him over to police.
I imagine he was pretty well pulverized by the time they turned him over.
You're a youth care worker in a juvenile facility and you come across a boy who's just hung himself. What do you do?
If you're Sandra Trotter, you start snapping pics.
She's heading off to prison now.
Do not make Condi angry. You wouldn't like her when she's angry.
Scott Elliott and the Mission Board have established a memorial fund in honor of his folks, Larry and Jean Elliott. Y'all go on over with your checkbooks.
My oldest niece Sarah is a Southern Baptist missionary too. If anything were to happen to her, I know I'd be so pleased to have people honor her memory in this way by helping continue her work.
Boston Irish reports that faux-Irish John Kerry forgot about showing up for the traditional St. Paddy's Day breakfast back in that state he's supposed to represent.
Bet he doesn't forget Bastille Day! Vive le quatorze juillet, John!
The French love them some John F'in' Kerry. He's the new Jerry Lewis.
His face graces the covers of magazines and newspapers on Paris newsstands. He's the subject of radio phone-in and television talk shows. Journalists chase down distant relatives and long-forgotten acquaintances in search of anecdotes.
If November's presidential election were being held here, there's no doubt that Mr. Kerry, the Massachusetts senator and Democratic candidate, would win by a landslide.
"People are going crazy. My phone is ringing from morning to night because everybody wants to know about Kerry," said the head of the France chapter of Democrats Abroad, Constance Borde. "I'm even getting calls from French people asking if they can contribute to the campaign, and of course I have to tell them no.This is something I've never seen happening."
(Via Pave France.)
Sassy from Coffee IV has a list of the Things You Wouldn't Hear a Southerner Say. (Scroll down.)
Zapatero, president of Al Qaeda.
Thousands of protesters accused Spain's new prime minister of being "the president of al-Qaida" in demonstrations Wednesday to support the defeated party of outgoing leader Jose Maria Aznar.
About 5,000 people gathered outside the conservative Popular Party's headquarters in downtown Madrid. Waving Spanish flags and banners, they were protesting the upset win by Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Sunday elections that were shaken by terrorist bombings three days earlier.
"Zapatero, president of al-Qaida," "Zapatero with terrorism" and "Zapatero resign," they chanted.
Looks like some people realize they're up Sh*t Creek.
(Via Allah)
Wednesday's Duane Allman pic. Wail on, Skydog!
I hear France is being threatened by terrorists. Time for a dialogue.
Protesters didn't want us to use Vieques, so we shut down the base and scraped the whole place off our shoes. Not practicing there hasn't hurt us one bit. We're doing just fine, thanks. Sorry about the jobless freaking ghost town, y'all.
How's it any of Jonah Goldberg's beeswax what Mel Gibson does with his movie profits?
If you don't read Scrappleface, you should. It's like the Onion, only the entire stories are funny, not just the headlines.
Countless Dozens Protest CNN Coverage of Iraq
(2004-03-15) -- Countless dozens of protestors marched on CNN's Atlanta headquarters today to speak out against the Cable News Network's "barrage of negative coverage" about the U.S. role in the liberation of Iraq.
The event followed a CNN story about an anti-war march in Washington D.C., which the network claimed drew a crowd estimated by police to number "in the low triple-digits."
No independent crowd-size estimate was available for the Atlanta protest, but organizers said several cases of bottled water were consumed and at least one participant claimed he was inadvertently jostled by a fellow protestor.
"This is arguably as massive as the anti-war march in D.C.," one organizer shouted over the din of several clusters of chatting protestors. "We figured if we could get a crowd this large, then CNN would have to cover the march even though we're protesting their coverage. You just can't ignore the roar of the vox populi."
"Well done, my good and faithful servant."
From the Florida Baptist Witness, an article on the deaths of the Elliotts, Karen Watson, and David McDonnell.
-Four Americans researching needs for humanitarian projects in northern Iraq were killed and one was critically wounded in a drive-by shooting March 15 in Mosul. The workers were in the area under the auspices of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.
Killed were Larry T. Elliott, 60, and Jean Dover Elliott, 58, of Cary, N.C.; Karen Denise Watson, 38, of Bakersfield, Calif.; and David E. McDonnall, 28, of Rowlett, Texas. The Elliotts had served with the International Mission Board in Honduras since 1978 and transferred to the Middle East in February 2004. Watson had been with the board since March 2003, McDonnall since November of last year.
