The Saudis aren't terrorists:

Saudi Arabia has sentenced some of the men it arrested in the 1996 bombing of a U.S. Air Force housing facility that killed 19 U.S. servicemen and injured hundreds, the deputy interior minister was quoted today as saying.

Last June, a federal grand jury in Alexandria indicted 13 Saudis and one Lebanese national on charges stemming from the truck bombing of the complex, known as Khobar Towers, in Dhahran. Some of those indicted are in Saudi jails.

• • • • •

 
Rev. Jerry Fallwell is complaining about a decision made by ABC officials to bleep out the word "Jesus" on the West Coast broadcast of "The View."

Conservative Catholics and evangelical Christians are expected to accept this double standard and keep our mouths shut. Sadly, it has been the silence of Christians that has led to this hostile climate. I am encouraging my friends to become proactive, as never before. Can we not stand up for Jesus, as the old song says?

I urge my friends to contact the ABC network and cordially urge officials not to edit out the name of Jesus in future broadcasts. The only way we can hope to change this anti-religion tone in our nation is to make our voices heard. Please join me in this effort today.

Quite frankly, Rev. Falwell, I'm offended as well. But not for the same reasons that you are. Have you ever watched a ballgame on television? During the post-game interview, the winner will always thank Jesus for something, and we'll find out a week later that the whole thing was an act, as he's up on drug charges. I personally don't want to hear it, and it has nothing to do with my religious beliefs. If you want to hear the Lord's name, get cable. Either that or move to Israel. I've heard that it's your goal to convert all the Jews to Christianity. Whatever you decide to do, get a clue.

• • • • •

 
Bill O'Reilly, whose opinion I've been known to make a case for on this page on several occasions, also is in favor of using targeted assasinations as a tool in the war on terrorism. Guess what. So am I.

As a matter of fact there is, but the solution goes against the traditions of America. The way to fight Islamic terrorists is to terrorize them. Bring the war to their villages and homes. Strike them unexpectedly with lethal force.

This cannot be done with conventional forces or with rules of engagement sanctioned by the Geneva Convention. Fighting terror with terror opens the grisly door of human rights violations and crimes against humanity. Yet it must be done.

Former Secretary of State George Shultz told an audience of diplomats in Virginia that "we [the United States] reserve, within the framework of our right to self-defense, the right to preempt terrorist threats within a state's borders ..."

That's a polite way of saying that America is going to attack some nations that aide and harbor terrorists. Hello, Iraq.

But this kind of militaristic saber-rattling always has a down-side. Whenever a military operation is launched, it becomes a page-one story and inflames worldwide public opinion. We usually have to buy off our so-called allies with cash to go along and we always take massive propaganda hits. So I believe there is a better way to "preempt terrorist threats."

The United States and Britain should form elite commando units that would supervise the assassinations of known terrorist leaders and operatives. These killings could be contracted out to local people, or they could be done by the U.S. Delta Force or the British SAS. But they must be done quietly and methodically.

If that strategy became public, the media would howl and the human rights groups would condemn, but what is the real alternative here? Shall we wait until one of these terrorist groups gets a small nuclear device operational and in the name of Allah blows up Baltimore?

I know. Sounds like standard conservative rhetoric, and that's what I'd expect to see in the comments section. Read on:

That's what happens in the movie "The Sum of All Fears," which is basically a cartoon that adds nothing to the national discourse. Nevertheless the movie makers understand that the technology exists for a terrorist nuclear strike.

So it seems to me that responsible world leaders have a mandate to neutralize Muslim fanatics and send a message that people who sign up for terrorist duty may die in their beds – wherever those beds may be. Eliminating terror leaders and the people who encourage them – including Muslim clerics – would be both effective and permissible considering the global threat they present. It is not easy replacing leaders in any situation.

Fanatics bent on destroying civilians with weapons of mass destruction, including jetliners, deserve to be placed on a self-defense assassination list. How can any reasonable person argue against this? It is time for sane world leaders to recognize the al-Qaida threat for what it is – a doomsday scenario.

Perhaps President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have already secretly decided that targeted assassination is a reasonable and effective option. Let's hope so.

• • • • •

 
Eric Olsen over at Tres Producers has a wonderful post regarding one of my favorite bands of all-time, the Grateful Dead. It's lengthy, but deserves to be read in its entirety. Meanwhile, I need to put on a copy of American Beauty.

• • • • •

 
Steven den Beste is back from vacation, and hasn't lost a step from the time off.

• • • • •

 
This article talks about how millions of dollars are being funneled to terrorist groups through Canada. (link courtesy Little Green Footballs)

• • • • •

 
From The O'Reilly Factor, The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Another example of why America's public school system is rapidly decaying, despite the massive amount of tax dollars that flow into it. In Palm Beach, Florida, high school students can now pass a history exam by getting 23 of 100 questions right. For those of you who flunked math, that's a grade of 23. In my time you needed a 65 to pass. And get this. To get an A in history in Palm Beach, a student has to get just 50 percent of the answers correct.

Ridiculous? You betcha.

