Abu-Ghraib

How ironic- after the American media frenzy about the so-called torture at Abu-Ghraib, the US has handed control over the prison back to Iraq- and the inmates are begging for them to come back.

Some of the small number of prisoners who remained in the jail after the Americans left said they had pleaded to go with their departing captors, rather than be left in the hands of Iraqi guards.

"The Americans were better than the Iraqis. They treated us better," said Khalid Alaani, who was held on suspicion of involvement in Sunni terrorism.

The witness said that even in the thieves' section prisoners were being treated badly. "Someone was shouting 'Please help us, we want the human rights officers, we want the Americans to come back'," he said.

And Khalid Alaani, who was also picked up in Ramadi suspected of involvement in Sunni terrorism, said: "We preferred the Americans. We asked to move with them to Baghdad airport because we knew the treatment would be changed because we know what the Iraqis are. When the Americans left everything changed."

I doubt though that the New York Times and their ilk will create such a fuss about this. After all, it paints American troops in Iraq in a positive light.

An Advance Warning?

I didn't watch the ABC drama Path to 9/11 when it was shown on the BBC last night, but I have been paying attention to the fuss it has generated on the left-side of the political sphere. Rather than respond to the elements of the show which they objected to, Democrats instead threatened the network. Which is incredibly telling. Betsy's Page sums it up-

Think for a moment about the concerted action by Democrats, their lawyers, former White House operatives, Bill Clinton, sympathetic historians, and lefty bloggers to stop this show. Remember that this was the same crowd that was full of praise of for Fahrenheit 9/11 for crystallizing their opposition to George Bush. Accuracy and versimilitude didn't bother them then. And they weren't saying a word about 60 Minutes "fake but accurate" story on Bush's National Guard service. Now, ask yourself. If this crowd were to control the White House, how many more of these attempts to stifle any criticism of them would we be seeing? Think of how much has been aired during Bush's tenure, even a movie depicting him being assassinated and more denials of civil liberties gets made without Bush's White House unleashing its lawyers. But, for this thing, the Democrats go to the mattresses. Are they perhaps modeling for us what their response would be to further criticism if they should gain control of the White House - or even of Congress? Don't forget those not-so-veiled threats to ABC's license. Ponder that chill wind.

And the rest of her post on the subject is definitely worth reading too.

Five years on from the day that changed the world

I can remember that day with extraordinary clarity- at work we downed tools and spent our time rushing between TV sets in two different buildings, checking the news coming in from the BBC and CNN. No one wanted to even change channels as we tried to get as much information as possible about what was going on. I still can't believe how much the world has changed since then- Afghanistan and Iraq liberated in the blink of an eye, while the jihadis have been forced out of the shadows to fight the freedoms given to those people. And countless people have been made aware of the doctrine of the Islamist terrorists, with no little thanks sites like Jihad Watch and Little Green Footballs. Since then we've witnessed carnage committed on a daily basis in Iraq, the terrorist attacks in Madrid and London, and the horror that was Beslan. Not to mention the attacks against the people of Israel. The Religion of Peace total for Islamic terrorist attacks since 9/11 is currently at 5,801.

So soon after 9/11 I am also struggling to deal with the fact that people who actually lived through that terrible day have begun to question the cause, preferring to believe that an arch-conspiracy committed by their own government murdered nearly 3,000 people rather than the evident truth of a terrorist atrocity. Even now after video has been shown of Bin Laden meeting with the architect of the despicable attack, somehow it's more comforting for them to believe that their own government wants to murder its own citizens than accept the fact that Islamist terrorists are prepared to carry out mass murder of innocent people going about their daily business. Even though there's ample evidence of just that behaviour from all over the globe. A generation on I could maybe understand such revisionist history, but for it to be going on right now is just astonishing.

We are still at war, a war that for most of us thankfully takes place largely far away. While mainstream moderate Muslim groups in the UK and America moan and complain that foreign policy is driving some Muslims to become extremists, the simple fact of the matter is that the brave men and women of the armed forces are fighting the jihadis in Iraq and Afghanistan; not on the streets of Luton or Chicago. Fighting, killing and winning; the terrorists there are kept constantly on the back foot by the mere presence of professional soldiers and marines willing to put their lives on the line. I don't seem to recall any of those same moderate Muslim groups complaining that it is the activities of the jihadis in Iraq and Afghanistan that are forcing coalition troops to remain in those countries. Wouldn't it be something if CAIR or the MCB issued a statement calling on the jihadis to be good, peace-loving Muslims (they do tell us it's a religion of peace afterall) and lay down their arms, ensuring that there was no need for British or American troops to stay in Iraq to keep the peace?

So where are we five years on? The battle lines have been clearly delineated- a death-mongering, totalitarian, oppressive cult of extremists versus Western, liberal democracy. But there's another line too- one carved through Western society between those who would appease an enemy that wishes to see our entire culture of freedom and tolerance destroyed, and those who would fight that enemy. It's the same in America, the UK, Europe, Australia and elsewhere- a Red State-Blue State division writ large. While a relentless, merciless enemy who thinks nothing of murdering women and children in cold blood in the name of religion tries to destroy us, we're busy fighting one another too over how best to respond. 9/11 and the nearly six thousand terrorist attacks since have apparently not been enough to convince some people that we're even facing a very real threat. And that, I fear, could be our undoing.

Sunday Reading

A couple more recommended reads today.

First up is some commentary on the article in Time magazine which imagines looking back at the war on terrorism from the year 2030. It's startlingly naive and ill-informed, exactly what you might expect by "historian" Niall Ferguson. In his dream-world the US retreated from the Middle East in 2008 and the Islamist terrorists didn't see the point of expending "their energies attacking American cities". So everything will be okay if only we do what the terrorists want us to do. It's all so simple really, isn't it?

Next up is an essay by Fjordman called, "Why we cannot rely on moderate Muslims." This one is definitely worth reading as he discusses the role of CAIR, the desire for many Muslims in the US for the Constitution to be replaced by Sharia, the concept of Al-Taqiya and hudna, and of course, an examination of the "moderate Muslim". There's certainly a great deal of food for thought there. Towards the end of the article Fjordman posits the idea of containment of Muslim populations in Western countries, a cessation of Muslim immigration and the possibility of a new set of Benes Decrees; laws which expelled significant portions of a population who had no loyalty to the state they lived in.

The war we're currently fighting went overt in 2001- almost five years ago to the day- but it can be traced all the way back to the 1983 Embassy bombing in Beirut. At least. The biggest problem seems to be a complete lack of understanding by our leaders, mainstream media and public-at-large of the nature of the enemy we're fighting. Again and again the jihadis tell us their reasons, their motivations and their desires for a Caliphate- and yet it's a message that it all too easily ignored by too many people. Some, like Ferguson, seem to think that if we merely leave the Middle East (abandoning millions of people to Islamic theocracy and despotism) then they will stop hating us. What, then, is the solution to the growing Islamic terrorism in the Far East? Allow them to establish Sharia-ruled states there? What's next? When the Islamists in Europe start clamouring for Sharia are we to simply roll over and let them take over there too? At what stage will people like Ferguson who prefer appeasement draw a line in the sand and say "enough is enough"? By the time they're ready to do that, I fear it will be too late by far.

Creeping Dem Dementia

Another great Vent at HotAir but one that scares the bejesus out of me- what if the Democratic Party takes power after the next round of elections?

Do we really need the world's most powerful nation and last, best hope for freedom to be led by a group who seems to think that the USA is not one of the greatest nations on our planet, but one of the worst? It's bad enough having to watch Europe slowly sink in a mire of self-loathing and appeasement but do we really want the same thing to happen in America?

I can't even imagine what the next few decades might be like if the Democrats come to power right now in this phase of the war on terrorism. Scares the heck out of me.

