Politics

Al-Qaida has rebuilt, U.S. intel warns

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON – U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded al-Qaida has rebuilt its operating capability to a level not seen since just before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, The Associated Press has learned. The conclusion suggests that the group that launched the most devastating terror attack on the United States has been able to regroup along the Afghan-Pakistani border despite nearly six years of bombings, war and other tactics aimed at crippling it.
Still, numerous government officials say they know of no specific, credible threat of a new attack on U.S. soil.
A counter-terrorism official familiar with a five-page summary of the new government threat assessment called it a stark appraisal to be discussed at the White House on Thursday as part of a broader meeting on an upcoming National Intelligence Estimate.

I thought we were “fighting them over there, so we don’t have to fight them over here”? Is that not working? Gee, I wonder why.

Continue ReadingAl-Qaida has rebuilt, U.S. intel warns

A Must-Read Article: “A Mistake of Historic Proportions

Kathy Kattenburg, one of the bloggers over at Shakesville posted a must-read article on the state of the middle east, Iraq, and the world-wide catastrophic consequences that will occur if we make the of trying to attack Iran.
People were writing similar prescient words before the Iraq invasion; if we had listened to them, we might not be in the dire situation we are now.

Continue ReadingA Must-Read Article: “A Mistake of Historic Proportions

“I’m here to shoot a pilot”

Boing Boing is questioning whether this is actually true, but it seems to be making the rounds and has shown up on numerous news sites:

Director Mike Figgis spent longer at LAX airport than intended. He’d arrived in Los Angeles, along with half the acting and directing world, for what is known as ‘pilot season’, when the big studios try out new scripts, directors and actors in a two-week frenzy of auditions and career make-or-breaks. When Figgis was being grilled by airport immigration, he was asked the purpose of his visit. Unthinking and tired after a long flight, Mike replied: ‘I’m here to shoot a pilot.’ After five hours in an interrogation cell (yes, really), he finally made it into town.

Continue Reading“I’m here to shoot a pilot”

Joss Whedon on the “Honor” Killing of Dua Khalil

Joss Whedon recently wrote a long piece about the “Honor” Killing of Dua Khalil, and asked that it be posted on Whedonesque, an unofficial fan site of his work. I haven’t written anything about this event, although I read about it on several blogs, because it’s the kind of occurrence that leaves me chilled with anguish and a feeling of helplessness, and deep, biting anger. I don’t know what to do with those feelings, so I try to get past them and move on. After reading what he wrote, I realize that’s the wrong response. What he wrote is pretty great – in short, it’s a plea to support equality now – and I’m completely lifting it and quoting it here, after the jump:

Continue ReadingJoss Whedon on the “Honor” Killing of Dua Khalil

Unitarians at Arlington National Cemetery

Stephanie had some interesting news from her family today – Years ago when her Opa was interred at Arlington National Cemetery, his headstone was configured with the flaming chalice – the Unitarian Universalist symbol. Later her Oma was buried next to him, and recently her cousin Chip went out to visit them, and the flaming chalice had been changed – to a cross. According to Stephanie’ mom, it’s a wonder both of them didn’t rise up to protest; they were both devote Unitarians. Apparently her Stephanie’s Aunt Penny is going to take charge and make a big fuss about it to get it changed back to the appropriate symbol.

Continue ReadingUnitarians at Arlington National Cemetery

Crothersville Hate Crime Murderers May Get Off Easy

Advance Indiana continues to follow up on the story I noted earlier of the brutal hate crime beating murder of Aaron Hall in Crothersville, Indiana. Gary Welsh reports the criminals are being charged lightly given the bias and brutality of the crime, and may even get off with an outrageous manslaughter conviction. Read the details.

Gary also notes that no major Indiana media outlets are picking up what should be a national news story, and that no GLBT organizations have made public statements about the crime.

In another post, Welsh has uncovered more details about the connection between one of the killers, Garrett Gray, and his father – Terry Gray, the county deputy coroner. He also notes that Hall’s body was discovered in Terry Gray’s garage 10 days after his death.

