The Plot Sickens

Today British authorities stopped a major terror attack within days of a dry run. A plot that would have killed thousands of people. A plot that involved the use of liquid or gel explosives and suicide bombers on airplanes in trans-Atlantic flights. A plan that would have targeted at least 10 airplanes filled  hundreds of passengers in each plane. A potential death toll greater than that of the World Trade Center and all of the casualties from 9/11/2001. I have read repeated updated reports all day long with more and more specific information. I have watched as strict controls on carry on luggage have begun to be felt in airports all over the world.

I was going to go on here to excoriate some of the worst rhetoric I have read from some bloggers, but The Anchoress has already done a heck of a job on it, so I'd as soon not try to gild a lily. Go read what she wrote. Ask yourself if you hear yourself.

Ravaging Rodent

Squirrels. Many people seem to think these fuzzy-tailed climbing rats are "cute". Some even go so far as to feed the pests. Maybe after reading this story, people will wise up. The rodent assault force of the animal uprising has made a sneak attack on people in a Winter Park, Florida public park. The savage squirrel, well, savaged several people, including small children leaving would-be visitors to the recreation space wounded and bleeding.

Alisa Cox's son Carson, 3, was bitten by a squirrel several times and had a 2-inch wound on his leg after the incident, Cox said.

James Klute said his 3-year-old son was also bitten on the calf while they were kicking a soccer ball at the park. Jim Hindman, meanwhile, said a squirrel bit and scratched both arms while he was sitting on a park bench.

Longwood resident Dylan Osborne, 19, said that after the squirrel attacked the leg and shoe of a friend he trapped it under a bucket but released it two hours later when county animal-services workers didn't arrive.

But there's even more terror!

Dylan Osborne, 19, of Longwood said he had trapped the squirrel for two hours under a bucket on Aug. 3 but released it when county animal-services workers didn't show up.

He and some friends had been celebrating a birthday near the park's fountain when the squirrel approached one of them.

"It just all of the sudden jumped on her," he said. It latched onto her leg and bit her. She flung the critter away, but it came back for an assault on her shoes, left by the fountain.

Osborne smacked it with a shoe, but that only seemed to anger the animal. (ed. note: "Oh, no, don't shoot him. You'll just make him mad.")  "It started getting in attack position toward me," he said. So he grabbed the birthday-cake box and caught the squirrel in midflight.

A friend called Orange County Animal Services and was told someone would come out. After a half-hour, the squirrel began to chew its way out of the box. A restaurant across the street lent them a bucket.

For the next two hours, "we were there taking turns sitting on the bucket," Osborne said.

They called animal services again and were told someone had been dispatched.

When Osborne's father, Lance, also called the county, he said they told him they didn't handle squirrel bites.

"I was furious," Lance Osborne said. "My son basically sat on top of this squirrel on a cake box and on a bucket in downtown Winter Park, and no one did anything about it."

Dil Luther, assistant manager for the animal-services division, said Wednesday that he was not aware of the case but would check the records.

"Normally we don't respond to squirrels," Luther said.

Animal services had gone to the park the night before and planned to set a trap the morning of Aug. 3, according to a police report from a previous bite incident in which officers pepper-sprayed the squirrel but lost him.

Police Lt. Wayne Farrell said they usually write reports for animal bites but turn over all animal issues to county animal services.

The raging ravening rodent was finally subdued with a litter grabber after pepper spray failed to faze the psychotic squirrel. This is one mean rodent. Fortunately for the people tasked with subduing the beast, it died. Lord knows how much more carnage the crazed critter could have done.

(A later story says that the squirrel tested negative for rabies).

The Photo And The Damage Done

Once the fakery is out, the corrections never quite catch up. Little Green Footballs has the story of a series of pictures that show the damage that is being done by propaganda disguised as news.

To paraphrase Neil Young, I seen the photo and the damage done.

Breakthrough In Labanon Ceasefire

It appears as if there will be a vote on a UN ceasefire plan as early as tomorrow. The deal appears to include a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops.

