Maine Hell Hound - The Coverup!

Aha! We caught them trying to cover up the truth. Someone get Jason Leopold on this right away! The Portland Press Herald is reporting on so-called genetic testing done on one of the paws taken from the remains of the mutant hell hound found in Turner, Maine. Here's what caught our eye right away. The first paragraphs state the creature was definitely just a dog, but the actual quotes from the researcher don't match that! This is a bigger and better conspiracy theory than even Kevin Barrett has constructed! And we have even more credible wild speculation, too!

DNA tests have removed the veil of mystery from a creature that created a media and Internet sensation. It was just a dog - 100 percent dog, according to the Sun Journal.

The newspaper ordered up tests to end the speculation by readers who thought the creature may have been a Tasmanian devil, a dingo, a wolf or coyote. Some of the more outlandish theories involve mutations and extraterrestrials.

Dr. Yuri Melekovets, the laboratory director at HealthGene Corp. in Toronto, said he's certain that the creature was just a dog.

See, there they state quite firmly it is just a dog. But when they actually get to what the "expert" said it doesn't match up at all. (We think the person they interviewed was a plant, for no other reason than that makes the conspiracy theory even more wildly speculative).

Melekovets said the dog was likely a mix of breeds. He said there could be a trace of "rare breed" in the specimen. His guess" Perhaps a fairly new breed from Germany known as an Eurasier, which is a cross between a wolfspitz, chow and Samoyed.

His conclusion supports the findings of a University of Maine professor, Irv Kornfield, who also determined that the creature was a dog.

Kornfield said the unique DNA signature was run through the nation's gene bank database, where DNA sequences are logged, and it "most closely resembled the very common genetic signature for domestic dog."

Most closely resembled, indeed! We have a smoking gun, that's what we have. (Blue Crab Boulevard expects full and complete credit if this takes off as a new conspiracy theory, incidentally!)

Terrorists Threaten Infidels In Gaza

A threat to target all non-Muslims in Gaza has been posted on the internet. The message purports to be from the same group that kidnapped Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, the "Holy Jihad Brigades". In practical effect, if taken seriously, this will end all foreign news coverage inside Gaza.

CAIRO (AP) — Palestinian militants who held two Fox News journalists hostage for nearly two weeks threatened in a statement posted online Saturday to abduct non-Muslims visiting the Palestinian territories and kill them unless their demands were met.

The statement, posted in the name of the Holy Jihad Brigades on a website frequently used by militants, said the group would kill any hostages it takes unless they converted to Islam, paid a ransom or Muslim prisoners were exchanged for their release.

"Any infidel blood will have no sanctity," the group said in the statement.

It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the statement, which was dated August 27 — the day militants released American journalist Steve Centanni, 60, and New Zealand cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36. They were seized Aug. 14 in Gaza City.

This despite Fatwas issued by a number of different Muslim religious leaders that promise the safety of anyone who is issued a visa by any Islamic government.

Several Muslim clerics have issued edicts in the past stating that a visa issued by an Islamic country to a non-Muslim person carries an implicit guarantee of the holder's safety.

One of the most recent fatwas, issued in August by an Egyptian cleric, asserted that the guarantee applies to visiting Israelis in spite of popular anger over Israeli military action in Gaza and Lebanon.

All Western news agencies will very likely refuse to send reporters into Gaza at this point unless they are local stringers. This will make the news coming out of that area even more open to suspicion than it already is.

Radio-Controlled Trout

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and wildlife is so concerned about the animal uprising that they are releasing radio-controlled spy trout into lakes to keep an eye on anything, well, fishy. Oh sure, they say it's just to help manage things when one gets caught accidentally, but you'd expect them to lie to cover up the truth!

GREENVILLE, Maine - Anglers, don't be alarmed if you catch a trout with an antenna coming out of its belly. It's just a "robo-trout."

About 75 transmitter-equipped trout have been released in Moosehead Lake and its tributaries by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife as part of an effort to track them and maintain the right mix of fish.

Three of them have been caught by anglers, including Ken Snowdon, who nabbed one of the unusual fish back in January. The fish, sans transmitter and antenna, won first place in a fishing derby and is being mounted at a taxidermist shop.