McDonnall's wife, Carrie, 26, also of Rowlett, Texas, remains in critical condition March 16.
David McDonnall died the morning of March 16 en route to a military support hospital in Baghdad. Four U.S. military surgeons had worked six hours to save his life.
According to the IMB, the four workers died from bullet and shell fragment wounds reportedly fired by unidentified assailants wielding automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.
IMB President Jerry Rankin said all Southern Baptists shared the sorrow and grief of the families and co-workers.
"In times like this, there are no words that will take away the pain of a loved one's violent death," Rankin said. "Everyone in the IMB family and everyone who loves Southern Baptists' overseas workers are grieving with the family members and co-workers of these precious souls. "We are grateful that God himself comes alongside us in our deepest sorrow and comforts us in a way no one else can."
CNN, pathetic to the end, leaves out Jerry Rankin's last sentence of hope and comfort, and an earlier version of the article inserted into the story the fact that 60 PROTESTERS protested the other day against the war.
From the earlier CNN article on the murdered workers:
Meanwhile in Washington, the Bush administration is hearing from protesters calling for an end to U.S. military action in Iraq.
On Monday, protesters began a march outside Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where many wounded troops are taken. About 60 protesters then walked toward Lafayette Park, across from the White House, a nearly 6-mile trek, where their numbers swelled to about 100.
With the one-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq only days away, Bush administration officials are trying to highlight positive progress in Iraq.
"Twenty-five million people in Iraq are free," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told CNN. "They've been liberated. The schools are functioning. There's a new interim constitution that protects the rights of women and will protect minorities and ethnic elements in that country. It's an advance for freedom."
This is required reading. I've not read a better summation of the situation than this article from The Scotsman.
Spanish vote sends out wrong message
FRASER NELSON
TERRORISM has never known a victory like it. Killing 200 commuters ranks high in the annals of slaughter - but no-one has successfully unleashed a political aftermath which has toppled an enemy government.
The bombers have achieved something which terrorists had never thought possible. Murder enough voters at election time, it appears, and it is possible to engineer your own regime change. Spain’s election shows that terrorism works.
Whatever the reality of the vote, and the politics, this is how the result can now be portrayed - a country raising the white flag to the gunmen.
A precedent has been set which will now haunt every democratic election in the free world.
Those who asked "why Madrid?" last week would have heard their answer in full when José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain’s prime minister-elect, launched a blistering attack against Tony Blair and George Bush for toppling Saddam Hussein.
The dictator’s removal was a "huge disaster", he said, which "divided more than it united" and the attempts to democratise Iraq, the reconstruction programme, the immunisation programme, are also a "huge disaster".
As if making his way down an al-Qaeda wish list, Mr Zapatero then accused Mr Blair and Mr Bush of "lying", and pledged to pull out the 1,300 Spanish troops currently deployed in hunting down terrorists in Iraq. Osama Bin Laden would have been dancing in his cave.
There was condemnation of terrorism - but as terrorists know very well, actions speak louder than words. And the actions were of a country which has, in response to a bomb, abandoned its part in helping Iraq’s transition to democracy.
The truth is, as always, complex. José Maria Aznar’s Party Populare (PP) won 148 seats against the 164 of its socialist rival. Of Spain’s 40 million population, fewer than 550,000 voters swung the balance of power. This was no nationwide Damascene conversion.
Several million Spaniards, even socialist supporters, will today have their head in their hands, having voted for Aznar through gritted teeth - purely on the grounds that terrorism cannot be seen to decide the result of their election.
And if the campaign had been on a knife-edge, or even closely-run, the PP’s defeat would matter little. But for the last three months, the PP was riding so high in the polls that even the socialists were talking as if their defeat was inevitable.
Then the terrorists struck, and the political landscape changed. It is impossible not to link the two - and this sends a message of weakness the world over: the course of democracy can be altered by bombs.
Aznar did not help matters by blaming ETA without evidence, and being seen to mislead the voters to further his own ends. But he was out-manipulated by al-Qaeda. "Your war, our dead," cried activists as Aznar cast his vote on Sunday - exactly the message the bombers wanted to imprint into the Spanish psyche.
So why Madrid? It can now be seen as the latest victim in al-Qaeda’s strategy of isolating the US by picking off the coalition allies most likely to be intimidated.
The purpose and direction of insurgents’ attacks in Iraq tell their own story. On 20 August, the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad was bombed: weeks later, most of its staff had pulled out, just as the terrorists intended. The same was true for the Red Cross, targeted two months later.