Nurse Kills Intruder

Surely a story to give to a warm glow inside-

A nurse returning from work discovered an intruder armed with a hammer in her home and strangled him with her bare hands, police said.

Susan Kuhnhausen, 51, ran to a neighbor's house after the confrontation Wednesday night. Police found the body of Edward Dalton Haffey 59, a convicted felon with a long police record.

Haffey, about 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, had convictions including conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, robbery, drug charges and possession of burglary tools. Neighbors said Kuhnhausen's size -- 5-foot-7 and 260 pounds -- may have given her an advantage.

"Everyone that I've talked to says 'Hurray for Susan,' said neighbor Annie Warnock, who called 911.

"You didn't need to calm her. She's an emergency room nurse. She's used to dealing with crisis."

Bravo!

UPDATE- The story has taken a rather bizarre twist- it seems that the so-called intruder was anything but; he was actually a hitman hired by Nurse Kuhnhausen's estranged husband. And she took him out with her bare hands.

Whose Side Are They On?

A journalist in Canada has been suspended for praising the Canadian military in Afghanistan.

Christine St-Pierre, a veteran Ottawa correspondent for French-language public broadcaster Radio-Canada, wrote an open letter to Canada's 2,300 troops telling them to ignore mounting criticism of the mission.

"We owe you all our respect and our unfailing support ... dear soldiers, your tears are not in vain, your tears are brave," St-Pierre wrote in the letter, which Montreal's La Presse newspaper published on Thursday.

She was suspended by Radio-Canada "for breaching internal regulations that stipulate employees are not allowed to express their opinions on controversial issues."

So a Canadian is not allowed to offer her support for Canadian troops in harm's way? Perhaps it was because she offered her support of the mission, by pointing out that it had been approved by the UN?

I fail to see how a Canadian citizen supporting the Canadian military is controversial in any way. Would a Canadian reporter have been suspended for supporting the Canadian military in World War 2? Amazing- that a journalist can be considered to have lost her objectivity in reporting a war because she supports her own military. We all know the bias that other journalists routinely dispay, but none of them are ever suspended. Just goes to show the danger of going against the groupthink I suppose.

What has the world come to?

Check This Out

A must-read article over at War on Guns- Can Gun Control Reduce Violence?

Head on over there and check it out- and then tell everyone about it.

Bad Science

A professor of theoretical physics has written a paper which alleges to disprove the supernatural. Quite aside from the complete waste of time that this is, he actually does rather a bad job. The chill which is apparently felt in the presence of the otherworldly is down to air currents. In effect his scientific argument is that gaps in windows or doors can cause a system of heat cycles and eddies; in other words, it's all down to drafts. Convincing argument, isn't it?

He also argues that a ghost could not walk through walls. The argument goes like this- to pass through walls a ghost would necessarily have to be "material-less", but to actually propell itself forward, or to walk on a floor, etc, it would have to possess some material form. Well, not necessarily- if we're talking about an immaterial object, it's perhaps not actually walking on the floor rather than floating on it. If it possesses no material form then it won't need to exert a force to move itself- perhaps it can move by simple virtual of wanting to go in a certain direction?

He then turns his attention to vampirism "proving" that it cannot exist because of this-

"it would take just two and a half years for vampires to wipe out the entire human race from the day the first one appeared, based on the myth that vampires turn their victims into other vampires by sucking their blood.

Using the principle of reductio ad absurdum, they conclude that vampires can't exist as their existence contradicts the existence of humans."

Might sound quite good but it completely ignores vampire lore- a vampire could feed without necessarily killing the victim and turning them into a vampire too. Or, as some legends have it, the vampire has to share some of his own blood in order to create a new vampire. So much for the rigorous scientific analysis by a professor of physics. I'd expect much more convincing arguments from a professor, particularly one who had chosen to write a paper on the topic.

Our New Labour Overlords

Welcome to the New World Order. Looks like Dubya isn't the person with the cunning plan to take over the world. It's Tony Blair.

Tomorrow's potential troublemakers can be identified even before they are born, Tony Blair has suggested.

Mr Blair said it was possible to spot the families whose circumstances made it likely their children would grow up to be a "menace to society".

He said teenage mums and problem families could be forced to take help to head off difficulties.

He said the government had to intervene much earlier to prevent problems developing when children were older.

There could be sanctions for parents who refused to take advice, he said.

Got that? Come from a "worrying" segment of society and Blair's cronies will have you marked down as being a potential troublemaker, even before birth. Right now the plan is to force parents to accept "advice". What, I wonder, will the next step be? And how long will it be before they demand even more control over how people raise their children and live their lives.

Big hat tip to Bag's Rants.

BBC Champions Al Qaeda

A quick update on the BBC show Al Qaeda: Time To Talk. The theme of the show appears to be appeasement and surrender.

One of the points made is that governments in the past have conducted talks with terrorists whom they swore they would never speak to. He cites the IRA as one example. Well, let's look and see how that worked out- originally the IRA was supposed to disarm before talks began. They refused. Then they were supposed to disarm while talks were in progress. They refused. Then they were supposed to disarm when the talks were finished. They refused. Years passed and the political representatives of a murderous terrorist organisation were put into government; one of the demands that they had succeeded in passing was that, unlike the rest of the UK, the party with the most votes wouldn't get to make their own government; a certain number of seats were set aside for the other parties, ensuring that Sinn Fein/IRA would have a place. So for a time our Minister of Education in Northern Ireland was a "former" IRA commander- a man who had been arrested with explosives and ammunition and who had boasted of having informers murdered.

That's what happens when governments talk to terrorists. Today the IRA is still armed and the threat of a return to violence hangs over everything that happens here. If they don't get their way...

Back to Al Qaeda and the BBC- the entire blame for terrorism is placed squarely on US foreign policy in the Middle East- their support of apostate Arab governments, troops on Muslim soil and support for Israel. Taylor mentions the word jihad but he seems to believe that Bin Laden will go away if only America will do what he wants in the Middle East. And he appears to think that this is a reasonable plan in order to stop terrorism. He doesn't mention the Islamic terrorism elsewhere in the world- if the US lets Israel be destroyed will Islamists in the Far East start behaving themselves? He claims that Bin Laden doesn't want a Caliphate- which is an odd claim because Bin Laden has called for a Caliphate. His exact words were, "the pious Caliphate will start from Afghanistan."

Taylor is either completely unaware of his subject matter or is deliverately trying to deceive the audience. I wonder which it is?

FAS sums it up like this- "Al-Qa'ida's goal is to "unite all Muslims and to establish a government which follows the rule of the Caliphs." Bin Laden has stated that the only way to establish the Caliphate is by force. Al-Qa'ida's goal, therefore, is to overthrow nearly all Muslim governments, which are viewed as corrupt, to drive Western influence from those countries, and eventually to abolish state boundaries."

So what's Peter Taylor of the BBC talking about? And, even if Bin Laden has had a change of heart and no longer wants to establish a Caliphate, the war on terror isn't aimed simply at Al Qaeda and no one else- we're fighting Islamic terrorism all over the world. Does Taylor think we should sit down and negotiate with all of them? My guess is that he probably does think that's the way forward- the good little dhimmi is ready to accept his new Islamist overlords- and he wants to convince others to come along for the ride too.

It's interesting to note that the two "experts" who agree with Peter Taylor are a former Jordanian official and a Harvard academic. I think that says a lot about the show.

The propaganda programme will be broadcast tomorrow night.

Multiple Marriage

I don't know much about Warren Jeffs but the similarities between some of his beliefs and Islam are apparent.

He's being accused on being an accomplice to rape for arranging marriages between young girls and older men. I have one word to say on that "Ayesha". See too, Zarqawi's child bride.

He warned a teenage girl forced into a "spiritual marriage" to submit to sex with her husband. Has he been reading the Koran? "Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will."