Continue ReadingCrothersville Hate Crime Murderers May Get Off Easy

Another Indiana Hate Crime Death

From WTHR, a story on a man who was beaten to death in Crothersville, Indiana because his attackers thought he was gay:

Aggravated Assault in a Vehicle, honor killing and hate crimes are increasing day by day. Police found Aaron Hall’s badly beaten body hidden inside a garage on Sunday. Charged in connection with the murder were 19-year-old Garrett Gray, 18-year-old Coleman King and 21-year-old Robert Hendricks. Police made the arrests after receiving a tip from Garrett Gray’s friend.

The tipster got a multi-media text message on his cell phone from the suspects. In the photo, Aaron Hall appeared with the suspects’ arms around him. Hall had a swollen lip, a black eye, and appeared badly beaten.

Police say on April 12th, Hall and the three suspects were drinking at Gray’s house. The suspects told police Hall grabbed Coleman King and questioned his sexuality. That set off the deadly beating.

“And they’re saying what’s why they killed him. Because he was gay. And he wasn’t gay,” said Thomas Hall. “I don’t know any crime on the planet that deserves that type of punishment.”

A few drug crimes attorneys called it a brutal crime. Court papers show Gray and King brutally attacked, then photographed Hall. King hit him with his boots at least 75 times. The suspects told police they dragged Hall down the steps, loaded him into Robert Hendricks’ truck, and dumped his body in a ditch. They say they went back two days later, and found Hall in a nearby field. That’s when they tell police they wrapped the body in a tarp and hid it in Gray’s garage.

The homicide has left Aaron Hall’s family horrified.

As pointed out by several local websites and criminal justice lawyers in LA, this year’s state legislature chose to kill off a hate crimes bill that would have ensured this man’s attackers received just punishment for their bias-motivated crime.

Coverage on Advance Indiana
Coverage on Bilerico
Coverage on Shakespeare’s Sister

Continue ReadingAnother Indiana Hate Crime Death

Ohio Election Fraud

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Politics

Um, yeah – a really interesting tidbit of information from Slashdot:

goombah99 writes:
“Netcraft is showing that an event happened in the Ohio 2004 election that is difficult to explain. The Secretary of State’s website, which handles election reporting, normally is directed to an Ohio-based IP address hosted by the Ohio Supercomputer Center. On Nov. 3 2004, Netcraft shows the website pointing out of state to a server owned by Smartech Corp. According to the American Registry on Internet Numbers, Smartech’s block of IP addresses 64.203.96.0 – 64.203.111.255 encompasses the entire range of addresses owned by the Republican National Committee. Smartech hosted the recently notorious gbw43.com domain used from the White House in apparent violation of the Presidential Records Act, from which thousands of White House emails vanished.”

Update: 04/25 01:24 GMT by KD : ePluribus Media published a piece called Ken Blackwell Outsources Ohio Election Results to GOP Internet Operatives, Again on election eve 2006, when a similar DNS switch to Smartech occurred. They have been investigating the larger story of IT on Capitol Hill and elsewhere for two years.

We can’t get these things investigated sooner than this? What the hell?

Continue ReadingOhio Election Fraud

A Federal Prescription Drug Database?

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Politics

In some of the Virginia Tech news coverage, this caught a few people’s eye:

Some news accounts have suggested that Cho had a history of antidepressant use, but senior federal officials tell ABC News that they can find no record of such medication in the government’s files. This does not completely rule out prescription drug use, including samples from a physician, drugs obtained through illegal Internet sources, or a gap in the federal database, but the sources say theirs is a reasonably complete search.

There’s a federal database of prescription drug use? Really? Because that’s pretty much illegal. Umm…. Or, apparently it’s not, as of 2005. Fucking lovely.

UPDATE: Over at Shakesville, wolfrum points out all the other ways the Government is spying on us:

aaaah!

Continue ReadingA Federal Prescription Drug Database?