So when Madrid was attacked, the evidence suggests it was because its population were more likely to vote to pull out of Iraq. With 90 per cent opposed to the war, there was much hostility to stir up.
Al-Qaeda’s strategy is now to motivate its enemy’s enemy - weakening a government by giving a helping hand to its opposition. In most cases, this means giving ammunition for left-wing politicians.
It is hard to work out at which point the European Left - once the most strident enemies of right-wing dictators - should suddenly be the ones complaining that Saddam and the Taleban have been deposed.
Traditionally, the Right has been in favour of cutting deals with "friendly" dictators - which is why Saddam prospered under the Reagan-Thatcher years when he promised to fight the Iranians and sell cheap oil.
After 11 September, President Bush realised he had no choice but to reverse the tide of international terrorism by taking the fight to those who defied the international community. Primarily, this meant breaking free from the definition of "international law" - and the UN Security Council system where dictators like Saddam could buy allies to make sure they remain forever secure.
So, it seems, the Right are the ones turning dictatorships into democracies and spending billion vaccinating children and building hospitals - while the Left protest, saying this all violates "international law".
If such politics is disorientating for observers in the West, it seems to make perfect sense to al-Qaeda, which seems to have played the Spanish elections to perfection. Thanks to Spain’s new socialist government, they will soon not need to worry about Spanish soldiers hunting their colleagues who sow murder in Iraq.
Luckily for Mr Blair, he does not have a strong anti-war opposition - the British election will be far harder to manipulate. When the IRA attempted to blow up the Thatcher government in 1984, the nation united in contempt against it.
Unfortunately for al-Qaeda, Labour rebels are not standing as a political party and no terrorist would be foolish enough to place hopes on a Liberal Democrat victory. There is no similar scope to twist the course of a British general election.
But that is not to say that the insurgents will not try. Spain has just given the world the first election in history to be altered irrevocably by a terrorist attack. This is a new gold standard of terrorist accomplishment that others will attempt to follow.
Britain has repeatedly shown itself resilient to such outrages. But al-Qaeda’s impact in the Spanish elections means such terrorist attempts at campaign time are now more likely than they were two days ago - for Britain, Europe and the rest of the world.
Al Sharpton has dropped out of the race. My feelings are he wanted some national exposure and he got it. We still need to delve further into his questionable campaign expenses. No way does Sharpton do things on the up-and-up. He's pure huckster.
On the day he gets $100K from the FEC to continue his campaign, he bails. He got the money even though he's being investigated for deeds that would make his ineligible for those funds. Sheesh.
We've got a little problem here in Florida with our court system. The one positive thing that could come from Carlie Brucia's death is that something is done to fix this. No way should violent felons be cut this much slack.
A special report in the Herald-Tribune put a fine point on the problem: We're very lenient with dangerous people. As a state, we are allowing too many known perilous people to remain free. It was not just Smith. The numbers tell the story.
The newspaper found that out of 71,000 criminals who committed violent crimes or sex offenses since 2001, about 11,000 violated their probation but were not sent to prison. A stunning 2,500 of the violent criminals had violated their probation three times or more and still were free, and one offender had committed 20 violations without going to jail.
Both Tim Blair and Ace have noted today's peace march in Washington and the disproportionate amount of coverage it has received.
Number of protesters: 60. Amount of coverage from CNN: Tons.
Ace further notes that the Jan. 22 anti-abortion March for Life, with 50,000 marchers, rated not a single word from CNN.
An insignificance of Canadians
Ace of Spades has a new top ten list up. Just as there are collective nouns for animals (flock of sheep, pride of lions), he's come up with a list of them for people.
I've been wracking my brain trying to add to the list, but you can't beat the Ace at his own game.
Back in elementary school I learned about the pirates of the Barbary Coast. It was the music teacher who taught us about them, explaining what the "shores of Tripoli" meant in the Marine Corps Hymn. If a country didn't pay the pirates, they'd attack that country's ships and enslave the crews. We went to Europe with a plan for us to join together and fight them. Europe preferred to continue paying, so we fought them ourselves.
This is not the first conflict in which America has faced such deprivations against life and property. There was another time when it was determined that diplomacy would not only be futile, but humiliating and in the long run disastrous. A time when ransom or tribute would not buy peace. A time when war was considered more effective and honorable. And, a time when war would be fought, not with large concentrations of military might, but by small bands peopled with individuals of indomitable spirit.