Now I don't for a moment condone Jeff's actions but it seems odd that his particular brand of multiple marriage and marriages between young girls and older men should be targeted but the practice by Muslims is accepted as some sort of cultural norm. And while I can't see the ACLU rushing forward to defend Jeffs (he's probably too "Christian" for them) they do seem to be oddly in favour both of multiple marriage and sex with minors- check out Clayton Cramer's blog for more on that.

Islam on TV

I wonder how this one will turn out?

Peaches Geldof is to appear in a Channel 4 reality TV show, the "precocious London party girl" living with a devout Muslim family in Morocco in a show called "A Beginner's Guide To Islam".

The BBC webpage on the story has a link to another feature called "I want to open people's minds". I'd assumed it was something to do with the Geldof story but it's actually about a wannabe Muslim actress.-

"as a practising Muslim, she faces all sorts of obstacles when she portrays a character. She does not drink or smoke, she must be careful about touching men - and obviously she cannot show anything other than her face and hands.

She contacted the BBC News website because she was frustrated by the lack of opportunity."

Gee, I wonder why she might feel there's a lack of opportunity for an actress with such "range"? There must be so many parts that she's capable of playing!

As if unaware of the world in which she wants to work the actress claims that her having to wear the hijab is just as limiting as the no-nudity clauses that some actors have in their contracts. Huh?

Anyway, expect to see her in a BBC drama soon. How many other out of work actors managed to get featured on the BBC? The clever girl even suggested a part for herself as a nurse on Casualty (think a less exciting and less glamorous ER).

BBC's Suggestion

Just caught an ad for this upcoming show on the BBC, Al Qaeda: Time To Talk. Here's what they have to say about the programme-

Reporter Peter Taylor has spent five years since 9/11 investigating Al Qaeda in Britain and around the world.

In the first of two special investigations, Taylor concludes that Iraq has become the dominant radicalising and recruiting force for many muslims and that British support for US foreign policy has made Britain a prime target.

With the so called 'War on Terror' far from won and the August's chaos at UK airports, is it time to consider a new approach?

To try and end the violence, is it time to engage with Al Qaeda?

I wonder what exactly they would have us say to Al Qaeda? "We surrender"? Is there anything else they would be satisfied hearing from us? I guess I'll have to tune in on 3rd September to see exactly how the BBC thinks we should be running the war on terror.

Post Office Petiness

The British Post Office is acting like a petulant child- and all because one of their employees simply highlighted freely available information on a service that they provide.

Here's the story- a local postie created a mailshot of his own for his run, informing the people living along his route that the amount of junk mail they were getting was about to increase, and explaining how they could get in touch with the Post Office and use their opt out service.

The Post Office suspended the postie for "misconduct" pending a further investigation. The reason for the stern action were claims that the Royal Mail depended on being paid to send out the unwanted snail mail spam- completely ignoring the fact that they offer the opt out themselves and are basically trying to punish a worker for pointing out the fact. And nevermind that the people on his route were grateful for his actions.

If you live in the UK here's how you too can opt out of receiving unwanted mail-

TO STOP JUNK MAIL, CONTACT:

Unaddressed mail - Opt-Outs, Royal Mail, Kingsmead House, Oxpens Road, Oxford, OX1 1RX

Addressed mail - Mail Preference Service (MPS), Freepost 29, LON 20771, London, W1E 0ZT or call 0845 703 4599

Source: Postwatch

Listen Carefully

Despite the continued statements by Islamists in the Middle East that they want to destroy Israel entirely, a good number of Westerners still seem to think that if Israel withdraws to its 1967 borders then everything will be fine. Quite why they won't listen to what's actually being said is beyond me. It seems too that when Islamic terrorists open their mouths to explain that they are killing in the name of Allah, many in the West stick their fingers in their ears. La-la-la, I can't hear you seems to be their policy. I guess that they can't quite make their own beliefs that terrorism is caused by poverty and American imperialism gel with what the terrorists themselves believe.

In any case, here we have a member of Islamic Jihad [I suppose they didn't get that Religion of Peace memo?] explaining what they are teaching Palestinian children-

We don't forget our martyrs, and we teach them about making sacrifices on behalf of the Palestinian people and tell them the truth about Islam.

When asked about this "truth," Hisham launches into a monologue on history from his perspective: "We teach the children the truth. How the Jews persecuted the prophets and tortured them. We stress that the Jews killed and slaughtered Arabs and Palestinians every chance they got. Most important, the children understand that the conflict with the Jews is not over land, but rather over religion. As long as Jews remain here, between the [Jordan] river and the sea, they will be our enemy and we will continue to pursue and kill them. When they leave we won't hurt them."

Palestinian children get the message then- the trouble with Israel is religious. I wonder if those Westerners who keep thinking that the conflict is the fault of Israel's post-'67 borders get that too?

La-la-la...

Sensible Democrat Policy

Not often that I find my self in agreement with Democrats so this is worthy of mention-

Lantos said he was putting a legislative hold on Bush’s proposal to provide $230 million in aid for Lebanon in the aftermath of the 34-day war between Israel and Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas. As the top Democrat on the International Relations Committee, Lantos has the power to hold up legislation.

He's opposed to the funding going through without Beirut agreeing to the deployment of troops along the border with Syria to prevent arms being smuggled into Hezbollah.

As it stands the current ceasefire seems to be nothing more than an attempt by the international ommunity to protect Hezbollah and not secure a lasting peace in the region.

Ebay

I'm not a happy camper this morning. A week ago I put in a bid on an item on Ebay- and while the price has risen a little I remained top bidder. Then, right before the auction was due to end, seconds before the bell, someone sniped me. So close to the end that they snatched the item away as I watched. One moment I was winner, the next the page was refreshed, the auction was over, and I was outbid. B*****d. What makes it even more infuriating is that the same seller had multiple auctions on for exactly the same item, some of them with no bids- that same item starting at $0.01.

And yet some creep swoops in at the last moment and steals it away from me. What's up with that? Couldn't he just wait his turn and get an item ending a few days from now, maybe for a lot less? I don't get it- if I'm looking on Ebay and find an item I want I'll generally avoid those with bids in already- obviously someone wants it and the price is sure to rise. I'm happy to let those pass when there's an abundance of a certain items available. No point in fighting over one auction when there are many more with no apparent interest in them, is there?

That low-down son of a gun.

Citizen Journalist

Johnny Cash didn't wear flip-flops.

Exactly.

That classic line comes from Jeff Goldstein's Citizen Journalist Report over at HotAir. Definitely one worth checking out.

Profiled

Cox and Forkum nail it again.

A New Caliphate?

One of the arguments that some moderate Muslims have expoused is that violence is not permitted in their religion, unless mandated by the ruler of the Caliphate. It' s a claim that has been made to me during my internet travels on more than one occasion. Osama Bin Laden or the like, they say, do not have the authority to call for jihad- only the Caliph can do that. I wonder then how they will react to the news that a group is now attempting to create an Islamic Caliphate in Gaza?

Meanwhile, a radical Islamic group called Hizb al-Tahrir (Liberation Party) is planning to declare the birth of an Islamic caliphate in the Gaza Strip on Friday. The relatively small party, which is seen as more extreme than Hamas, is said to have increased its popularity following what is perceived as a Hizbullah victory over Israel.

On Tuesday, thousands of the party’s supporters staged a demonstration in Gaza City to mark the anniversary of the end of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. It was the first demonstration in the Gaza Strip in which demonstrators called for establishing an Islamic caliphate that would rule not only in the PA territories, but the entire world.

Buoyed by the large turnout, the party’s leaders are now considering declaring an Islamic caliphate in the Gaza Strip during Friday prayers, sources close to the party said.

If this new Caliphate calls for Muslims all over the world to wage jihad on the infidels what, I wonder, will the moderates have to say about it?