The parties involved in diplomatic negotiations for a UN-brokered cease-fire resolution aimed at ending the fighting in Lebanon reached a breakthrough Thursday, paving the way for the stationing of international troops in Lebanon as part of a package which would end the month-long confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah.

The UN Security Council will convene Friday to discuss the new proposal, which has been agreed to by the United States as well as France.

The sides are currently putting the finishing touches to the final wording of the resolution. The revised draft calls for a "progressive" Israeli withdrawal, a senior Lebanese political source said on Thursday.

"The Americans have moved their position. A deal with the French is very close in the next hours, but most likely on Friday," he told Reuters.

"The breakthrough is based on the inclusion in the call for a cessation of hostilities for a progressive Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory to go simultaneously with the deployment of the Lebanese army backed by reinforced UN peacekeepers."

The source said the peacekeepers would mainly be reinforced by French soldiers. As part of the deal, Hezbollah would pull out from south of the Litani river.

After 30 days, the source said, there would be a more comprehensive resolution that declares a ceasefire and sets out solutions for the Shaba Farms issue, the release of captive IDF soldiers, the release of Lebanese prisoners and the disarming of Hezbollah.

This is an interesting approach. The phased withdrawal contingent on deployment of the Lebanese army and a withdrawal of Hezbollah beyond the Litani means Hezbollah lost the war they started.

UPDATE: The IDF is not at all happy with this potential ceasefire (Donald Sensing made much the same point in comments). This may not be an optimal solution and may yet be just another Hudna until Hezbollah and their masters in Iran decide to go again. (I am not at all happy with the French troops, either, but that is another rant).

The Devil In Miss Piggy?

Say it ain't so. "Adult" shows starring the Muppets? By the actual people behind the Muppets? As in not a spoof?

Even Miss Piggy would blush over the antics of "Jim Henson's Puppet Improv" that is spearheading a renaissance of puppet shows for grown-ups.

At this year's Edinburgh Fringe arts festival, there are more puppet shows listed for adults than for children.

"That really pleases me," said the late Jim Henson's son Brian, director of the Muppet Christmas and Treasure Island movies now revelling in the freedom of performing for adults only.

Every afternoon at the Fringe, his anarchic troupe of puppeteers do an improvisational show for kids. Every evening the air turns blue for the show that takes off into surreal flights of fancy dictated by the audience.

"It is lovely to do a show where you can go wherever your brain takes you," said Henson, winding down after a show in which the audience asked the puppeteers to play half a dozen hot dog puppets auditioning to be Ricky Martin's backup singers.

But would father have approved?

"I think he would have loved it because of how outrageous I get. My Dad really believed in community and sweetness but the other side of him was incredibly naughty.

"He always said the only reason we did this was those moments where it is like laughing in church. It becomes so infectious you cannot stop laughing."

Henson, who first performed the improvisation show in Aspen and Hollywood, would like to develop it into a TV show. Two other projects he is working on are also just for adults.

Well, there goes Sesame Street. Somehow, I really wouldn't want kids watching Behind the Green Frog.

UPDATE: We sent our investigative reporter from Magic 8-Ball Wireservice and Pool Cleaning to get reaction from the founder of the Muppets, the late Jim Henson.

Jim Henson, RIP RPM

Financing The Animal Uprising

The masterminds of the animal uprising have turned to a tried and true historical method of financing revolutions throughout history. They are financing their nefarious plots through crime. They have enlisted the sly and cunning pickpockets of the deep to rip off swimmer's valuables.

That's how the lobster got the wallet.

The wallet was recovered by a diver who caught the crustacean red-handed on the sea bed.

After picking up the offending lobster, he pried the wallet from the creature's claws and after finding a business card inside, handed it into a hairdressing salon.

Swimmer Paul Westlake, 30, from Plymouth on the southwest English coast, received a surprise telephone call from a staff member at the salon he uses, who told him the wallet had been salvaged from a lobster's pincers.