Almost 180 years ago our infant country attacked Tripoli under circumstances that are eerily similar to contemporary times. That conflict, immortalized in the Marine Corps Hymn, "From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli" called the Tripolitan War or the Barbary Pirate War, came shortly after we gained our independence from England. The United States chose to fight the pirates of Barbary, rather than pay tribute, as did all the other nations who traded in the Mediterranean Sea. The decision was bold, but the eventual victory by the tiny United States Navy broke a pattern of international blackmail and terrorism dating back more than one hundred and fifty years.
Spain, I hope you'll enjoy your new masters. You might want to consider paying them a monetary tribute each year- I know how much you want to keep in their good graces.
"This is the new menace of our time. We will not defeat it by hoping it will leave us alone or by hiding away. We must be prepared for them to strike whenever and however they can."
-Tony Blair, March 13, 2004.
There's a video of Al Qaeda claiming responsibility for the Madrid bombings.
Aznar was the one who stood up to fight the terrorists, against the wishes of many of his people. What say you now, Spaniards? Will you try to appease the terrorists or will you fight them?
"We declare our responsibility for what happened in Madrid exactly 21/2 years after the attacks on New York and Washington," said the man, according to a government translation of the tape, which was recorded in Arabic. "It is a response to your collaboration with the criminals Bush and his allies."
I'm so proud of my President that these murderers would see him as their chief enemy.
Wolves eat sheep. Crying "Peace!" at a wolf will not stop him.
Over on the blog I call Crystal Hamster Addiction (erroneously called by its owner "Placeholder"), there's a link to a fun and entertaining radio clip. Actually, there's a couple of great clips. One is of President Reagan saying we've outlawed the Soviet Union and the bombing will begin in five minutes. The one I want to mention, though, is of a radio debate from before the war between a peace activist and an Iraqi guy who called in to administer to her a comprehensive verbal beating.
Knowing how Sam of Hammorabi appreciates good audio-visual material, I sent him a link to it. Sam reminds me a whole lot of the Iraqi guy in the clip.
You'll find the audio links on the left-hand side of CHA's page.
In my pursuit of Laura Bush pics, today I went and had a look at the website for the GHW Bush Presidential Museum. They have a section for gifts to the President from Heads of State. While some of the gifts are exquisite, quite a few are pure crap. Let's have a look at those, shall we?
From Chamorro of Nicaragua:
Oil on rock. Gee, thanks.
From Mulroney of Canada:
A freaking bronze dancing bear. Looks like someone swung by a gift shop at the last minute.
We have the same bears as you, Canada. They're nothing special.
From Bildt of Sweden:
The world's ugliest lop-sided crystal bowl with dead leaves in it. We're touched.
From Queen Elizabeth:
A porcelain lattice bowl. I know she re-gifted this, I just know it.
She got this from Upper Volta and re-wrapped it.
No way does this represent the riches of England.
From Mitterand:
Bronze, or tin. It's hard to tell.
It looks like something some kid banged out in shop class.
Some other countries send solid gold stuff and ancient artifacts. Those types of things always serve a gift-giver in good stead.
If you see three guys wearing ski masks when it's not cold, you might want to call the cops.
Wouldn't you think they were up to no good?
Police have interviewed two witnesses in Alcala de Henares, including a doorman who said he saw three young men carrying knapsacks toward the station in that town, the official said.
The doorman saw the men get out of the van and "walk toward the train carrying backpacks and he was struck by the fact that they were wearing ski masks when the weather was not suited for that kind of clothing," the official said.
Kerry silent on ad saying he's soft on terror
But Kerry's ad ignored the Bush campaign's main charge that Kerry is weak on fighting terrorists.
In one ad, Bush suggests that electing Kerry would "turn back to the dangerous illusion that terrorists are not plotting and outlaw regimes are no threat."
Kerry seldom speaks out on the campaign trail about the importance of fighting terrorism, and polls shows it's an issue on which Bush appears to have an advantage.
"We are determined to make this campaign about real issues facing Americans, like making health care affordable, improving education and getting our economy back on track," Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said in a statement that focuses on certain domestic issues, where Democrats have an edge.
It's a real issue to me, lady. It is to a lot of other people, as well.
Susan Lindauer's out on $500,000 bail, released into the custody of her dad after undergoing a psychiatric evaluation. I'm sure her dad is so thrilled with the way she turned out.