• • • • •

 
Ken Layne, whose site is linked from this one, has a column over at Fox News regarding the India-Pakistan dispute. (link via InstaPundit)

• • • • •

 
The gang over at Libertarian Samizdata have figured one way to get their hit numbers up. Works for me.

• • • • •

 
Update to the soccer story. I failed to mention that the Arab News article pointed out that the Saudis had beaten Senegal in a warm-up match earlier. As we all know, Senegal recently knocked off France. It must really suck to be a Frenchman right now.

• • • • •

 
I sympathize with the victims of this national tragedy, however, ever since I first heard about this dilemma, I have nothing but contempt for them on this issue. I understand that they've gone through a lot, but the government's handing them a million dollars. And they're refusing it. Screw them, I say.

• • • • •

 
The Arab News has posted a report of Saudi Arabia's 8-0 World Cup loss to Germany. And they are pretty critical of their own type:

Friday saw jubilation as outsiders Senegal beat the current cup holders France by a solitary goal on the opening day of the tournament and recorded one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history. Yesterday, it was anger, shock and dismay among Saudi citizens and residents as they watched their football team’s humiliating drubbing by three-time winners Germany in their opening World Cup match in Japan.

Muhammad A. Al-Aidroos, a King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals student, said: “Defeat at the hands of former world champions was expected but not the humiliating manner in which we were trounced. I find no depth in our national side. It was just a media hype that created heroes out of amateurs.”

Abdul Aziz Al-Ghiamah, sports editor of Asharq Al-Awsat in Riyadh, said: “The Kingdom’s performance came nowhere near an acceptable level. There was no game plan. They lacked strategy. Our players like Mohammed Noor, Hussain Sulimani and Nawaf Al-Temyat were not in good shape and played poorly.” Abdul Aziz did not think the Kingdom’s national coach Nasser Al-Johar would be fired, since the team as a whole fared badly.

Omar Zubaidy in Riyadh said: “I was very upset and stopped watching after the third goal. The national coach should be fired. They must rebuild the team as some of the players are past their glory.”

Imagine if they had been beaten by Israel.

• • • • •

 
Legendary Rockers Kiss Get Into Safe Sex Biz

When I first saw these guys back in the seventies, this wasn't exactly the image they conveyed. However, now that times have changed, it's refreshing to see that they're aiming their message in the right direction to todays youth.

• • • • •

 
The anti-abortion crowd just doesn't know when to quit.

Adding to its arsenal of communication techniques in the abortion battle, a California organization has begun a new campaign flying giant banners depicting aborted body parts behind airplanes along U.S. beaches.

As WND reported last year, the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform began its campaign against abortion by driving trucks with the grisly images on the side of them through urban areas of California. CBR's current beach effort began on Memorial Day weekend along the shores of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale.

• • • • •

 
N.Z. Bear has a piece in yesterday's Salon. Way to go, Bear!

• • • • •

 
Wow. It's June already. At least in the Pacific Time Zone.

• • • • •

 
Damian Penny joins me in the minority of the bloggers that are against arming pilots, and points out that we have a strange ally on this issue - George Will.

• • • • •

 
While I'm on the subject of news from the Middle Eastern media, I came across this article over at Desert Pundit's site from the Arab News.

Ibrahim Al-Ghaith, president of the Commission for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice in Riyadh, has urged authorities to prevent marketing of mobile phones equipped with cameras, saying wicked people might misuse the device.

The Commerce Ministry in coordination with the Ministry of PTT is investigating the legality of the new device after complaints that they were used secretly to take photos of women.

Saudi authorities recently seized a large quantity of mobile phones made in Israel. The phones and accessories were shipped into the Kingdom via Poland. The customs department seized the goods and was preparing legal action against the company which imported the equipment.

Heaven forbid they should take pictures of women...

• • • • •

 
The folks over at MEMRI have dug up yet another facsinating tidbit regarding our government: (link courtesy Damian Penny)

"[Condoleezza Rice] has damaged the world of the blacks, which produced many distinguished individuals – for example Martin Luther King, the revolutionary who fought racist discrimination; the fighting African leader Nelson Mandela, who spent most of his life in prisons to realize South Africa's independence; Muhammad Ali Clay; and other fighters and men of honor."

"It is known that behind every American president stands a woman who raises him to the heart of the heavens, or casts him down to the abyss. The American president Ronald Reagan made no political decision without consulting an American fortuneteller by the name of Joan Quigley, whom he met through his wife Nancy. This relationship became scandalous when the American press described her [as responsible] for the mental retardation that afflicted Reagan. What was strange was that this fortuneteller predicted to Reagan that he would enjoy health and youth at the end of his life – but, unfortunately, he remains bedridden since being struck by Alzheimer's disease, which has made him into a little child!"

"The American president Bill Clinton, with the most famous scandal regarding women, was in love with the childish Jewess Madeleine Albright, the secretary of state. He would make no decision without getting the approval of this woman, who became notorious for her short garments that often caused embarrassment when she met political dignitaries. She too, in the end, followed the same path, describing the Palestinian resistance as terror, and she spared no efforts in her support for Israel!"