Rolf's Blasphemous Cartoon Time

Some time ago Michelle Malkin reported on a BBC "comedy" show called Time Trumpet which featured a sketch called the Terrorism Awards. The subject matter included a plane being flown into the Houses of Parliament, a Tel Aviv suicide bombing and the assassination of the Prime Minister. The BBC did not withdraw this tasteless skit claiming that "The clips have to be seen in the context of the whole series". Sure.

Well, when a comedy group called The Franz Kafka Big Band decided, on their radio show, to have a sketch featuring Rolf Harris drawing Mohammed (on a radio show) the BBC sprang into action and pulled the show-

The corporation said the programme's "bold" subject matter required some "fine-tuning" before it could go on air.

Which I'm assuming means "cuts will be made". Now, the makers of the program claim that they were hired by the BBC to be "bad boys"; and the Beeb obviously knew what they were getting; this is the group's second series.

Other sketches in the show include a discussion between Jesus and Peter at the Last Supper, in which Peter admits he is allergic to fish, and a musical number to the tune of Sammy Davis Jr's The Candy Man in which the group sings "Who can start a jihad? The Taliban can".

They also had some material on the Palestinian situation, but the story doesn't go any further than that.

So there we have it- the BBC is more than happy for a major television comedy to show to create a sketch on Terrorism Awards but when a radio show creates a sketch about drawing Mohammed; well, that's not on, is it? I guess there are still some people that the Beeb don't want to offend.

Flight of Fantasy

Not much time for blogging today. Looks like we might have survived Iran's threatened apocalypse though. Which is nice. Here to celebrate is Paul Renaud's interpretation of Cavewoman.

CAIR's Self-Defence Against Badgering

Isn't justice wonderful? Good to see that CAIR officials are treated exactly the same as the rest of us- I mean, if someone was badgering you, no one would mind if you assaulted them?

The Columbus city prosecutor refuses to press charges against CAIR and Dr. Al-Akhras for assaulting me, twice. I was told that there wasn't enough evidence. What! The entire assault is on video (posted here). I was told since there were no injuries "it didn't rise to the level of an assault;" he didn't "punch you or anything." What about having a camera shoved in my face? What about grabbing and pulling my hand right along with the camera? Then I was told that they felt I was "badgering him with my questions." So perceived badgering is justification to push someone around? Anytime we don't like questions being asked of us, we now have permission from the prosecutor's office to attack someone.

The decision is being appealed. Note too that on the actual video of the incident, the CAIR official in question refuses to comment on Hezbollah's violence. He's all too ready to condemn Israel but has nothing at all to say about Hezbollah firing rockets at Israeli civilians.

I wonder if the utter cluelessness of the guy right at the start of the video is common among Hezbollah's Western supporters? Is that the reason they support the group, that they actually have no understanding whatsoever of the group and its activities?

The Future?

There's been some comment in the blogosphere about the actions of the airline passengers who refused to fly until two suspicious looking men were removed- both of the "Asian" men (another report identifies them as Middle Eastern-looking) were wearing jackets and jumpers in hot weather and seemed nervous. Jihad Watch, Little Green Footballs and Infidel Bloggers Alliance all discuss the implications; the British public are losing trust in the government's plans for their protection. Thus, the authorities will need to start listening to these concerns. I'm not so sure; the British government has an excellent track record of not listening to what voter's want. Unfortunately for us, both major political parties are virtually indistinguishable from one another now.

In the discussion at IBA, there were predictions that violence against the Muslim population of Britain could grow as people grew more frustrated with the Islamist terrorist threat, and the lack of any positive action by the government to combat it; obviously this is not a good thing. I left my own prediction based on a subject that has been bothering me more and more in recent months; the association of leftists/liberals with Islamists. Here it is-

It seems to me that this will be another instance of the rupturing of Western society- while more and more people are becoming aware of the threat, a huge segment seems to think that their loyalties lie with groups like Hezbollah; and within hours of the news of the airline plot breaking Leftists were claiming that it was a British/Blair plot.

I still can't comprehend why Londoners would come out to protest the Israeli actions in Lebanon- and fly Hezbollah flags. Protesting war is one thing, but to actively show their support for a bunch of murderous terrorists is another. It completely mystifies me why so-called peace protesters and champions of individual/human rights throw their weight behind brutal terrorists who oppose exactly the things that they claim to love.

The whole Red-Blue divide is global. If you want another prediction, here's mine; the Islamist threat will grow and grow in Europe and America, and they will receive support from Western, non-Muslims who seem to hate the very culture that oprovides them with the freedoms they claim to cherish. Neo-Nazis have already offered their support to Al Qaeda, other leftists will follow. We could be looking at a return to the sort of terrorism we faced back in the '70s.

I hope I'm wrong.

Hezbollah Wins

So Hezbollah say they won't disarm, the Lebanese Army won't force them to and neither will the UN peacekeeping force. So much for a long lasting peace plan. As Jihad Watch rightly points out the "blue helmets" have thus become little more than another set of human shields for Hezbollah-

"the UN will thus be using its influence and resources to protect Hizballah from Israel"

And people wonder why Hezbollah are claiming a victory over this one?

CRKT SST

Another addition to my beginner's knife collection arrived today. This time it's yet another Columbia River Knife and Tool product- a KISS SST. That acronym stands for "Keep It Simple Stupid" and "Short Stubby Thing". Well, CRKT claim that KISS means "Super Simple" but I think I'll go with the British military version instead.

It is indeed a short, very simply constructed folder. The blade is two and a quarter inches long, quite thick and chisel ground (sharpened on only one side) so that when folded the edge will not cut even though it sits exposed. The blade itself is a curious sort of hook-nose shape called a Wharncliffe blade. It means that it had a very sharp point, as I found out when I needed to cut open a box. There's also a clip, recommended for use as a money clip but which I use to hang it on my jeans; the knife is small enough that it fits in the key/coin pocket very neatly.

For such a small item, the SST feels quite sturdy and solid in the hand. It appears to be (like all the CRKT products I have) very well made and finished. Though smaller than my K-AT Hawk, it actually feels a little heavier in the hand; I wasn't expecting that at all and it gives me a bit of extra confidence in the design. Unlike the other knives in the KISS range, the SST doesn't have a hole for a keychain attachment, which might be a drawback for some. Not me, it just means I get to order another knife!

If you're looking for a small, compact knife for everyday use, the KISS SST would seem to be the ticket. It's small, simple, solid and sharp. Although it's intended (for me) as an every day knife, since it arrived I've begun to think that it might be a useful addition to a small survival kit too. The main "bulk" of the knife comes from the bulging clip- if that could be either flattened or removed then the SST would take up very little room at all. And it would certainly be better quality than most of the knives packed into pre-made kits. That's something I'll maybe experiment with at a later date.

One last point- the SST cannot be opened left handed without some digital acrobatics. The nature of the design means that it has to be a right handed opener (and CRKT seem to have no plans to make left-handed versions of any of the KISS knives). I'm a southpaw myself and I don't see any problem with this. This is not the sort of knife that you'll need to deploy rapidly in a "tactical" situation with one hand. I'm content enough to one hand open it with my right hand- if you need to have it in your left hand to open it, you'll have to either use two-hands or do a heck of a lot of practice. Keep some plasters around if that's the course you take because it seems to be just asking for a nasty cut.

Mammoths Resurrected

I've been addicted ITV's new Nigel Marven series Prehistoric Park (and I'm halfway through the BBC's Walking With Beasts too) so this is rather interesting news.

BODIES of extinct Ice Age mammals, such as woolly mammoths, that have been frozen in permafrost for thousands of years may contain viable sperm that could be used to bring them back from the dead, scientists said yesterday.

It won't exactly be a mammoth (not until we develop some functional cloning technology) as the sperm is to be used to impregnate the mammoth's close cousin the Asian elephant.

With access to the mammoth’s genetic code, and with frozen sperm recovered from testes, it may be possible to resurrect an animal that is very similar to a mammoth.

Half-mammoth, half-elephant is good enough for me. I wonder if it will be a blonde or brunette?