It looks like they're going to go for an insanity defense.
Pedophiliac priest has snot kicked out of him in prison
According to the source, Ryan was beaten by another inmate with a stick while in the shower. The priest has been in protective custody since arriving at the jail last week, and was therefore escorted to the shower by a correction officer.
But when Ryan asked the officer for a towel, he was left by himself for a moment, the source said.
As soon as the officer walked away, another inmate outside his cell talking on the telephone grabbed a broom or some other kind of long stick and jabbed Ryan repeatedly in the stomach, breaking his rib and puncturing a lung.
When the officer returned the inmate had already left. No one has been arrested in the incident, although sheriff officials were investigating yesterday, the source said.
Sounds like the guy was waiting for a chance.
My brother was a water plant operator at a prison. His crew were prisoners. They'd offer him names of guys they wanted him to have come work at the plant. All the names were those of child molesters they wanted an opportunity to put a hurt on. Those madcap cons.
My brother has lots of funny stories about them. He kept a lid to a mayonnaise jar in his office. He'd bring in hamburger meat sometimes and cook burgers for them. But he had to measure the meat with the lid, because if all the burgers weren't exactly the same, they'd fight. He tried every day to help them think like normal human beings, but you can only do so much with the emotionally retarded.
Vandals destroy church's stained-glass pictures of Jesus.
Vandals tossed bricks at a downtown Glendale church, destroying four stained-glass windows depicting the life of Jesus, officials said Friday.
The vandals seemed to have set their sights on the images of Jesus, said Jim O'Neal, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church, 7102 N. 58th Drive.
"It's like they have thrown the bricks at the Lord," O'Neal said. "It's such a shame. I don't know why somebody would be filled with such hate."
No word on if it's related to recent waves of anti-Christian bigotry in the media.
Last year we were inundated with stories on Martha Burk and her protest against the Augusta National Golf Club. The New York Times was obsessed with it. Despite all the publicity, club chairman Hootie Johnson refused to cave, and in the end, the American public just rolled their eyes at Burk's protests.
The Political Junkie fills us in on what's happening with Augusta this year.
The Willie Horton ad seems to be back in the news lately, growing more mythical as the years pass. As I mentioned earlier, campaign commercials from 1952-up are available for viewing over at the Living Room Candidate. You may wish to start there at their homepage in order to set your viewing format/connection speed.
Lights, camera, Horton.
From the Asia Times:
Progressive minds in the European Union already worry whether this tragic 3-11 might turn Spain - not yet a police state - into an Iberian mirror of a neo-conservative-driven America shorter on civil liberties and longer on social paranoia. This was never an effect ETA intended. But it may well suit the international jihad.
From Alaa of the Mesopotamian:
WAKE UP PEOPLE OF EUROPE
THIS IS THE TIME TO START THE REAL GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM. WE ARE IN THE FRONT LINE. WAKE UP PEOPLE OF THE WORLD.
They're going to keep on sleeping while better men than they fight to protect them. They are non-participants in the fight for their own survival.
Meanwhile, over at the Democratic Underground:
Here's what I think:
That Aznar, being a close buddy of chimp, has learnt a few lessons from the chimp's handlers. How to manipulate the vote in a democratic system by using fear.
Just like 911, even before investigators have had time to get to the scene, govt officials were blaming ETA, conveniently trotting out a series of "dots" that connected the ETA to the crime- for instance some ETA operative caught a few weeks ago in France with explosives. This despite a well-known fact that ETA always warns before conducting a bombing run.
The timing of the explosions, just before the spanish general elections, is also suspect. Does anyone know who will gain electorally after the bomb blasts? I wouldn't be surprised if it's Aznar and party.
And ETA can't be so dumb not to realize such an attack will actually further marginalize and alienate the group and its cause.
This may be another example of a new situation developing globally after 911- where ruling elites engineer attacks on their own people, blame a shadowy network, use fear to intimidate voters, and get re-elected with massive mandates.
We're really moving speedily towards an Orwellian world.
Or am I a kook who's had too many joints?
And someone responds with:
It is all a little unsettling, isn't it? I wonder if something like what happened today will happen here just before our election? It goes right down with Paul Wellstone getting killed before the 2002 election. This is not being paranoid or wearing tin foil, you must wonder if this all took place to help Aznar win the election in Spain?
Someone want to tell them that Aznar's not running for election?