The poor guy thinks it was an accident and he lost the wallet. We, of course, know the truth. The lobster was working with a decoy flounder who bumped the swimmer to distract him. The lobster then got his claws on the wallet. Lobsters are very criminal by nature, you know. But the perpetrator got his in the end. The diver who caught him red-clawed, so to speak, says he tasted great with a bit of drawn butter.

Criminal Investigation Begins

State and Federal authorities have begun an investigation into the hacking of Joe Lieberman's website on the eve of the primary. Even though there were many left pundits who swore it had nothing to do with hacking, but tried to say it was unpaid bills, it appears to have been a genuine attack. Authorities are proceeding on that basis.

The site, Joe2006.com, appeared to have suffered from a so-called "denial of service" attack, in which computers overwhelm a site with fake traffic so real visitors can't get through, said Richard M. Smith, an Internet security consultant in Brookline, Mass.

The Lieberman campaign denied speculation among liberal Web pundits that the centrist Democrat's Web site had simply crashed because it used a low-budget Web host unable to handle the volume.

Web hosting can cost anywhere from a few dollars a month for a personal Web site to thousands of dollars for large corporate sites.

The campaign spends about $100 to $150 a month on Web hosting services with MyHostCamp, said Dan Geary, who administers the site for the campaign. Geary said that MyHostCamp, which is owned by a friend of Geary's, gave the site more than enough bandwidth — 200 gigabytes a month — to handle a crush of visitors.

He said an analysis of the server suggested an attack that focused on specific components of the Web site such as internal files and e-mail.

But Smith said that even if there's enough capacity, as important is the amount of security it has to keep intruders out.

"There are measures that can be implemented to protect against this type of attack," Smith said. "I think they went a little cheap here. This kind of looked like a low-budget hosting service."

Geary insists security was adequate, saying MyHostCamp's servers are monitored by a larger company, Server Matrix, and administered by a major Web hosting company, The Planet.

"Was it the greatest security ever? Well it just got hacked so, no," Geary said. "But we had industry-standard security. We could stop bows and arrows and bullets, but not a tank, and that's what this attack was."

Joseph E. Horzepa, general counsel for The Planet, said he could not comment on specific customer issues, but said the company was "very sensitive to security."

The FBI is involved in the investigation. It will be extremely interesting to see who they nab.

Losers Block Mexican Treasury Department

Supporters of the leftist loser candidate in the Mexican election today blocked the Mexican Treasury Department and continued their attempt to destroy the Mexican economy in order to save it for their candidate. Meanwhile, somebody is starting to get a teeny bit curious about how funds were spent by all of the parties that fielded candidates in the election. The Federal Electoral Institute levied about $6.7 million in fines against all the parties, but almost half was against AMLO's party.

The Federal Electoral Institute levied about $6.7 million in fines on all five parties that fielded candidates, citing errors or irregularities in their 2005 financial reports. Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party got the biggest penalty, $2.9 million, while the ruling National Action Party was fined $1.2 million.

Electoral official Andres Albo Marquez said the fines reflected the number and seriousness of the parties' violations. Officials said without elaborating that they found the reports lacked details on how campaign funds were spent.

Continuing a wave of protests against alleged electoral fraud, dozens of Lopez Obrador supporters blocked the Treasury Department as well as entrances to the main offices of three foreign-owned banks here, chanting "Vote by vote!" and "Long live democracy!"

Aides also called for activists to demonstrate outside the attorney general's office.

The former Mexico City mayor is demanding a recount of all 41 million ballots from the July 2 election, instead of the partial recount of about 9 percent of the polling booths that officials began Wednesday.

Initial election results gave conservative National Action Party candidate Felipe Calderon a 240,000-vote lead over Lopez Obrador. That's less than a 0.6 percent margin.

Lopez Obrador's supporters have vowed to continue protests until their demands are met.

So, who's funding these protests and who will be paying that fine?