"These are some bad examples of the women who rule America. We thank Allah that there are no similar [women] in our Arab world, otherwise our lives – we men – would be absolute hell and we would become prisoners to the declarations of Condoleezza Rice and the other vulgar women!"

Entertaining, but certainly not newsworthy.

• • • • •

 
Two new Arizona blogs to add to the permalinks section - via e-mail from the editor of the first one: Desert Pundit and Zonitics.

• • • • •

 
The church scandal continues to hit home. This time it's actually with a guy I'm familiar with:

The Diocese of Phoenix quietly paid $45,000 to settle a sexual-harassment claim in 1995 against one of its most prominent priests, who has since been promoted to second-in-command in the diocese to Bishop Thomas O'Brien.

Monsignor Dale Fushek, pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Community in Mesa and the founder of Life Teen, the largest Catholic teen ministry program in the country, told parishioners of the claim during Good Friday services last month.

I think he's on the up and up. I haven't been to one of his services for almost 11 years, but he's just that kind of guy.

• • • • •

 
Nicholas Kristof tells liberals, including himself, to get a life in the post 9/11 age.

• • • • •

 
This has anti-trust written all over it:

GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol-Myers Squibb have held preliminary discussions about the possibility of a merger, executives close to the
talks said yesterday.

Think back for a moment. GlaxoSmithKline was formed how? By the merger of GlaxoWellcome and SmithKlineBeecham, both of which were formed by prior mergers. Bristol-Myers Squibb, on the other hand, was formed by the merger of Bristol-Myers and Squibb Pharmaceuticals. GSK is already the world's second largest drug company. And they want to acquire another giant? I think not.

• • • • •

 
UPDATE on the D.C. gun-control story:

The U.S. Attorney's office has decided to support the gun law rather than the administration.

• • • • •

 
If I had been in India, I think I would have left already. Anyhow, Uncle Sam's made it official.

The State Department on Friday authorized all but essential American diplomats in India to leave and urged Americans there to depart as well because of a rising risk of conflict between India and Pakistan.

• • • • •

 
Did anyone really think this law was going to pass constitutional muster?

A special three-judge panel this morning invalidated Congress' third attempt at regulating the Internet, ruling that the Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000 requiring pornography filters on any library receiving federal funds violates the First Amendment rights of adult patrons.

I'm not in favor of children seeing porn on the Internet either, but those blocking filters don't work any better than the Carnivore e-mail surveillance tool the government uses. Do I sense a pattern here?

UPDATE: Eugene Volokh makes his interpretation of the ruling. It's a good read.

• • • • •

 
This Opinion Journal article shows how stupid the Israeli settlement program is: (link courtesy Little Green Footballs)

Of course, there were other reasons for this, too. They included the peace between Israel and Egypt; the defeat of the PLO in Lebanon in 1982; the PLO's financial and political debacle in the Gulf War; the waning of the first intifada, which broke out in 1987 and had begun to subside by the early 1990s; and the growing popularity in the occupied territories of Islamic groups challenging PLO supremacy. But of all these factors, it may be that nothing convinced the PLO that time was against it so much as the growth of the settlements. As long as the number of people in them was negligible, they did not seem likely to prevent Israel from ever surrendering control of the West Bank. Now that they were expanding by 10,000 inhabitants a year, the PLO feared the approach of a point of no return. This fear was, in the 1980s and early '90s, a factor working for, not against, peace.

• • • • •

 
David Nieporent over at Jumping to Conclusions reports that FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley may not have been the hero that the media is making her out to be. He links to a law professor, as well as the memo itself.

• • • • •

 
Further proof that the INS is a useless agency:

Frustrated cops in New York had to free a suspicious gang of illegal Mideast aliens because the INS "didn't want to be bothered" on the Memorial Day weekend, The Post has learned. In the end, not knowing whether the men they had nabbed were the hard-working immigrants they claimed to be or a terror gang plotting to wreak havoc, the local authorities had to let them walk.

The mystery men - some with phony ID and all admitted illegal immigrants - could have been held if agents from the Immigration and Naturalization Service had bothered to show up.

The INS didn't seem to have anybody on duty in the city. The agency's contact number for the weekend rang at an office in Burlington, Vt., more than 300 miles away.

The seven men, most from Pakistan, produced a variety of paperwork, including a phony government card obtained in Times Square, a bogus passport, an ID card from Virginia, and some New York nondriver IDs.

PAKISTAN? The country that has nuclear capabilities and is said to be harboring Usama bin Laden. Our tax dollars at work yet again.

UPDATE: Let me go on record to say that the INS should simply be abolished. They're basically a bureaucratic agency, and their purpose has changed in the post 9/11 times. Since they basically refuse to prosecute any illegal alien, and they are barred by statute from sharing information with local authorities, what's the use of having them around in the first place? The agency was fine for keeping too many people from crossing the border with Mexico, or getting people new to our country naturalized, but the situation changes when we're dealing with Islamofascists. (Thanks to whomever coined that phrase. I've added it to my vocabulary.) That guy who we all thought was here for the onion harvest could just as well be working for Usama.