"I think we still over-estimate the danger of terror."
-Hans Blix, March 7, 2004.
I don't have much hope that there's going to be a happy ending for this explorer.
My father saw North Pole explorer Matthew Henson at the Chicago World's Fair in 1934.
On the way back to Florida, Dad and them stopped to visit relatives in Georgia, and the afternoon paper's headline was that Dillinger had been killed. Exciting trip.
Ali of Iraq the Model is convinced the attack on Spain was the work of Islamicists and not Basques. He also knows a thing a two about how NOT to deal with terrorists:
The nature of the attacks leaves no doubt that whoever carried them wanted to cause as much as possible causalities among civilians, which seems to be a trade mark for AL QUEDA.
Future investigations may prove this and may prove otherwise, but if it appears to be what I think it is, it should tell everyone and especially those who claim that the world is a safe place and there is no need for going into war against terrorism, that they are wrong and that whether America came to Iraq or not, these people would never stop there madness until the world yield to their demands.
Some people may say, that by admitting that the fact Spain is one of the major coalition forces made her an object for such attacks, should prove that the decision to go to war was a big mistake. There is nothing far from truth than this assumption, as 9/11 took place before America went to war and similar, but smaller, attacks took place all over Europe prior to war. Should the governments you elected take permission from the terrorists before committing a necessary action fearing that it may piss them off? The people who claim that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism, strangely are the same who say that the war in Iraq had enraged terrorists. Now I wonder why were the terrorists enraged by toppeling Saddam and liberating Iraq if it wasn't directed at them as well!!?
The war is not only necessary, but also inevitable. No one should believe that if these terrorists were left alone, they would be peaceful and drop there arms and become our friends. It’s not only naïve, but also seriously dangerous to put such trust in such corrupted evil minds such as those of AL QUEDA and other terrorist groups.
Finally I’d like to add that ETA may have a role in this, but certainly it’s not the major one. It seems that only extremist Muslims are capable of such meaningless horrible crimes, it’s their territory and their specialization and I would really be surprised if the future investigations proved otherwise.
How Susan Lindauer was caught
The indictment alleges that Lindauer met with a representative of the Iraqi Intelligence Service in New York on September 19, 2001, just eight days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Despicable.
We were using paper flags because the stores were sold out of cloth ones. I had a bow made of red, white, and blue ribbons pinned to my shirt. I thought it was BEAUTIFUL, too.
It was.
We have a winner.
Spying for ideology:
"I'm an anti-war activist and I'm innocent," Lindauer told WBAL-TV as she was led to a car outside the Baltimore FBI office. "I did more to stop terrorism in this country than anybody else. I have done good things for this country. I worked to get weapons inspectors back to Iraq when everyone else said it was impossible. I'm very proud and I'll stand by my achievements."
The Cracker didn't sleep through spy school.
BTW, people mainly spy for monetary gain.
Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the Madrid bombings.
(Via Lucianne).
More on Susan Lindauer
A former journalist and one-time press secretary for four members of Congress was arrested Thursday on charges she served as a paid agent for the Iraqi intelligence service before and after the U.S. invasion.
Susan Lindauer, 41, was arrested in her hometown of Takoma Park, Md., and was to appear in court later in the day in Baltimore, authorities in New York said.
She was accused of conspiring to act as a spy for the Iraqi Intelligence Service and engaging in prohibited financial transactions involving the government of Iraq under dictator Saddam Hussein. Prosecutors say she accepted $10,000 for he work.
"I'm an anti-war activist and I'm innocent," Lindauer told WBAL-TV as she was led to a car outside the Baltimore FBI office. "I did more to stop terrorism in this country than anybody else. I have done good things for this country. I worked to get weapons inspectors back to Iraq when everyone else said it was impossible. I'm very proud and I'll stand by my achievements."
Lindauer worked at Fortune, U.S. News & World Report and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer before beginning her career as a political publicist.
She worked for Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. in 1993 and then Rep. Ron Wyden , D-Ore., in 1994 before joining the office of former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun (search) as press secretary in 1996. From March to May 2002, she worked for Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.
"Her position was eliminated in the downsizing following the 1994 elections," said Josh Kardon, chief of staff for now-Sen. Wyden. "She worked for us a short period of time."
Braun's current spokesperson, Loretta Kane, said the former senator does not remember Lindauer.