Some People Get It

And some people don't. From an AP article on delays at airport security due to the new ban on liquids or gels in carry-on bags:

"They're ridiculous, but that's part of the price you pay for traveling during a time like this," Julius Ibraheem, 26, a college counselor from Chicago, said as he stared at the long lines leading toward the checkpoints at O'Hare Airport.

….

"It's better alive than dead," said Bob Chambers, whose flight from Baltimore to Detroit for business meeting was delayed more than an hour. "It's inconvenient, but we'll make it."

….

"I think it's ridiculous," McMahon said. "But we'll do it anyway. What are you going to do?"

….

In the Atlanta airport, Brenda Lee was annoyed with the lines and having to remove items from her luggage. The 52-year-old commercial real estate appraiser from Snellville, Ga., had to throw away her shampoo, but she said she was keeping her contact lens solution in her carry-on luggage.

"I'm not sure it does what they want it to do," she said. "It's all for security, but some things go beyond security."

….

Laura Yeager left four bottles of Gucci and Cartier perfume for the hotel maid before heading to the Atlanta airport for her flight back to Philadelphia. She still had to give up her lip gloss at the security checkpoint.

She just shrugged and tossed it. "It's better to feel safe. We thought it was going to be a lot worse."

Draw your own conclusions.

WaPo Supports Lieberman

Well, there's no hope at all of the Washington Post editorial staff getting any thank you cards from the Koz Kidz. In an editorial today they strongly back Joe Lieberman making an independent run for the Senate.

But Mr. Lieberman became an object of voter anger not only about the war but at the Bush administration in general. Because Mr. Bush has governed too often in a partisan way, many Democratic voters concluded that anyone who reached across the aisle in an effort to cooperate must be a sap. In such an environment, party orthodoxy comes to matter more than accomplishment; any assumption of good faith on the other side becomes a sign of weakness.

In that sense, the mirror-image defeat in Michigan of first-term Republican Rep. John J.H. "Joe" Schwarz was similarly disheartening. Mr. Schwarz, who backs embryonic stem cell research and abortion rights and opposes a ban on same-sex marriage, lost to a conservative whose race was fueled by the anti-tax Club for Growth. (We do not similarly mourn the defeat of Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), whose intemperate behavior and attraction to conspiracy theories led voters in her district to boot her — for a second time.)

Becoming beholden to orthodoxy is not healthy for either party. Compromise is not the equivalent of weakness, and Mr. Lieberman is no sap. He is a person of strong views who believes in listening to those who disagree with him and, if possible, finding common ground. The alternative is gridlock. Mr. Lieberman's brand of centrism and bipartisanship is a needed salve for a divided country, which could use more such lawmakers, not fewer.

They conclude that it is better for both the Democratic party and for the country as a whole to return a man like Joe Lieberman to the Senate. There will be a run on computer keyboards and monitors today as spittle tends to short them out. Punching them is even harder on them.

Sympathy For The Devil

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats confusing you
Is just the nature of my game

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or Ill lay your soul to waste, um yeah

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down

(M. Jagger/K. Richards, Sympathy for the Devil)

The cynical manipulation of the willing media whores in the West has been shockingly, and completely, exposed by some video footage obtained by a German news magazine. The right blogosphere has been questioning the Qana events and particularly the role of the man being called "Green Helmet". There is no longer any question whatsoever.

Green Helmet is a Hezbollah propaganda director and the Western media is cheerfully using whatever Hezbollah gives them. The West is in serious trouble at this point. The MSM is quite busy generating sympathy for a literal devil.

UPDATE: Others: Liberty and Justice, Protein Wisdom, Riehl World View, A Blog for All, Euphoric Reality, Solomonia, Flopping Aces, Confederate Yankee, Townhall,

“Worry About The West”

Victor Davis Hanson writes in Real Clear Politics that the real worry about the situation should not be about Israel. Rather it should be worry for the West itself.