• • • • •

 
Happy Birthday, Bill Quick.

• • • • •

 
Eugene Volokh has a great follow-up article on the abortion-cams issue. Although he is personally pro-choice, he says that what the activists are doing may be constitutional under a 1982 decision. Eugene, you may be better versed in the law than I, but I disagree with your logic.

First, let me preface this by saying that I am personally opposed to abortion. However, I also do not think it should be an issue decided by the government. Period. Abortion is a moral, ethical choice. Being a man, I could not imagine having to make that choice. The anti-abortion protesters, by taking the pictures of these women and putting them on the Internet are depriving them on their privacy. Those pictures went up without their permission. It's not "freedom of the press," as it's done for exploitative purposes. If the protesters hid behind that, any lawyer would go for the jugular. Ask The National Enquirer.

The case you cite makes logical sense except that there's one missing element: the Internet. The case you cite originally took place in 1966, and everything took place in plain sight. Here's a synopsis from Eugene's page:

But in any event, the constitutional issue strikes me as quite clear. As the Wall Street Journal mentions (though twenty paragraphs into the story), the Supreme Court faced a very similar question in NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware (1982) (the same precedent that I've mentioned in relation to the Nuremberg Files case). In Claiborne, the organizers of a black boycott of white-owned stores stationed "store watchers" outside each store; these store watchers took down the names of the black shoppers who violated the boycott, and the names were then read aloud in church and published in a newspaper. Some of the boycott violators had shots fired through their windows. Others were beaten or otherwise attacked.

Anyhow, the difference is the news of this wasn't broadcast to millions of people. This took place in Mississippi. I might not have known about it in Phoenix. However, thirty years later, due to the dawn of the information age, I see the website being shut down, or at least limited. We can't allow the Internet to be used as weaponry for extremists, and I hope that the courts will recognize that.

• • • • •

 
This is just morbid: (link courtesy Bob Owen)

Preparing for a world leader's death is not something that media outfits brag about, but they have to be ready or risk letting down readers and viewers when the day comes.

Now, as 82-year-old Pope John Paul II looks increasingly frail and weak, media organizations are reviewing their plans to cover his death.

• • • • •

 
John Ashcroft, or at least his opinions, may get his day in court after all. In the wake of his decision on the Second Amendment being extended to private citizens, the D.C. handgun ban is being challenged. This opinion is probably going to be used by every gun-rights attorney until the case reaches the Supreme Court or Ashcroft is replaced by another attorney general, which means a different administration. Which means the NRA is going to use the D.C. law as a litmus test, and if they're successful, they're going after places like Boston and Los Angeles. Citizens, prepare to be armed.

Glenn Reynolds had this to say on the subject.

Eugene Volokh also chimed in with this opinion.

David Nieporent claims that United States vs. Miller is "being ignored by newspapers." I say that David hasn't read the decision, as he thinks that it the D.C. handgun ban should be overturned due to that decision alone.

In Miller, the same argument was made, that the Second Amendment contains language: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." (emphasis mine). However, this is how the decision was worded:

In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a "shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length" at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument. Certainly it is not within judicial notice that this weapon is any part of the ordinary military equipment or that its use could contribute to the common defense. Aymette v. State, 2 Humphreys (Tenn.) 154, 158.

The Constitution as originally adopted granted to the Congress power -- "To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress." With obvious purpose to assure the continuation and render possible the effectiveness of such forces the declaration and guarantee of the Second Amendment were made. It must be interpreted and applied with that end in view.

The Militia which the States were expected to maintain and train is set in contrast with Troops which they were forbidden to keep without the consent of Congress. The sentiment of the time strongly disfavored standing armies; the common view was that adequate defense of country and laws could be secured through the Militia -- civilians primarily, soldiers on occasion.

The signification attributed to the term Militia appears from the debates in the Convention, the history and legislation of Colonies and States, and the writings of approved commentators. These show plainly enough that the Militia comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense. "A body of citizens enrolled for military discipline." And further, that ordinarily when called for service these men were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time. [Citing further sources, e.g., the Virginia Act of October 1785 providing for a Militia of "all free male persons between the ages of eighteen and fifty years," with certain exceptions.]

Most if not all of the States have adopted provisions touching the right to keep and bear arms. Differences in the language employed in these have naturally led to somewhat variant conclusions concerning the scope of the right guaranteed. But none of them seem to afford any material support for the challenged ruling of the court below.

I'm actually not a gun-control freak, rather, I'm on the other side of the issue. I just don't agree with David's argument.

• • • • •

 
Great. Just as one side of the government is clamping down on its investigative powers, it appears that the courts are not allowing the government to hold terrorism suspects in secret. This was already decided by a federal judge in New York, however now a judge in New Jersey has also given a similar opinion. (link courtesy InstaPundit)

It will likely be a narrow decision, like the case in New York, which only affected cases in that district. The Justice Department is appealing the case.

• • • • •

 
Were these people inviting a virus, or what?