Sharia in Britain

Jonz over at Infidel Bloggers Alliance catches this story of a meeting between Muslim leaders and the British government-

Muslim leaders summoned to talks with the Government on tackling extremism in their midst called for public holidays to mark their religious festivals.

The meeting was set up so that the government could highlight the need for the Muslim community to tackle extremism- but it got "turned around" and instead the Muslim leaders made their own demands. Incredibly the Daily Mail leads with the call for Muslim bank holidays to be recognised when the real story here, as far as I can see, is that the Union of Muslim Organisations of the UK and Ireland called for Sharia law to be introdcued to the UK for "family matters".

The Secretary General of that group had this to say-

'We told her if you give us religious rights, we will be in a better position to convince young people that they are being treated equally along with other citizens.'

We are willing to co-operate but there should be a partnership,' Dr Pasha said. 'They should understand our problems then we will understand their problems.

Sounds a bit like a veiled threat to me- give us Sharia or else. The worrying thing is that the govertnment didn't reject the notion straight away but would "consider the proposals".

Ceasefire Takes On New Meaning

I guess the Lebanese "peace" will turn out to be much like the so-called truce that Hamas observed when rockets continued to be fired into Israel.

A tense, tenuous cease-fire between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants appeared to be holding early Tuesday, despite a number of clashes and mortars fired inside southern Lebanon.

Perhaps you have to turn you head a certain way, and maybe squint a little too, to make that look like a ceasefire.

The Israel Defense Forces reported that about four mortar rounds were fired inside southern Lebanon after the cease-fire.

Several minor clashes between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli soldiers were also reported after the cease-fire went into effect. At least six Hezbollah militants were reported killed.

Or maybe you just have to really want to see it?

British Muslims

Here are the results of a survey of British Muslims for Channel 4.

Forty-five percent say 9/11 was a conspiracy by the American and Israeli governments.

Almost one in four British Muslims believe that last year's 7/7 attacks on London were justified because of British support for the U.S.-led war on terror.

When asked, "Is Britain my country or their country?" only one in four say it is.

Thirty percent of British Muslims would prefer to live under Sharia (Islamic religious) law than under British law.

Twenty-eight percent hope for the U.K. one day to become a fundamentalist Islamic state. This comports with last year's Daily Telegraph newspaper survey that found one-third of British Muslims believe that Western society is decadent and immoral and that Muslims should seek to end it.

Seventy-eight percent support punishment for the people who earlier this year published cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammed.

Sixty-eight percent support the arrest and prosecution of those British people who "insult Islam."

When asked if free speech should be protected, even if it offends religious groups, 62 percent of British Muslims say No, it should not.

"Hardcore Islamists" constitute nine percent of the British Muslim population.

A slightly more moderate group is composed of "staunch defenders of Islam." This second group comprises 29 percent of the British Muslim population. Individuals in this group aggressively defend their religion from internal and external threats, real or imagined.

The scary reality is that only three percent of British Muslims "took a consistently pro-freedom of speech line on these questions."

Before the London bombings, British intelligence services estimated that one percent of British Muslims either support or are involved in terrorism. While this is mainly a peaceful and productive immigrant population, a significant number are prepared to act against their own country.

The British government believes that, in recent years, 3,000 British Muslims have returned home from al Qaeda training camps. Intelligence experts estimate that 1,200 Muslim radicals (80 percent of Pakistani origin) are currently pursuing a terrorist rather than a democratic option to vent their disgust at Tony Blair's support for America's invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq and opposition to Hezbollah.

To put the statistics into context the British Muslim population is approximately 1.6 million. That means that 160,000 British Muslims support or are involved with terrorism. Only 400,000 say that Britain is their country, and an equal number believed that the 7/7 bombings were justified. Over a million of them believe that British people should be punished for "insulting" Islam. 144,000 are "hard-core Islamists". And only 48,000 out of 1.6million are consistently in favour of free speech.

The current UK total population is currently about 60 million people.

British Profiling

Filling in for Michelle Malkin, Mary Katharine Ham reports on news that British authorities are to consider profiling in their airport security checks.

THE Government is discussing with airport operators plans to introduce a screening system that allows security staff to focus on those passengers who pose the greatest risk. [Ed- you mean they don't already?]

The passenger-profiling technique involves selecting people who are behaving suspiciously, have an unusual travel pattern or, most controversially, have a certain ethnic or religious background.

Now, to most everybody it seems to make perfect sense to concentrate limited security resources on the most probable threat. We are after all being threatened by Islamic terrorists; terrorists who are known to cry "Allah akbar" before detonating explosive belts or crash their hijacked planes, terrorists who often make videos declaring their martyrhood- does it make any kind of sense at all then to focus attention on Buddhist as much as Muslim travellers? Patently, the answer is no. Does this mean that the authorities think that every Muslim is a potential terrorist? Of course not, but how else are they going to try and deter Muslim terrorists from committing mass murder, if they don't look closely as Muslims in the airports?

Not so long ago the greatest terrorist threat the UK faced came from the IRA. Back then the security at airports focused a great deal of attention on travellers coming to and from Northern Ireland, young Ulster men in particular. I've written before that I was stopped almost every time I travelled for that extra attention. Was it profiling? You bet, and I'm seriously glad that it occurred. What would the point have been of giving little old ladies from Devon the same attention as me?

Right now, the sane and sensible thing to do is to focus security attention on Muslim travellers- because we face a threat from a segment of that group. Surely the rational thing for Muslims to do is to realise that this extra attention might be all that saves them from being murdered by Islamist hijackers or bombers? This profiling might save hundreds or possibly thousands of lives- so why the "outrage" from the Muslim community? Are they opposed to the prevention of mass murder on the grounds that they may be inconvenienced for a few moments?

I don't recall ever hearing any outrage from the Irish community about the extra security that was put in place to combat the IRA (security that included machine gun emplacements on the road to Belfast International airport, along with Army check-points to search your car before you even got close to the terminal). There was no howling about racism or the terrible victimisation we were suffering; it was simply part of the process to prevent mass murder.

If the Irish can be singled out for extra security to stop murderers carrying out their massacres, why can't Muslims?

Yellow-Heart

So much for Scotland the brave! Due to fears of knife crime the Scots are cracking down not on the criminals that use them but the objects themselves-

Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson announced laws to ban swords unless sold for legitimate reasons.

Shops selling swords will need a licence, as will businesses dealing with non-domestic knives and other bladed weapons such as machetes.

So expect to see knife crime to continue with blade purchased just south of the border or with kitchen knives. And what exactly is a "legitimate use"? Well here's what the government says-

Exemptions to the ban on sword sales include swords that are to be used for Highland dancing, museum displays, historical re-enactments, fencing and martial arts.

So if you're a legitimate collector of bladed weapons you're completely out of luck. And as non-domestic knives are also included under this legislation if you want to buy a survival knife for that camping trip, or a Leatherman to have handy, you'll have to provide your personal details to the shop for their register. Time to drive down to England for the day, or perhaps go online to Ebay or countless other stores to make your purchases instead

Anyone selling swords under the exemptions would have to take "reasonable steps" to establish that the intended use was a legitimate one.

Commercial sellers will have to comply with strict new licensing conditions, including keeping records of all sales.

I wonder what those reasonable steps might include? Asking them to do a little jig, put on some blue face paint to prove that they are a reenactor? Maybe demonstrate some karate moves?

From what I can tell it won't be illegal to own a sword, just harder to buy some more. I wonder if they're goiong to ban pieces of metal that could perhaps be sharpened next? Pointy sticks too? After all, they could cause horrific wounds and contribute to the awful crime levels Scotland is experiencing. And we all know that regulating the sale of swords and the like is going to stop criminals from using blades in the course of breaking the law.

A fiendishly simple plan. Just look at the British ban on handguns and how well that worked.