According to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Lindauer made multiple visits from October 1999 through March 2002 to the Iraqi Mission to the United Nations in Manhattan. The indictment makes no mention of her congressional staff work.
There, she met with several members of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the foreign intelligence arm of the government of Iraq that allegedly has played a role in terrorist operations, including an attempted assassination of former President George H.W. Bush, the indictment alleged.
The government said she accepted payments from the Iraqis for her services and expenses amounting to a total of $10,000, including $5,000 she received during a trip to Baghdad in February and March 2002.
Her acceptance of the money and her willingness to bring it home from Iraq violated a law prohibiting transactions with a government that sponsors international terrorism, the government said. The indictment did not specify a motive.
The charges against Lindauer were included in an expanded indictment in the case against Raed Rokan Al-Anbuge, 28, and Wisam Noman Al-Anbuke, the sons of Iraq's former liaison with United Nations weapons inspectors.
The brothers were charged last year with acting as Iraqi government agents and conspiring to do so, prosecutors said. The indictment said Lindauer conspired with the brothers.
On Jan. 8, 2003, prosecutors said, Lindauer tried to influence U.S. foreign policy by delivering to the home of a U.S. government official a letter in which she conveyed her access to and contacts with members of Saddam's regime. The official was not identified in the indictment.
The United States invaded Iraq in March of last year, and the government fell the following month.
The indictment said she met on two occasions in Baltimore in June and July with an undercover FBI agent who posed as a Libyan intelligence representative who was seeking to support resistance groups in postwar Iraq. It said she discussed the need for plans and foreign resources to support these groups.
According to the indictment, she continued to correspond with the undercover agent until last month and followed the agent's instructions to leave packages on two occasions in August in "dead drop" operations.
Lindauer, who was not immediately assigned a defense lawyer, faces up to 10 years in prison on the most serious charge and five years on the lesser charge if she is convicted, prosecutors said.
More than a half dozen FBI agents could be seen searching Lindauer's residence in Takoma Park, a city known for its liberal views. Her neighbors recalled her as friendly.
Joao Luiz Vieire de Castro, 39, described Lindauer as "a regular American who walks her dog in the mornings and the afternoon."
"It's a big surprise. Who would think that it's (espionage) in your neighborhood?" said Dean Paris, 45, who sometimes greeted Lindauer on the street, which is less than a mile from the District of Columbia line. Paris said he never saw anything suspicious.
But Malvina Lacey, who lives next door to Lindauer, added, "She lives in a fantasy world."
I don't think the Basques need motivational tapes of the Koran in Arabic.
Spain says suspect van had Arabic tapes
Spain's interior minister said a suspect van had been found on Thursday near Madrid, scene of bombings that killed 190 people, containing seven detonators and a tape in Arabic language.
Interior Minister Angel Acebes said the tape had recordings of verses from the Koran.
Spain has so far attributed Thursday's attack to Basque separatists, but Acebes' remarks appeared to raise the possibility of a link to Islamist militants.
Acebes said authorities were not ruling out any line of investigation in its probe of the bomb blasts on four packed commuter trains that also injured 1,247 people.
"The conclusion of this morning that pointed to the terrorist organisation (ETA) right now is still the main line of investigation. ... (But) I have given the security forces instructions not to rule out anything," Acebes told a news conference.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attacks, the worst to hit Europe since the 1988 bombing of a U.S. airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270.
An American woman spied for Saddam.
An American citizen was arrested Thursday on charges she acted as an Iraqi spy before and after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, accepting $10,000 for her work, prosecutors said Thursday.
Susan Lindauer, 41, was arrested in her hometown of Takoma Park, Md., and was to appear in court later in the day in Baltimore, authorities in New York said.
She was accused of conspiring to act as a spy for the Iraqi Intelligence Service and with engaging in prohibited financial transactions involving the government of Iraq under dictator Saddam Hussein.
According to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Lindauer made multiple visits from October 1999 through March 2002 to the Iraqi Mission to the United Nations in Manhattan.
There, she met with several members of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the foreign intelligence arm of the government of Iraq that allegedly has played a role in terrorist operations, including an attempted assassination of former President George H.W. Bush, the indictment alleged.
The government said she accepted payments from the Iraqis for her services and expenses amounting to a total of $10,000, including $5,000 she received during a trip to Baghdad in February and March 2002, where she met with Iraqi intelligence officers.
Her acceptance of the money and her willingness to bring it home from Iraq violated a law prohibiting transactions with a government that sponsors international terrorism, the government said. The indictment did not specify a motive.