The header jumped out from among the business and junk messages in the e-mail In box: "Subject: May 2002 Science Fair Project."

This message said sixth graders at a Los Angeles school were investigating "where, and how fast, e-mail can travel in a period of six weeks." It asked the recipients to send a message to a mailbox at yahoo.com with their city, state and country, and then forward the students' message to everyone on the recipients' mailing lists.

Guess what? That's an easy way to bring down your own e-mail server. Ask the guy who wrote the "Melissa" virus.

• • • • •

 
They're investigating the local diocese as well:

Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said Thursday that he was beginning a criminal investigation of Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix for possibly failing to report incidents of sexual misconduct by priests. Romley announced last week he had authorized a "preliminary investigation" into whether senior church officials failed to meet their legal obligations in reporting a series of allegations of sexual misconduct by a Scottsdale priest, the Rev. Patrick Colleary.

• • • • •

 
Ashcroft Eases FBI Rules for Investigations

New Justice Department guidelines unveiled today give FBI agents latitude to monitor Internet sites, libraries and religious institutions without first having to offer evidence of potential criminal activity, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft announced at an afternoon press conference.

The new guidelines state simply that FBI agents may enter public places and forums, including publicly accessible Internet sites, to observe, develop leads and investigate. The guidelines do not specifically mention religious institutions, but a senior Justice Department official said last night that the impact of the changes will be dramatic in allowing the FBI to open a window on extremist activity in mosques.

I have nothing against the new regulations, in fact, I support the changes. It's just that J. Edgar Ashcroft is behind them, and I suspect that he has a deeper agenda for making the changes he did. I'm sorry, but I simply do not trust the guy.

UPDATE: This topic was discussed tonight on Hannity and Colmes, and not only did Sean and Alan see eye to eye, but Oliver North and the ACLU representative were pretty much in agreement. Nobody really wants to give the FBI more power than it already has, as they are all afraid of a return to the pre-Watergate FBI.

• • • • •

 
This is starting to get old...

Virginians who want to honor the victims and heroes of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks can now choose a state-sponsored license plate that calls on Americans to fight terrorism and reminds motorists that people gave their lives in three states that day.

OK, so the people are up in arms if we see the World Trade Center in movies or television shows, but it's OK to drive around town with an image of it on the back of your car? Our government is crying out against state-sponsored terrorisrm, but I'm getting tired of this type of state-sponsored capitalization on terrorism.

• • • • •

 
Talk about pandering to the politically correct crowd:

"Remember the Alamo" is a battle cry that Texans learn early in their formative years. But the call to remember the Texas revolution of 168 years ago has a new place in Texas history, somewhere in the back of the textbooks. School administrators say they want to put a sock in the old saying because they fear that rampant pride will alienate the growing Mexican student population in their midst.

Over 40 percent of Texas' student population is Hispanic, with most of those tracing their heritage to Mexico. A new curriculum still teaches Texas independence, but administrators say the traditional "us vs. them" perspective has taken a back seat.

Wonderful. Just what students need. History being rewritten by bureaucrats.

• • • • •

 
I always knew Carnivore was a lousy system. (link via InstaPundit)

The FBI mishandled a surveillance operation involving Osama bin Laden's terror network two years ago because of technical problems with the controversial Carnivore e-mail program, part of a "pattern" indicating that the FBI was unable to manage its intelligence wiretaps, according to an internal bureau memorandum released yesterday.

Problem is, the program was too MUCH of a "carnivore." It read EVERYONE'S e-mail. Read on:

The probe involved the FBI team that investigates suspected operatives of the al Qaeda network. It is known as the Usama bin Laden, or UBL, unit for the agency's spelling of the al Qaeda leader's name. The same unit has come under congressional scrutiny in recent weeks over its role in shelving a July 2001 memo from Phoenix FBI agent Kenneth Williams, who had suggested that al Qaeda members might be infiltrating aviation schools and requested that the FBI canvass them for Middle Easterners.

In the latest case to come to light, the UBL unit acquired in March 2000 a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for use against a suspect in an investigation based in Denver, according to the memo released yesterday.

The names of the suspect and all others in the memo, except for Bowman's, were redacted from the copy provided to EPIC.

The memo says that on March 16, 2000, the Carnivore "software was turned on and did not work properly," capturing e-mails involving both the target and others unconnected to the case.

The memo goes on to say that "the FBI technical person was apparently so upset that he destroyed all the E-Mail take, including the take" from the target. Collingwood, the FBI spokesman, said that the memo is incorrect and that the e-mails gathered in the operation were kept and remain under seal in the court that administers secret wiretaps.

Wonderful surveillance tool - and reliable too.

• • • • •

 
Glenn Reynolds, also known as the InstaPundit, has taken a summary of his posts on teen sex and rewritten them in an article over at Fox News.