The "Liberal" Left

Another superb photo set from zombie. Make sure to check this one out to get a glimpse of just how tolerant and peace-loving the liberals really are.

"Nazi kikes out of Lebanon"

I mean, really, a "Stop the US-Israeli War" protest where the protestors signal their support for mass murdering terrorists Hamas and Hezbollah.

Madness.

Hospital Admission

That woman- you know who I'm talking about- has been admitted to hospital, with the story implying that it's because of the "fast" that she's been on. She is apparently suffering from exhaustion and dehydration and was protesting in 100-degree heat. So, she has heat exhaustion?

Can't be the liquid only diet that's making her dehydrated can it? Unless she's not taking enough water with all those protein shakes she's been gulping down.

Moonbats

I came across this one which searching bittorrent-

Blair Government Concocts Terror Threat - Scares British People Into Silence

No need to worry about Islamic terrorists, folks, it's all a plot by Tony Blair to well, I don't know what really. He's not got much longer in power so why should he bother trying to do this? So that the next PM, be he Labour or Conservative can create a thousand year Reich? Perhaps it's some ploy by the Illuminati to take over the world!

"the terror threat was entirely fabricated by members of the American British and Israeli intelligence services and other unnamed government back room boys."

Ah, that explains it then. It's all a Jewish plot to take over the world. Pity poor Catholic Blair then; by the time the cunning and devious plan by someone to take away the freedoms of the British people by completely fabricating terrorist plots (involving their cohorts in the police and intelligence services, not to mention the government and civil service- they must all be in on it after all to prevent someone from talking) he'll be a regular citizen just like the rest of us. He'll have to fear our new alien Jewish overlords just as much as the rest of us.

Shouldn't this story be on The Onion?

BBC's Omission

Another story about those ubiquitous "militants"- this time the Islamic terrorists murdered a woman and her two children as they slept. The members of the Hindu faqmily lived in a predominantly Muslim village in Kashmir.

"the head of the family, Ram Singh, feared that he would be targeted by militants because he was a minority Hindu and therefore always slept at the guard post in the village. The militants, however, targeted his family."

I did a quick search for the story to try and find more details. Instead I came across this version from the BBC-

Police in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir say a woman and her two children have been killed by militants.

They say the victims were the only Hindu family in the village of Arra.

And that's essentially it- from this take on the story we don't find out that they were murdered in cold blood as they slept or even the identity of the militants. Is there a reason why perhaps another sentence worth of information should have been left out of the story? Instead they report that there has been no "independent confirmation" of the story. I guess the word of the Police Inspector General isn't good enough for them.

More and more I'm beginning to wonder just why I should be obliged to pay for such an appalling serviee through the TV licence.

Hezbollah Won't Back Down

Well, who would have thought it? From a CNN breaking news email alert-

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says his guerrillas would agree to any cease-fire brokered by the United Nations but insists the militant group has a right to resist Israel.

In other words, we agree to the ceasefire so long as it only applies to Israel and we get to resume full scale "firing rockets blindly at civilian targets" again soon.

I'll bet the UN folds, the attacks against Israel continue or stop for just a short time, and then Israel is criticised the next time it tries to do anything about this attempt by murderers to blow up civilians.

Odd that when the British police stop just such a plot politicians in the UK and US hail it as a success- but when Israel tries to do exactly the same thing its lambasted.

Media Manipulation

Just in case you missed it- more evidence from LGF of fauxtography. This time it's the image of a bloody young girl being carried into a hospital, apparently killed by an Israeli airstrike on Gaza. According to AP and Reuters that is.

Problem is, it's a complete lie. She actually fell from a swing and received her head wounds that way.

Another dead child, more anti-Israeli propaganda.

If you have the stomach for it, you can see just how "civil defence" worker Green Helmet does his job; by parading the body of another child for the world's press to see.

I don't know what's worse- that Green Helmet and his cohorts behave like this or that the Western media laps it all up? If it hadn't been for bloggers like LGF and EU Referendum, do you think that the BBC, CNN or any of the others would have exposed this blatant and disgusting propaganda? Or would they just go on, keeping quiet about the manipulation and happily publishing the results?

Just before I go- the latest from EU Referendum is the practice of actually digging bodies up so that they can be laid out for the photographers. The link he provides is currently down- capacity exceeded. Here's the quote from photographer Bryan Denton-

"i have been witness to the daily practice of directed shots, one case where a group of wire photogs were choreographing the unearthing of bodies, directing emergency workers here and there, asking them to position bodies just so, even remove bodies that have already been put in graves so that they can photograph them in peoples arms. These photographers have come away with powerful shots, that required no manipulation digitally, but instead, manipulation on a human level, and this itself is a bigger ethical problem."

As they say, this is a developing story.

BBC Apologists

It didn't take long to begin: Muslim terrorists are twarted hours away from committing mass murder of innocents and the BBC springs into action with a story on a scared community- the Muslim one.

And all around those homes [raided by police] there was an apprehensive, scared Muslim community.

They've got to be terrified of those international terrorists threatening to murder them in the name of Allah...um, is that right? I haven't got anything mixed up here have I?

First of all the BBC contacts a local shop owner who is appalled. He even stocks a pamphlet by an Islamic scholar which ponders whether or not bombing and wreaking havoc are justifiable-

Its 26 pages are dense, hard-going Islamic scripture - but the message is there; these are "shameful acts" that have no justification in Islam.

Well, that's all right then isn't it? For a moment there I was beginning to get worried that there might be some sort of global cult of killers inspired by ancient texts to justify their murderous appetites. I wonder how long it took the reporter to read and digest this "dense" text? He did read it obviously, because he's fit to comment on the contents. Right? And, is it just me or are there no Christian or Buddhist texts which have to question such issues? Hmm, I wonder if there could be some hidden message there for us?

And that's not the worst of it- the BBC is quick to interview the best friend of one of the men arrested, pointing out that he's a social, integrated kind of guy- obviously quite innocent of all charges against him. Heck, they even interview a former teacher of Waheed Zaman who is also convinced that the poor chap is totally innocent-

I've taught for 48 years and he would be one I would remember as a good kid.

Can't get a better character reference than that, can you? But the intrepid BBC doesn't stop there! Not content with trying to convince readers that it's all been a big mistake to arrest Zaman, they go on to visit the local mosque to guage opinion there.

Many were quick to express their frustration - not just at the arrests and a sense of being targeted, but also at what they saw as to blame: foreign policy.

While the real local problems may be poverty, education or unemployment, it was Britain's perceived role in the US's Middle East policy that made people angry.

"Muslims are getting it everywhere and if you want to know why these things happen then you've got to ask yourselves questions about why Britain is fighting in Muslim lands," said one young well-mannered man.

See, it's not the fault of the murderous terrorists who want nothing more than to kill innocent people- it's all down to Britain's foreign policy. If only we'd do what those blood-thirsty savages want then there wouldn't be all this trouble.

Play The Dhimmi

This is just incredible- and the sheer gall of it is shocking.

British Muslim groups have written to Tony Blair to demand changes to UK foreign policy in order to safeguard British citizens at home and abroad.

The letter was signed by three Muslim MPs and 38 other groups.

Muslim Council of Britain secretary general Mohammed Abdul Bari said civilians in the UK, the Middle East and the rest of the world should "all enjoy protection".

Of course they should but I find is amazing that just days after a plot to murder thousands of people peacefully going about their daily business by Islamic terrorists that prominent British Muslims should call, not for the terrorists to stop targeting innocent men, women and children, but for the government to appease the perceived grievances of those terrorists.

Surrender in advance.

Defeat

Michelle Malkin has it right- the terrorists have won.

By making no immediate demands for the release of the two kidnapped IDF soldiers before any cessatrion of Israeli military activity and a preposterous "long term" call for the disarmament of Hezbollah (just look at how that's working out for the IRA), the UN has handed the terrorists a huge victory.