The trout Snowdon plucked from the icy waters was a trophy fish that was 23 inches long and weighed 5 1/2 pounds. It also had a thin, 10-inch antenna protruding from its orange-red belly that was transmitting a signal.

The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife let Snowdon keep the fish but not before retrieving the $200 transmitter.

Of course they retrieved the transmitter - can't have the secrets getting out. Maine has reason to be worried, of course. They have mutant monster hellhounds wandering about already.

WaPo Notices Film

The Washington Post carries a story on the British made for television film depicting the "assassination" of George Bush. There are, apparently, more offensive films in the works, too.

"It's about hype rather than a serious matter," said Roy Greenslade, a noted British media critic, who said the film "crossed the line" and was "obviously tasteless."

Britons awoke this morning to see their morning newspapers carrying a black-and-white promotional photo, with a sort of Dallas-in-1963 feel, showing a mortally wounded Bush dying in a Secret Service agent's arms. Other agents draw guns, cameras flash and people dive for cover in the photo of a filmed scene in which Bush's head was added later to an actor's body by computer.

Greenslade said the photos are so realistic that for a second he thought Bush had actually been assassinated. He said creating such a realistic image of Bush being killed "could convince crazy people that this might be a good idea."

"I'm sure they will cloak it by saying there's a serious point to be made," Greenslade noted. "But isn't there another way? If it had been a fictional president, wouldn't it have made the same point? It just beggars belief that this is the best way to make a serious point."

Dale defended the use of Bush himself, rather than a fictional president, because using a fictional character "wouldn't have the same kind of resonance."

"It's absolutely legitimate to deal with contemporary named figures," he said. "I would urge people to see the film and see if they think it is fair."

More4, which launched in October, is one of three satellite channels affiliated with Channel 4, a major independent television channel in Britain. The other two affiliates are a children's channel and a movie channel. Dale said More4 carries "serious, upmarket" programming aimed at adults.

The channel has made a name for itself with controversial films, such as last year's "A Very Social Secretary," a biting satire about former cabinet minister David Blunkett's affair with a British magazine editor.

Prime Minister Tony Blair will get a roasting of his own in November, when the channel plans to air the comedy "The Trial of Tony Blair." Dale said the film was a satire depicting Blair's life after he leaves office, including an arrest on charges of waging an illegal war in Iraq.

The more light that shine on this, the more attention it gets, the more it will backfire here in the US.

More Terrorism Related Arrests In Britain

The BBC is reporting that more arrests have occurred in terrorism-relation police raids. There is no apparent link to the earlier arrests in the failed plot to blow up airplanes. Details are very sketchy at this hour, but there may be a link to terrorist training facilities as one of the locations raided was a school in a rural area.

Armed police have arrested 14 men following anti-terror raids in London, including 12 arrests at a restaurant in the Borough area.

Two people were held elsewhere in the city in what police said was an intelligence-led operation.

Police said the arrests were not connected to the alleged transatlantic jet bomb plot or the 7 July attacks

An Islamic school near Tunbridge Wells has also been searched as part of the same ongoing operation.

The Jameah Islameah property, on a road named Catt's Hill between Rotherfield and Mark Cross in Crowborough, East Sussex, is an Islamic teaching facility on a large rural site, for boys aged between 11 and 16.

According to its website the 54-acre premises also encourages Islamic groups to "appoint a person from your centre who wishes to serve the community and send them to us to be trained".

It also says these individuals will then become "qualified enough to teach in local Masajeds and Madares".

At the time of its last inspection, in December, the school only had nine pupils.

Eyewitness reports say the area has now been sealed off and that about 100 officers were at the scene.

Ongoing surveillance

The BBC's Keith Doyle said the south London restaurant where the 12 arrests were made was a halal Chinese called Bridge to China Town.

He said the raids came after: "months of surveillance into those suspected of recruiting or encouraging others to take part in terrorist activities".

The restaurant was full of people, including children, when around 40 police officers wearing riot gear raided it shortly after 10pm.

Diners were told they were being questioned under the Terrorism Act.

Each was asked to give their name and address, after which those arrested were taken away in handcuffs.

Police said the men were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

Anti-terrorist officers also carried out raids on a number of addresses in other parts of London, with a search being carried out at an address in the north of the capital.

Britain has an obvious problem right now. I'll try to find more detail on what exactly is going on and will either update here or add new posts as news breaks.