• • • • •

 
This is how the experts spot terrorists: (link via DailyPundit)

"The difference between the Israeli and American systems is that we are looking for the terrorist, while the Americans look for the weapons." That makes great sense. I saw mention of this on Fox News today before reading this article. Read on:

At the heart of the Israeli system is the questioning of the passenger, which [Shlomo] Dror says is done not only to get answers, but also to gauge the passenger's behavior. "The reason we open the suitcase is to have another few minutes with the passenger, to ask some more questions," he says. The questioning also serves as a way to quickly decide who to send to the plane without probing more thoroughly, he adds. Dror advocates Israeli-style security clearances for all workers at the companies for whom he consults. They entail checking a person's history by interviewing acquaintances and family "We check the man himself, not documents."

• • • • •

 
Susanna Cornett reminded me of a story I missed last night when Blogger was down:

Tony Steffen has been dead for two years. Nevertheless, he just got divorced.

In a case national experts are calling extraordinary, a circuit court judge in Northern Kentucky has dissolved the 58-year marriage of Mr. Steffen, who was 81 when he died, and his widow, Byrl, now 86.

Behind the unusual ruling is a fight between the couple's adult children over a $1.5 million estate.

The Steffens' son, Roger S. Steffen, and daughter, Susan Pearman, are estranged. Roger Steffen is aligned with his mother, and Ms. Pearman had been aligned with her father.

I can't comprehend what it's like battling your sibling for a large inheritance, but it appears that there's more than enough to go around. I don't know what Susan Pearman's urgency is. Roger Steffen's going to get his part of the pie anyway - he'll just have to wait until his mother dies. She'll be bitter and do the same thing that her husband did - give the daughter a small amount in the will, and the daughter won't have a legal leg to stand on, since she's already buried herself by forcing her hand early.

• • • • •

 
Bob Owen pointed something out that I noticed as well.

MODESTO, Calif. (AP) - Chandra Levy's family and 1,200 well-wishers honored the slain intern Tuesday with a memorial service recalling her as a bubbly, compassionate young woman eager to explore the world.

(Bob's words, not mine) - Quite a turnout for someone who wouldn't be in the public spotlight (alive or dead) if she hadn't had an affair with her married boss.

I read this story in the L.A. Times, which referred to Chandra as "Modesto's daughter," and said that "most of the 1,200 people came to see her mother." I agree with Bob. If she hadn't had the media exposure, she'd have been another Jane Doe.

• • • • •

 
Things like this are what disturb me about far right-wing pro-abortion types. (link courtesy Andrew Sullivan:)

As soon as he saw the blue minivan turning into the parking lot of Planned Parenthood’s small abortion clinic here, Kenneth Scott grabbed his digital camera, clambered up his rickety metal ladder and started snapping pictures. “You’ll have nightmares about this day the rest of your life,” he bellowed, photographing the blond woman gingerly leaving the minivan. Then he turned his camera to her escort. “Your sin won’t be hidden or forgotten,” he screamed.

Read the rest of the article, and go over to Andrew's site for an excellent summation.

• • • • •

 
UPDATE:

Libya is now denying a deal ever existed.

Libya on Wednesday denied it had offered $2.7 billion to compensate the families of those killed in the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing, but U.S.-based lawyers who announced the deal said they believed agreement can still be reached.

• • • • •

 
Must be a REALLY slow news day. I'm watching Hannity and Colmes and they're interviewing Don King.

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Apologies for the entire page being in italics for the past 24 hours or so. As many of you know, Blogger went down last night, and my ISP has been down since 10:00 AM PDT. I just managed to get back up. I'll have some stuff up later this evening.

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They finally found it - well, most of it:

Mexico's defense department announced that 70 drums of sodium cyanide were found Wednesday near a dirt road in central Mexico - apparently part of a stolen shipment of the highly poisonous chemical that officials have been seeking for 18 days.

Mexican and U.S. officials were alarmed by the May 10 hijacking of a truck carrying 96 such drums of cyanide — roughly 10 tons. Twenty of the drums were found abandoned with the truck on May 16.

Yeah, but where are the other 26 drums?

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I went out and bought a bottle of Vanilla Coke today. It's not bad, but it's nothing special. It tastes kind of like Coca-Cola flavored cream soda. I don't think I'll be developing an addiction.

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Nine out of 10 suicide attacks foiled, says Israel

The Israeli internal security service is catching up to two suicide bombers a day, preventing 90 per cent of the planned attacks by people strapped with explosives. Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said Shin Beth was 'preventing 90 per cent of planned attacks, capturing two suicide bombers every day before they can strike'.

'We hope now that 10 per cent of cases where we have not succeeded will drop after the operations we have launched,' he said on Sunday, referring to renewed raids across the West Bank to hunt down suspected militants.

So if they're stopping 90 PERCENT of these attacks, what's the justification to go through with armored division and demolish everything these people have? It only angers them and makes them want to attack more. It's obvious that the 10 percent that ARE getting through are just enough to set the Israelis off. It's obvious that peace talks are needed. One side needs to stop being stubborn. It's my opinion that the Israelis have the money and the might and therefore, should take the initiative.

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Russia is now part of NATO. But they can't vote:

NATO formally welcomed Russia as a participant today but not a full-fledged member of the organization created 53 years ago to contain Soviet power and expansion, another major step in its effort to lock in Moscow's drift toward the West.