There is a depressing pattern here. The sources for Western erroneous reports and faked pictures always seem to exaggerate the damage to Lebanon — but never to Israel.

Likewise, Western news agencies rarely list a precise number of Hezbollah losses, instead lumping them in with civilian fatalities. Does that mean that someone who launches a missile in Levis and sneakers is not a combatant?

In addition, the history and nature of Hezbollah do not matter to many in the West.

Knowingly or not, news outlets continue to spread Hezbollah's propaganda. One wonders if Westerners remember or know that, until Sept. 11, Hezbollah had killed more Americans than had any other terrorist organization.

Most ignore as well that Hezbollah precipitated the present crisis by kidnapping and killing Israeli soldiers, and launching missiles against Israel's cities.

In retaliation, the Israeli Defense Forces use precision bombs to target combatants and try to avoid civilian casualties (though the latter is nearly impossible against an enemy who doesn't wear uniforms and uses non-combatants as "human shields"). In contrast, every random missile launched by Hezbollah is intended to hit a civilian target.

On one side of this conflict is a true democracy that was attacked. On the other are terrorists who hijacked the sovereign government of Lebanon, instituted theocratic rule over a third of the country — and started a war.

Hezbollah, of course, has been enabled in large part thanks to Iranian petro-dollars and intimidation. But the nature of Hezbollah's patrons doesn't seem to matter to many Westerners, either.

Those now calling for "dialogue" with the "major players" ignore that Iran promises to wipe out Israel. The French foreign minister was quick to praise the regional role of theocratic Iran as "stabilizing."

This is the truly depressing pattern. A call for "dialog" with a terrorist militia. Talks with a terror-supporting and exporting theocracy. Negotiations with murderous thugs who would as soon kill you as look at you. And a lack of sufficient moral judgment to understand the difference between good and evil. We are in a dangerous place because of these twisted moral compasses. I have no doubt many of the people calling for dialog have the best intentions in the world for doing so.

And, sadly, they are paving a road because of those intentions. It will not be a pleasant road.

James A. Van Allen, 1914-2006

Physicist James A. Van Allen, the man who discovered the earth-circling belts of radiation that bear his name, has died. He was 91 years old. One of the pioneers of the space program, Dr. Van Allen designed many scientific instruments for space probes. Dr. Van Allen was the Regent Distinguished Professor of Physics in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the time of his death, although he had retired from active teaching in 1985.

Though he retired from active teaching in 1985, he continued to monitor data from Pioneer 10 throughout the spacecraft's 1972-2003 operational lifetime and serve as an interdisciplinary scientist for the Galileo spacecraft, which reached Jupiter on Dec. 7, 1995.

The highlight of Van Allen's long and distinguished career was his use of UI-built instruments carried aboard the first successful U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, in 1958 to discover bands of intense radiation — later known as the Van Allen radiation belts — surrounding the Earth. It came at the height of the U.S.-Soviet space race and literally put the United States on the map in the field of space exploration.

Among the other accomplishments of which he was most proud was his 1973 first-ever survey of the radiation belts of Jupiter using the Pioneer 10 spacecraft and his 1979 discovery and survey of Saturn's radiation belts using data from the Pioneer 11 spacecraft. Ever a critic of manned space flight, Van Allen the scientist described himself as "a member of the loyal opposition" when it came to discussions of big-budget space programs, declaring that space science could be done better and more cheaply when left to remote-controlled, unmanned spacecraft. NASA's move toward cheaper, more focused unmanned spacecraft during the 1990s was, at least in part, a result of Van Allen's advocacy.

“Jim Van Allen was my friend and role model,” said UI Interim President Gary Fethke. “He represented the very image of a superb faculty member. His teaching prowess was legendary, his research was defining, and his collegiality and service were unmatched. I will always be grateful for his kindness to my family and to me, and I will always be inspired and motivated by his complete dedication to the University of Iowa. I will miss him greatly. On behalf of the entire University community, I extend our sympathies to the Van Allen family.”