This is akin to a call by the UN for a stop to the aggression against the Taliban and Al Qaeda after 9/11- doesn't matter that New York was attacked first, they've got to prevent any unecessary suffering of the civilian population, regardless of the consequences to other civilian populations further down the line.

This has set a terrible precendent- one that can only serve to embolden terrorists all over the world to attack their enemies, knowing that if there is any kind of retaliation they can rely on the UN to try its hardest to defend them from harm. And in the process they'll probably lose their terrorist status as the cowards at the UN upgrade them to de facto states.

The Swing

About a week ago I picked up my 32kg kettlebell for the first time in months. Since then I've been training every other day, doing about 50 swings each time with this KB and then doing a few other exercises with my 16kg KB. Today, feeling stiff and sore from the autumnal weather, I hadn't planned on doing anything at all; but late in the afternoon I changed my mind.

The 50 swings winded me but I still felt pretty strong at the end of it so, still with the 32kg KB, I decided to try some cleans. A few sets of 5 followed- and I was surprised by how capable I felt; the 32kg is heavy. With this done I still felt strong so I attempted a clean and jerk- the KB went up no problem. Not wanting to push my luck I stuck with sets of just 1- swapping hands as I went. In the end I lost count of how many I was able to do- and I only stopped because time was pressing.

I finished off with a quick couple of sets of one handed swings- feeling my grip start to weaken towards the end of each one.

The moral of the story? Swings are the number one way to increase your strength with kettlebells. Stronger legs, back and arms from a single exercise that improves your performance in other exercises. Awesome.

I may not look it, but I certainly feel like this right now.

MI5 And the "Irish Problem"

A few days ago I posted on comments by the British and Irish governments that the IRA were not involved in organised crime- the implication being that everything was fine and there's no problem in letting them back into government.

Seems like someone forgot to send that memo to MI5-

The Provisional IRA has not mounted a terrorist campaign since 1997. Its associated political party, Sinn Fein, is engaged in the Northern Ireland political process.

Paramilitary and criminal activity by all paramilitary organisations continues in Northern Ireland.

And they continue to list Northern Irish terrorism as one of the main threats that they face.

Heathrow Terror Plot

Woke up this morning to the news that a terror plot to attack planes out of Heathrow had been foiled by police. One expert said that the news he had was that the terrorists had hoped to hijack three planes three times, a successive wave of simultaneous attacks. He also mentioned something about explosives being carried on board in drinks containers- tins or bottles. The plan seems to have been to detonate the explosives mid-flight. Police have arrested 21 people in London and Birmingham- most of them appear to be British born.

In addition to houses being searched, the police have also cordoned off an area of woodland in High Wycombe. Could be a storage point? So far no news, just some aerial shots from the press of a taped off area with very little obvious police activity.

9/11 has been mentioned several times on the BBC but so far the word "Islamic" has not come up. If you didn't fill in the dots yourself you could be excused for thinking that this was an operation by the IRA or some such group.

"Police had spoken to a "good number of community leaders to make them aware that a major operation was under way," he added." Yeah, but what community? Gypsies, Polish, Irish?

The latest news is that flights out of Gatwick airport have also been suspended. A news conference by the Home Office and police is due to begin shortly. I'll blog more throughout the day as more news comes in.

UPDATE- The Home Office press conference was short. He basically said that action was taken after a great deal of unprecedented surveillance of a plot which has a "global dimension". The explosives were manufactured in the UK.

UPDATE- John Reid, Home Secretary, has just held a press conference- the terrorists planned to detonate the explosive mid-flight. Says the loss of life unprecedented. About 2,000-odd dead is my reckoning- a transatlantic flight would hold roughly 200 people, up to ten planes hijacked. Reid refers to a complex on-going operation. 21 arrested. Police reckon they have got the main players but can't be complacent. Could be more out there.

UPDATE- The first mention of Al Qaeda in relation to the plot comes from a US administration official according to CNN. Follows on the heels of an expert on the BBC mentioning the 1995 Al Qaeda plot in Manila.

UPDATE- According to ITN six houses and the wood in High Wycombe are being searched by police. Eye witnesses say one of the homes (closest to the wood) was raided at about 6 a.m. and possibly two suspects were taken away. That's in addition to the houses raided in Birmingham and London.

UPDATE- Homeland Security briefing. It's Chertoff suggeting the Al Qaeda link. Also BBC reporter in New York suggests that the city might have been the target of the attack; the area where the bombs were detonated. FBI and other US agencies have been working with UK authorities.

UPDATE- Official line from the UK is that the arrests took place because of the actions of the terrorists, but they aren't saying this means that the attacks were due to take place today. A questioner at the Homeland Security conference raises the possibility that the attacks may have been timed to coincide with the upcoming 9/11 anniversary. Seems that it was all American airlines targeted so it's not an unreasonable suggestion.

UPDATE- CNN is reporting that the flights which were targeted by the terrorists flew into Washington DC, New York and California. A US anti-terrorist expert said that the men involved were "very close" to boarding their flights. Hours, days? No exact details yet.

UPDATE- The US is sending air marshals to the UK to help with security according to the latest from the BBC- and homes in High Wycombe are being evacuated by police. Could that be the source of the bomb-making?

Concept Car

I'm not usually one for admiring cars but this BMW Mille Miglia concept is an exception to that rule. Designed to commemorate a '30s racer, this blend of futuristic and retro is stunning. There are more photos here. Why don't they actually make cars like this to sell?

UPDATE- Just discovered this page discussing the top 10 coolest concept cars. The Mille Miglia of course features- seems that it's essentially a Z4 chassis with a new body on top. Of the other cars listed be sure to check out the sleek Saab Aero X and the frankly bonkers Nissan Pivo. Who dreamed that up?

Flight of Fantasy

This one is for Cowboy Blob. The model depicts a character from the Simon Bisley graphic novel A Fistful of Blood; a mature tale about a female gunfighter coming up against vampires and zombies in the Wild West. I haven't read it yet but it's on my "to do" list. There were rumours of a possible movie some years ago but nothing seems to have come of it. Perhaps with the current popularity of zombie films (a whole slew of them are in production) this may yet see the light of day.

House of Cards

The collapse of the mainstream media's credibility continues apace. Looks like Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs pulled out a card at the bottom of a house of cards and now the whole structure is beginning to topple.

Thanks goodness for the blogosphere.

Knife Policies

When I saw the headline "government knife strategy incoherent" I was expecting to hear calls for a complete ban. Was I wrong.

A study by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies says there is nothing to suggest that knife amnesties, such as the national amnesty held recently across the UK, are effective.

Report author Chris Eades also warns that the government's plans to increase the maximum sentence for carrying a knife from two to four years "smacks of a knee-jerk legislative response" to media concerns.

"Government and the police lack a coherent, evidence-based, reasoned strategy for dealing with knife carrying and knife-related offences," the report warns.

Funny how they link the completely victimless "crime" of carrying a knife with the use of knives in crimes. Of course, the government rejects any criticisms of its policies. The Tories tried to jump on the bandwagon and criticise Labour too-

Shadow home secretary David Davis said today's report was a sign that the government had failed to get a grip on the growing problem of knife crime, which he described as a "scourge on society".

"It completely undermines Labour's claims to be tough on crime. We have consistently proposed tougher measures on knife crime which the government have blocked - the public are now paying the price," he said.

So the report criticises knee-jerk sentence increases and the Tories repsonse is, "yeah, we told you that tougher sentencing is the way forward." Way to listen to what's actually being said. You just know that the Tories want to be seen to be doing more than Labour- regardless of the actual effect. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them propose a knife ban.

The key point of the report is this- "none of the government's proposals to tackle knife crime are based on any proper evidence – there had been little evaluation of local amnesties across the country, nor of education schemes." And yet that remains the government's policy, and they seem quite happy to carry on with it because they believe that it will work. The same way they believed that banning handguns would lead to a reduction in gun crime. And we all know how that one turned out.