But in an indication that NATO's members are still not fully convinced that Russia's experiment with democracy and capitalism is irreversible, Moscow will not have a role in NATO's core military alliance, in which all members pledge to protect the others from attack. Nor will Russia have a veto over NATO decisions or a vote in the expansion of its membership, including NATO's plans to invite new nations to join at a meeting in Prague in November.

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Libya Offers $2.7 Billion Lockerbie Settlement

Family members of the victims of the Pan Am 103 bombing have reported to the Bush administration that Libya has promised compensation totaling $10 million to each family as part of a settlement process, a senior official said Tuesday.

Ummm, right. And just where is Ghaddafi going to come up with that kind of cash? Anyhow, it DOES come with strings attached, of course.

In addition to compensation for the families, the Security Council also has demanded that Libya renounce terrorism, acknowledge responsibility for the crime and disclose all it knows about it.

If these conditions are met, the United States conceivably would lift its sanctions. The United States has barred Americans from using their passports for travel to Libya and U.S. oil companies from operating there. In addition, Libya as one of seven countries listed by the State Department as sponsor of international terrorism, is subject to a series of economic sanctions.

So Libya might be better off if we start buying their oil? It may be worth the payoff. Only time will tell.

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That's right - Arafat potato chips!

Cheese-flavored Yasser Arafat potato chips - five cents a bag. Vendors report brisk sales of the new product. The maker of the chips says it donates five cents - 25 pisaters - to the "Palestinian cause" for every 50 packages sold.

The chips are bagged in Palestinian colors - green, red, black and white - and carry the likeness of a rotund and wide-eyed Arafat, saluting with one hand and holding a Palestinian flag in the other. He's dressed in his trademark military fatigues and black-and-white checked headgear.

Sounds like another "cheesy" attempt by the Arabs to raise money for the Palestinians. However, if anyone finds them on sale here in the States, let me know. I want to get my hands on a bag just as a keepsake.

UPDATE: They had a wonderful discussion on this subject in the comments section over at Little Green Footballs.

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Something I didn't really want to hear:

Broccoli and broccoli sprouts contain a chemical that kills the bacteria responsible for most stomach cancer, say researchers, confirming the dietary advice that moms have been handing out for years.

Now it looks like I'll have to eat this garbage.

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Did the Vatican do this to steer the critics in the other direction?

Mutilating a corpse and discreetly packing a piece in your luggage before boarding a plane is the sort of thing that gets people arrested.

But not if you are the Pope. Lopping off a bit of the dead Pope John XXIII and donating it to Sofia's new cathedral was considered an honour to Bulgaria's Catholics.

Which part was cut off is not clear, because the gift was not part of the official programme of the Pope's four-day visit to Bulgaria, which ended on Sunday.

Ewww.

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And we all continue to work together so well:

The Federal Aviation Administration told airlines more than three years ago to be on a "high degree of alertness" against possible hijackings by followers of Osama bin Laden, a government source said Sunday.

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This one broke my heart...

The security crackdown meant to keep terrorist hijackers out of American flight schools has forced thousands of foreign students to train overseas, weakening the country's global dominance in aviation training, officials in the industry say.

"The United States has always made most of the aircraft in use around the world, we produce most of the instructors and we train most of the pilots," said Joseph E. Burnside, vice president for government and industry affairs of the National Air Transportation Association, the trade organization for the general aviation industry. "But now we're concerned that we may be losing that market."

"If the government doesn't get its act together, students are going to begin training overseas, and that training will be of lesser quality than they would receive in the United States," Mr. Burnside argued. "There will be an impact on aviation safety worldwide."

In January, Emirates Airline, the air carrier of the United Arab Emirates, announced it would not renew a $1 million contract to train its pilots at Western Michigan University's College of Aviation in Battle Creek. School officials said the company felt uncomfortable training in the United States after the F.B.I. investigated its pilots. A spokesman for the airline said its pilots would now be training in Australia.

And just why these pilots feel "uncomfortable?" Because they have something to hide?

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This silly tradition alone is enough to make me become a Red Wings fan.

Catering to Red Wings fans who can't wait for the team to return home to Joe Louis Arena, the Detroit-based Superior Fish Co. has prepared at least one 8-pound octopus that figures to be tossed at either Game 3 or 4 of the Western Conference finals in Denver. The fish market, located 11 miles from the Red Wings' home, does brisk business each year during the playoffs thanks to a 50-year tradition among Wings fans who hurl octopi onto the arena ice following a home-team goal.

The eight-tentacled mollusk has long been a symbol of the team's road to capturing the Stanley Cup, which formerly was accomplished by winning eight games. Though it now takes 16 victories over four rounds of the playoffs to hoist the Stanley Cup, and while it has become more difficult to sneak an octopus into the arena, the tradition remains strong.

