"The plan is to prevent a civil war, and to the extent one were to occur, to have the Iraqi security forces deal with it to the extent they're able to,"Not too comforting, eh? Everyone knows that during our own civil war between the states we had brothers fighting against brothers. The ISF might quickly melt into sectarian militias should the worse case happen.
Ophelia Ford, famous for her involvement in the contested Tennessee state Senate election where dead people voted, says she is being used by God:"Nothing like this has ever happened before. That's why God is using me -- little old me -- to make needed laws that needed to be changed ... God is using me, can't you see it? The writing is on the wall. He chose little old me to use. I don't know when you all are going to get that. It's not about me. I've been chosen. I was chosen to get into this election by the Lord I serve," she said.Somehow that triggered a "Blues Brothers" flashback where Dan Ackroyd said, "we're on a mission from God" and Aretha Franklin shot back, "Don't you blaspheme in here."
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton said today that his expected testimony at the federal corruption trial of former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell is the result of a subpoena obtained by the defense, not by prosecutors.One would think a local news outlet would have commented had anything major transpired, right? Guess we can take the loud cricket sounds as an indication this thing is effectively dead and buried.
Herenton declined to comment on the substance of his testimony expected this month in Atlanta. But he issued a statement saying his administration "in no way, form or fashion, has been accused of any wrongdoing."
On New Year's Day two years ago, Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton said he was chosen by God and had been given a vision for the city. Herenton told a prayer breakfast crowd that, "The God we serve doesn't give everybody a vision. Everybody doesn't see what I see."Regards Ms Ford, the mayor chastised thusly:
"Some of the reaction sometimes from the media gives a person like me the view that maybe the media community is almost atheistic, that you're atheists," Herenton said, adding that the media's views are not the same as those with deep profound Christian values. "It is a part of our basic spiritual foundation that some of us believe that God does in fact choose people for certain purposes. "Now the universe may not believe that, but because Sen. Ford stated that -- to me it is not something for the media to ridicule."Herenton has a minor point. The black community, especially in the south, has a culture of religion. There's virtually no way to separate the church and state, which is why during election season you'll see a steady stream of politicians in the pulpits. However, this cultural phenomenon should not be immune from criticism just because it involves the Almighty. Simply questioning a politician's assertion they've been preordained doesn't mean the questioner is an automatic atheist. The Founders might have also have felt preordained but they rarely spoke of it in public.
Remember the story about that precocious young lad who ventured to Iraq by himself and lived to tell about it? There was more to the story, but for some reason the MSM wasn't interested in telling us. Such is not the problem for bloggers. 
We're approaching the 2nd anniversary of Spain's 9/11- the so-called 3/11 attacks in Madrid. Spanish investigators are finalizing a report on the attack, and today a few of them popped up anonymously to inform the media there were no connections to Bin Laden/al Qaeda. The intelligence chief said there were no phone calls between the Madrid bombers and al-Qaida and no money transfers. The Western official said the plotters had links to other Islamic radicals in Western Europe, but the plan was hatched and organized in Spain. "This was not an al-Qaida operation," he said. "It was homegrown."The New Yorker seemed to hint at this back in 2004. It's a little curious that a "western official" (whatever that means) was involved in this leak.
While the plotters of the Madrid attack were likely motivated by bin Laden's October 2003 call for attacks on European countries that supported the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, there is no evidence they were in contact with the al-Qaida leader's inner circle, the intelligence official said.I get the feeling their classification of AQ is pretty narrow here, reminiscent of the infamous definition of the word is. For example, does this mean there were no contacts with AQ in Iraq, ie, al-Zarqawi? Exactly who comprises AQ's inner circle these days?
most of the plotters were Moroccan and Syrian immigrants, many with criminal records in Spain for drug trafficking and other crimes. They paid for explosives used in the attack with hashish.This certainly doesn't fit the profile of a religious fundamentalist, however it does fit the profile of the first WTC bomber and the 9/11 mastermind, both of whom hung out at cathouses while in east Asia. It also fits the profile of Zarqawi, who was once called a 'street thug' by the King of Jordan. It also fits the profile of some of the 19 hijackers in America who were known to frequent bars. Perhaps just cover, perhaps not.
And agents specializing in Islamic terrorism have arrested dozens of suspects, all allegedly working to recruit potential suicide bombers for the Iraq insurgency. At least two Spanish citizens, including March 11 suspect Mohammed Afalah, are believed to have blown themselves up in Iraq, and an investigation by the respected El Pais daily revealed some 80 others have traveled to the country in recent months intending to do the same.An AQ organizer was recently arrested for tring to help jihadis make their pilgramige of death to Iraq, but for some reason they didn't identify his contacts within Syria or Iraq. Wonder who they were? Let's remember the bulk of the young mujahadeen were entering through Ba'athist Syria and being led primarily into Sunni areas of Iraq. Let's also remember that Tariq Aziz invited them to come fight for Arabia at the beginning of the war.
He said authorities believe the Madrid bombers learned how to construct the bombs _ all connected to Mitsubishi Trium T110 mobile phones _ from Internet sites linked to radical Islamic groups. The devices were similar to ones used in the 2002 Bali bombing, he said, evidence that militants in both countries got information on the same radical Web sites.KSM was also implicated in the Bali attacks, yet they'd have us believe these guys got their bomb experience off the net. Downloading is one thing, building is another. Even master bombmaker Ramzi Yousef almost blew himself to Allah making a bomb, so its hard to believe they'd entrust the operation to ameteurs. Madrid was an important attack, strategically timed to disrupt an election with the end goal being the removal of Spanish troops from Iraq.
In case you're tired of the portgate blogathon, I present to you below an article about global warming, just for a change. Heh. (can I say that?) Flying kills. We all know it, and we all do it. And we won't stop doing it until the government reverses its policy and starts closing the runwaysAh the solution--just shut it down. Back to camels and canoes, I reckon. I think the man is suffereing from a form of journalistic hypoxia:
When I challenge my friends about their planned weekend in Rome or their holiday in Florida, they respond with a strange, distant smile and avert their eyes. They just want to enjoy themselves. Who am I to spoil their fun? The moral dissonance is deafening.Well, if YOU are tired of the numbing guilt of spoiling the planet everytime you catch a plane, do your part--take a container ship on your trip to London. The ports are safe now!
