Titled:   End of an Affair

The Washington Post has published a report that their coverage of the Plame affair was incorrect.

Samizdata reports that the overlooked result of this is the admitted fact that Saddam was actually shopping for Uranium for an illicit weapons program.

Thus, it turns out that the White House stands vindicated on one of its key arguments for going to war against Saddam: that this thug and his regime were actively pursuing a WMD program. So...where are all the headlines about this? Except for this editorial admission by the Post (which implies that the newspaper had been taken in, rather than played a key roll in disseminating the lies), where are the media mea culpas, retractions, and apologies for many months of false, anti-Bush "conspiracy" stories? Don't hold your breath.

The silence is damning deafening.

 

Titled:   Annan tours devastated south Lebanon

And to think some people blamed the Jews...

Hat-tip Opinion Journal

 

Titled:   Police: Traffic Stop Leads To Suspicion

A traffic stop in Detroit has led to serious suspicion, police said.

Detroit police officers pulled over a vehicle near Atkinson and Second streets on a traffic stop. When officers questioned the driver, the man said he was from West Africa.

In the trunk of the vehicle, police found license plates from different states, identifications cards and Arabic literature, Local 4 reported.

 

The man was taken in to custody on a traffic violation. Police will not comment on the items found in the vehicle, but did say they are working with federal authorities.

 

 

Titled:   Woman Faces Charges in Flight Scare

In a recent post I mentioned a frequent propensity for "Peace Activists" to very quickly go off the deep end.

True to form, another one has made a complete fool of herself on a trans-Atlantic flight:

A woman on a trans-Atlantic flight diverted to Boston for security concerns passed several notes to crew members, urinated on the cabin floor and made comments the crew believed were references to al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 attacks, according to an affidavit filed Thursday.

Catherine C. Mayo, 59, of Braintree, Vt., appeared in federal court Thursday on a charge of interfering with a flight crew on United 923 as it flew from London to Washington, D.C., Wednesday.

She was dressed in a Rolling Stones T-shirt and socks without shoes for the hearing and was ordered held pending a detention and probable cause hearing next Thursday.

Her attorney, federal public defender Page Kelley, said Mayo was "just barely lucid" when they spoke. "She's got some very serious mental health problems."

Mayo's son, Josh, 31, described his mother as a peace activist and said she had been in Pakistan since March. She traveled there often since making a pen pal prior to Sept. 11, 2001, he said. The pen pal hasn't been allowed to visit the U.S., he added.

Peace Activist / Pakistan / frequent bathroom trips / unruly behavior / banned substances / London / Dubai / Vermonter...

Yup - fits the M.O.

 

Titled:   Woman killed, five others wounded in shooting at Seattle Jewish Federation

The Seattle Times:

The man accused of barging into the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and killing one woman and wounding five others will be prosecuted on state murder and attempted-murder charges rather than federal hate-crime laws, officials said.

Federal hate-crimes:

SEC. 280003. DIRECTION TO UNITED STATES SENTENCING COMMISSION REGARDING SENTENCING ENHANCEMENTS FOR HATE CRIMES.

(a) DEFINITION- In this section, `hate crime' means a crime in which the defendant intentionally selects a victim, or in the case of a property crime, the property that is the object of the crime, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person.
(b) SENTENCING ENHANCEMENT- Pursuant to section 994 of title 28, United States Code, the United States Sentencing Commission shall promulgate guidelines or amend existing guidelines to provide sentencing enhancements of not less than 3 offense levels for offenses that the finder of fact at trial determines beyond a reasonable doubt are hate crimes. In carrying out this section, the United States Sentencing Commission shall ensure that there is reasonable consistency with other guidelines, avoid duplicative punishments for substantially the same offense, and take into account any mitigating circumstances that might justify exceptions.

The guy in question:

Haq, a U.S.-born Muslim, told authorities he was angered by the war in Iraq and U.S. military cooperation with Israel. According to a statement of probable cause, Haq told a 911 dispatcher: "These are Jews and I'm tired of getting pushed around and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East."

This fine, upstanding member of the muslim community, does have an admitted penchant for dancing naked in shopping mall fountains.

The venue:

The Jewish federation, a group covering the Jewish community around the Puget Sound region, had organized a large rally last weekend to demonstrate support for Israel in its fight against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

At a news conference on Friday, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said, "This was a purposeful, hateful act as far as we know, by an individual acting alone."

So we have a quiet, loner muslim, with few friends, who get upset, buys a couple of guns (while under arraignment for the exposure charges, which should have failed the background check) and attacks a Jewish organisation because it is Jewish, and manages somehow to be charged not for hate crimes, carrying longer and harsher penalties, but state murder and attempted-murder instead.

I wonder what kind of crimes they had in mind when they thought up hate crimes?

 

Titled:   Terrorist links may not lead to spot on no-fly list: sources

Being a member of a terrorist organization won't necessarily land someone on Canada's no-fly list, The Canadian Press has learned.

Proposed criteria would limit inclusion on the roster to those who pose "an immediate threat to aviation security," say internal briefing notes prepared by Transport Canada.

Draft regulations, disclosed by a source familiar with details of the plan, confirm the no-fly list will be tightly focused and reviewed every 30 days to keep it up to date.

"You cannot be put on the list on the sole basis that you're a member of a 'terrorist group'," said the source. "In addition, you have to be a demonstrable threat to aviation safety." 

It seems that the best way to reduce your chances of being involved in terrorism while travelling is to avoid Canadian airlines, airports and connecting links.

Paid-up and known members of Hezbollah can still board in Toronto as long as they haven't made threats or acted against the airlines:

The source said that under the proposed regulations, people involved in a terrorist group - either now or in the past - could be added to the list only if there were reason to suspect they may "compromise civil aviation, the security of any aircraft or aerodrome, or the safety of the public, passengers or crew."

And those on the list were almost warned in advance too, a gift for a terrorist to know he is under surveillance, except that resources are limited:

Under Ottawa's plan, people will not be notified in advance that they are on the Canadian no-fly list. The source said informing individuals was considered impractical because it would be difficult to locate some people, and it would severely limit the willingness of police and intelligence agencies to provide names for the list.

Aparently some known members of terrorist organizations are "difficult to locate" and the police would be unwilling to assist!

Still, it is CANADA we are talking about. At least the American public understands the threat we face... doesn't it?

 

Titled:   Lebanese Financial District Bombed

MSNBC covers the Israeli bombing of the Lebanese financial district of Sidon and fails to notice the sheets of uncut US $100 bills laying all around. 1:07 minutes into the video the camera lingers on the sheets laying on the floor.

Maybe the Fed Reserve has decided to outsource its note printing operations overseas to save money?

I think not.