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From New Zealand comes this narrative of an alleged people-smuggling ring run by high-ranking Islamic fundamendalists. It reminds us that we shouldn't let just anybody into the country:

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Crime: Fishing boat detained in US

A Taiwanese fishing boat was detained by the US Coast Guard in connection with the smuggling of illegal Chinese fishermen into the US, a Coast Guard spokesman said on Friday. Stephen Lalonde said that the 18m Keelung-registered Fuhsing was involved in shipping 10 Chinese fishermen who sneaked ashore on Newport Beach, California. The 10 men, all in their 20s and 30s, swam ashore naked before dawn and changed quickly into dry suits, jeans and baseball caps, leaving life belts, life jackets and buoys. One of the life belts bore the words "Keelung-Fuhsing." Newport Beach police arrested all 10 men and alerted the Coast Guard, which later intercepted the boat off the California coast. An Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman said the 10 men and two of the vessel's Taiwanese crew were being investigated by the INS. Taiwanese officials in Los Angeles were also said to be negotiating with the INS to visit the two crewmen as soon as possible.

I'm surprised that the INS didn't hand them work visas on the spot.

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This is comforting to know:

For seven months, more than 80 National Guard troops watched almost 12 million passengers walk through the gates and security checkpoints at Philadelphia International Airport. Among the most visible responses to the war on terrorism, the soldiers stood ready, dressed in Army fatigues, their 9mm pistols strapped to their sides.

But the guns had no bullets. Instead, the soldiers carried loaded magazines on their belts.

At 16 airports across Pennsylvania, National Guard troops were banned from patrolling with loaded weapons, according to some guardsmen stationed in Philadelphia.

Um... didn't one of the hijacked planes crash in PENNSYLVANIA? Again, Osama is reading and laughing away...

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3 Afghans Jockey for One Spot at the Top

Like the Great and Powerful Oz, former President Burhanuddin Rabbani indulges in fiery rhetoric and delusions of grandeur as he insists from his elegant villa that he remains head of state and the best promise of unifying this fractured country.

Two blocks away, Mohammad Zaher Shah makes a more subtle case for resuming power. Each day, the 87-year-old deposed monarch holds court in his landscaped garden for hundreds of supplicants who come to praise his return after nearly 30 years in exile and urge him to serve once again as father of the nation.

And on the grounds of the nearby presidential palace, in a guest house that miraculously survived 23 years of civil war, provisional leader Hamid Karzai is waging his own bid to become ruler by marshaling international aid, keeping a lid on ethnic tensions and appeasing rival warlords.

I don't get it. All three of these guys WANT to rule this bombed-out wasteland? Why?

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Lawmaker to Probe Moussaoui Warrant

A top congressman said Sunday he will examine whether concern the FBI would appear to be using "racial profiling" led it to remove key details from a search warrant whose rejection kept the FBI from learning more about a terrorism suspect before Sept. 11.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that the handling of the Minneapolis FBI office's application for a warrant to search Zacarias Moussaoui's computer troubled him.

Goss, whose committee is joining with its Senate counterpart to investigate what the government knew and did to fight terrorism before the Sept. 11 attacks, referred to a letter Minneapolis FBI counsel Coleen Rowley wrote May 21 to FBI Director Robert Mueller about the Moussaoui case. The letter alleged that terrorism supervisors at FBI headquarters rewrote the Minnesota office's warrant applications and affidavit and removed key information about Moussaoui before sending them to a legal office that then rejected the paperwork as insufficient.

UPDATE: The San Jose Mercury News has a different account of what Rep. Goss actually said:

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss said Sunday that the FBI is incapable of doing the intelligence work needed to fight domestic terrorism.

Goss said the agency needs ``some serious rethinking and retraining.'' Placing CIA personnel there for cross training, already under way, will help, he said.

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IN MEMORIAM: NEW YORK CITY, 9/11/01

Toinight. 9:00 Eastern. I'm not going to watch it. Just like the rest of the 9/11 tribute shows. I saw enough on CNN. However, if you feel it your duty to sit through a televised re-enactment of 9/11 one more time, my hat goes off to you. I feel for the survivors of those who dies in that tragedy who have to see this rehashed time and time again.

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Barge hits bridge on Arkansas River

At least two people are dead and three seriously injured after an Interstate 40 bridge was hit by a barge and collapsed into the Arkansas River early Sunday, sending cars and trucks plunging into the storm-whipped waterway.
Officials say that at least 11 vehicles remain submerged in the river and that from seven to 20 people are trapped and feared dead. At an afternoon press conference, Gov. Frank Keating said investigators believe the captain of the tug boat pushing the barge suffered a seizure, causing the ship to collide with the highway bridge's support columns.

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So this is what we did to capture the Taliban:

"The Arabs gathered in places that they believed to be safe, and sought assistance from villagers on their way back across the border," the family of waterworks employee Al-Kandari wrote. "Unfortunately, the villagers sold them to the Pakistani authorities, who turned them over to the Americans."

The lawyers included in their court filing copies of leaflets that U.S. forces allegedly distributed in the region, saying, "Get wealth and power beyond your dreams: Help the anti-Taliban force rid Afghanistan of murderers and terrorists. . . . This is enough money to take care of your family, your village, your tribe for the rest of your life."

The impoverished Afghanis would sell anyone up the river for that kind of deal.

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