Thank you for all the advances in space exploration you helped pioneer. May you rest in peace.

The Microscope

The problem with making yourself highly visible is that people tend to put you under a microscope when you do so. So it is with Al Gore and his religious zeal about his global warming crusade. It turns out that Mr. Carbon Neutral Lifestyle™ himself is not even close to being truly carbon neutral.

Graciously, Gore tells consumers how to change their lives to curb their carbon-gobbling ways: Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, use a clothesline, drive a hybrid, use renewable energy, dramatically cut back on consumption. Better still, responsible global citizens can follow Gore's example, because, as he readily points out in his speeches, he lives a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." But if Al Gore is the world's role model for ecology, the planet is doomed.

For someone who says the sky is falling, he does very little. He says he recycles and drives a hybrid. And he claims he uses renewable energy credits to offset the pollution he produces when using a private jet to promote his film. (In reality, Paramount Classics, the film's distributor, pays this.)

Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself.

Then there is the troubling matter of his energy use. In the Washington, D.C., area, utility companies offer wind energy as an alternative to traditional energy. In Nashville, similar programs exist. Utility customers must simply pay a few extra pennies per kilowatt hour, and they can continue living their carbon-neutral lifestyles knowing that they are supporting wind energy. Plenty of businesses and institutions have signed up. Even the Bush administration is using green energy for some federal office buildings, as are thousands of area residents.

But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences. When contacted Wednesday, Gore's office confirmed as much but said the Gores were looking into making the switch at both homes. Talk about inconvenient truths.

Gore is not alone. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has said, "Global warming is happening, and it threatens our very existence." The DNC website applauds the fact that Gore has "tried to move people to act." Yet, astoundingly, Gore's persuasive powers have failed to convince his own party: The DNC has not signed up to pay an additional two pennies a kilowatt hour to go green. For that matter, neither has the Republican National Committee.

Well, being a hypocrite is nothing new for Al. He's been doing it for years ("No controlling legal authority"). That's one reason he's the darling of the left. He says all the things they want fervently to hear without actually having to do anything about any of it. Just like Cindy Sheehan's fast. It's sort of like having your penguins and roasting them, too. Or something like that.

Save Cindy a drumstick, Al.

Castro Update

See Babalu Blog for an update. It appears that repression in Cuba is reaching new heights (depths?) and it is getting quite bad for the average Cuban.

Meanwhile AFP indirectly supports the reports of severe repression:

"Any attempt by the opposition to hold a meeting at this time would be crushed at once," opposition leader Vladimiro Roca told AFP.

Instead, officials said more than three million Cubans were holding 80,000 meetings around the country under the theme, "Reaffirming the Revolution," giving patriotic speeches, waving Cuban flags and chanting "Viva Fidel."

Cuba on Wednesday justified the dearth of news on the ailing leader's health, arguing that the country faces a clear and imminent threat from the United States.

Castro, who has ruled over the island's communist government for almost 48 years, temporarily handed his duties over to his brother Raul, the defense chief, on July 31, after undergoing gastrointestinal surgery. Neither Castro has appeared in public since.

Due to the "concrete threats" from Washington, "the information that we give about this whole situation has to be careful, limited to inform what is indispensable," National Assembly speaker Ricardo Alarcon said in an interview with Radio Rebelde.

Cuban authorities have gone all out over the past few days to convince the island's citizens that Castro is well on his way to recovery and that the ruling communist party is in top shape.

They have said Castro would be back on the job within months, or possibly weeks, but have shed no light on the exact condition of the bearded leader, who turns 80 on Sunday.

Sources close to Fidel Castro's circle however did say that the surgery was believed to have been performed early July 27, and that a few days later Castro began ingesting light food and now was able to read documents.

Alarcon justified limited disclosure referring to a 1996 US law that establishes the US goal "to put an end to (Cuba's) revolutionary government," as well as a 2004 report by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba which details US programs aimed at encouraging democracy in Cuba.

The Cuban government is clinging to power.