Perhaps the solution is not to increase the sentence for carrying a knife but to throw violent criminals into prison for long, long periods of time. Regardless of what they use in the commission of their crime. While they're at it perhaps they could stop harassing law-abiding citizens who simply try to defend themselves against thugs.

Virus Trouble

I had a spot of bother on my PC last night with a virus. Out of the blue my free version of AVG sprang up and announced that I had a Trojan horse- Downloader.Agent.ETP in the Windows system file wininet.dll. AVG "healed" the item by removing it to the virus vault- although it took a few restarts and then me deleting it myself in Safe Mode to actually stop the pop up warnings.

The problem is that AVG and Symantec have no record of a virus with that exact name- and wininet.dll is an actual system file that's required by several applications to start and connect to the internet. I was beginning to worry when Ad-aware and then my Nero DVD-writing software wouldn't start up- it's been a while since my last back up! When I tried a System Restore it wouldn't work either- that program needs the wininet.dll to start up too.

Thanks to a very useful site called Dll-Files I was able to grab an untainted version of wininet.dll and put it back in the System32 folder- although it took a couple of attempts to realise that the infected version was being stored in the dllcache folder also. It kept replacing my clean version; it took a few restarts for me to catch that one and delete it too.

After a tense time my system finally started up without any warnings about programs failing to initialise- and Ad-aware and Nero worked. Thank the heavens.

I'm still not sure how or where the virus came from; or if it's some sort of false positive from my AVG. In any event I at least know now where to find easy copies of dll files- and my second hard drive also has a copy of Windows installed. If the virus had crippled my system I would have been able to swap the jumpers on my HDDs and boot off the second one; it also has Nero installed and ready to run. Always pays to have a plan b.

More Appeasement

According to ministers for the British and Irish governments the IRA are no longer involved in any criminal activity and there's therefore no reason why anyone should object to their return to government here via Sinn Fein. It's not the IRA, NI Minister Peter Hain (hot tip to succeed as next Deputy PM) tells us, it's just elements within the IRA.

The IRA is no longer involved in any centrally organised criminality, the British and Irish governments believe.

The key phrase here is "centrally organised" because as the Independent Monitoring Commission has already revealed, members of the IRA are involved in organised crime here; heavily involved in their own terms. The IMC then goes on to state that they cannot be certain to what extent the proceeds of crime are passed on to the IRA themselves. Funny really as they then say-

"PIRA [Provisional IRA] continues to raise funds and we also believe that it looks to the long term exploitation of the proceeds of earlier crimes, for example through the purchase of property or legitimate businesses. Some senior members are involved in money laundering and other crime.

Money has become a key strategic asset. There has been some restructuring in the finance department, possibly in reflection of the changing circumstances.

PIRA also seems to be using experts and specialists able to assist in the management of illegal assets."

Hey, but there's no real proof of any involvement in organised crime, right? As the DUP's Nigel Dodds so succinctly points out, "This latest assessment from the secretary of state lacks credibility and will be treated by the vast majority of people in NI as yet another ham-fisted attempt to bluff the community and its political representatives into establishing an executive including Sinn Fein."

And the British and Irish government would like to completely ingore the fact that the IMC also concluded that the IRA continues its intelligence gathering, lied about decommissioning all of its weapons and it is involved in the process of exiling; forcing individuals and whole families to flee their homes. Not to mention their vigilante control over whole communities.

Sure sounds like a group you'd like to have in government doesn't it? This, folks, is the other side of Tony Blair's stance on terrorism- outright appeasement to avoid a return to conflict. I'm sure that the jihadis are quite aware of it too; continue to bomb, murder and threaten for long enough and they too will be invited to No. 10 for tea and quite possibly be able to take seats in Parliament without swearing alleagiance to the Crown.

It's worked for Sinn Fein/IRA, why not them too?

It! Terror From Beyond Space

I got this movie ages ago after reading an article about the films that inspired the classic Alien. For some reason or other it's one that I kept overlooking when I was choosing something to watch; until last night. And it's a little gem.

Made in 1958, the movie depicts the rescue attempt in the early '70s of the first manned expedition to Mars. Of the original crew only one man has survived; who tells his rescuers tales of a Martian creature that killed the others. He's promptly put under guard and brought onboard the rescue ship as they head back to Earth for his court martial. Only something comes on board with them.

Alien is basically a remake of this film; an unstoppable alien creature picks off the crew one by one. It's simply told and very much of its time- the two female crew members serve the men their chow at dinner time for example. No Ellen Ripley's here. To add to that there's the imagery of the astronauts packing 1911s and a Garand rifle on their rocket ship; perhaps a niche appeal but it certainly works for me. Also there's no attempt to "understand" the alien; at most a few moments are spend wondering about its motives and then the work of trying to utterly destroy the beast resumes. The men are men, Shirley Patterson is a delightful female lead, and the monster is not half bad at all. The special effects are certainly no worse that the recent Godzilla film (I still can't understand why the CGI monster looks like a man in a suit?).

All in all it's great B-movie fun as the relentless alien forces the crew into retreat and they try everything to fight back. Highly recommended.

CRKT Hawk K-AT

My latest knife acquisition is another CRKT- this time a Hawk K-AT (Knife-All Terrain). To start with it's a dainty little thing- the blade is two and a half inches long but the overall length is only six and a quarter inches; the handle barely fills the palm of my hand. To add to its diminutive size is its light weight, it really is barely noticeable. I'd be very interested in seeing a full size version of this knife- perhaps with a five inch blade.

The most outstanding feature of the K-AT is the wrist lanyard which is stowed by wrapping it up through the cut-out at the base of the blade and then hooking it over a stud at the end of the hilt. It not only give the knife a very distinctive look but means that if it is being used out of doors there's little chance of losing it- a real possibility with this little knife.

The bead blasted blade is flat on one side with just a single grind. I'm sure that there's a name for this but I'm not that much of a knife geek [yet]. Out of the box it's very sharp indeed. I selected the partially serrated blade preferring to have the extra cutting power of the serrated section on a blade this short. The full length tang is knurled top and bottom at the base of the blade to provide a bit of extra hold and the urethane scales seem very grippable- feels like they won't slip in the wet. The handle shape and knurling seems to fit my hand very well- even though it's short, it's still possible to get a very good grip on it if you need to exert some real pressure.

Another feature of the K-AT is the sheath- so much so that the few friends of mine who have seen the K-AT look at the knife for a moment and then quickly enquire about it instead. It's a two part system- the sheath itself is urethane too with a hollow tube at the base so that the little knife can be carried around the neck (chain not included!). It's quite slim giving a low profile under clothing and the sheath holds the knife well- you have to press down in it with your thumb to release the blade. I'm confident enough in the design to carry the knife upside down like this and not have to worry about the knife falling out. The second part of the carry system is a belt clip which the sheath fits into snugly, held in place by a metal bar over which is hooked the line at the base. The belt clip is about one and three quarter inches wide so it should fit a fair variety of belt sizes. The actual belt loop is right at the top of the sheath meaning that the knife sits quite low on the belt, a feature that I'm fond of.

Like the Pesh-Kabz, the K-AT is not longer on CRKT's homepage- one of the reasons I purchased it now instead of another model. It's a very compact and handy fixed blade design. I'm not quite sure of what place the K-AT will earn on my kit just yet; its small size and weight would seem to suggest that it is ideal for carry on daytrips. And the affordable price means that it would also be a very handy item to keep stowed in a daysack for a "what if" situation. It's not a do-it-all knife by any means but it is certainly a useful piece of kit.

As my second CRKT knife, I have to say that I'm becoming a fan of the company; very interesting design and good quality finish. I'm hoping that time will prove that the build quality is good too. Given that their knives have a lifetime warranty I suspect that this will be the case.