Motives for spying are monetary gain, ideology, thrill-seeking, and blackmail. I have a hunch hers will be ideology.
Update: She was Democratic Congresswoman Carol Mosely Braun's press aide. Braun's having sudden amnesia about this woman.
Free Republic has the kool-aid.
The Smoking Gun has her arrest papers.
Why's she called "Symbol Susan"?
Wintersoldier.com has a video of a 1971 TV interview wherein John Kerry confesses to atrocities and war crimes. He really should turn himself in to the Hague.
Here's the transcript:
Crosby Noyes: Mr. Kerry, you said at one time or another that you think that our policies in Vietnam are tantamount to genocide and that the responsibility lies at all chains of command over there. Do you consider that you personally as a Naval officer committed atrocities in Vietnam or crimes punishable by law in this country?
John Kerry: There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed, in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50 Caliber machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare. all of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this is ordered as a matter of written, well established policy by the government of the United States from the top down. And I believe that the men who designed these, the men who designed the free fire zones, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, the same letter of the law that tried Lieutenant Calley, are war criminals.
(Via Free Republic)
In the Herald there's an opinion piece about Martha Stewart being picked on because she's a woman. Well, it says she did the crime and has to do the time, but still the whole article is about she was picked on because she was a woman. I can't see the point of the article once the trifling little piece of information that she broke the law is put on the table.
I like Ann Coulter's explanation better:
"Martha Stewart was prosecuted because she believed liberal secular gods like herself are allowed to lie to federal investigators - which, coincidentally, was also the position of her favorite political figure, Bill Clinton."
Meet Haiti's new Prime Minister, Gerard Latortue. He sounds like a good guy. Let's see if he can resist the one thing that gets Haitian leaders every time: greed.
He's been living a nice middle-class life here in South Florida for the past twenty years. Hopefully it will help him resist the little devil who will soon be whispering in his ear that "it's good to be the king".
It's true. People did indeed eat soup pre-Hitler. The ones that get on my nerves I can call "pre-Hitlerian soup-eaters". Go, Ann!
William Safire, The New York Times' in-house "conservative" -- who endorsed Bill Clinton in 1992, like so many conservatives -- was sure Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ" would incite anti-Semitic violence. Thus far, the pogroms have failed to materialize.
With all the subtlety of a Mack truck, Safire called Gibson's movie a version of "the medieval 'passion play,' preserved in pre-Hitler Germany at Oberammergau, a source of the hatred of all Jews as 'Christ killers.'" (Certainly every Aryan Nation skinhead murderer I've ever met was also a devoted theater buff and "passion play" aficionado.)
The "passion play" has been put on in Germany since at least 1633. I guess 1633 would be "pre-Hitler." In addition, Moses walked the Earth "pre-Hitler." The wheel was invented "pre-Hitler." People ate soup "pre-Hitler." Referring to the passion play as "pre-Hitler" is a slightly fancier version of every adolescent's favorite argument: You're like Hitler!
Despite repeated suggestions from liberals -- including the in-house "conservative" and Clinton-supporter at the Times -- Hitler is not what happens when you gin up Christians. Like Timothy McVeigh, the Columbine killers and the editorial board of The New York Times, Hitler detested Christians.
Tech Central Station has an intriguing article on what makes the international community move against one dictator, while it lets another remain in place.
Ultimately, foreign military action in Haiti was deemed acceptable not because the international community will not tolerate the existence of a dictator, but because the international community will not tolerate the existence of an ineffective dictator. In terms of opening the door to foreign intervention, Aristide's mistake was a failure to keep the people of Haiti frightened into maintaining civil order. He did not go far enough in rigging elections and using street gangs to intimidate opponents. Had he been more brutally totalitarian, had he done a better job of killing the leaders of any potential rebellion while simultaneously glad-handing the diplomatic circuit, he could -- like a Fidel Castro or a Robert Mugabe -- still be in power today.
The best part of Wednesdays is the chance to post a Duane Allman pic.
Wail on, Skydog!
Evidently, the US Ambassador to Haiti told Aristide he was taking him to Dairy Queen for a butterscotch sundae, and instead took him to the airport. Bertie says he's going to sue, but the French say he signed a letter of resignation. Our State Department told him to stop living in the past. Upon hearing that, Aristide threw himself down on the floor, pounded his little fists, and cried.
