POST SCRIPTS

In the Qur'an, Allah states that the believing men and women have permission to murder anyone responsible for the killing of other believing men and women. I know that the Qur'an is a legitimate and authoritative holy scripture since it is completely validated by modern science and also mathematically encoded with the number 19 beyond human ability. After extensive contemplation and reflection, I have made the decision to exercise the right of violent retaliation that Allah has given me to the fullest extent to which I am capable at present.

I have chosen the particular location on the University campus as my target since I know there is a high likelihood that I will kill several people before being killed myself or jailed and sent to prison if Allah wills. Allah's commandments are never to be questioned and all of Allah's commandments must be obeyed. Those who violate Allah's commandments and purposefully follow human fabrication and falsehood as their religion will burn in fire for eternity in accordance with Allah's will.

Sincerely yours,

Mohammed Reza Taheri-Azar "

At his first appearance, Taheri-azar, a 2005 UNC-CH graduate, told the judge he planned to represent himself and was "thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah." The court appointed an attorney to represent him instead. The attorney then advised his client to keep his mouth shut, but to his chagrin, Taheri-azar told him he would be the one to decide when and what to say. Taheri-azar faces up to a 155 years in prison and is currently awaiting trial.

Now flash forward to August 29th, SAN FRANCISCO. (Reuters) - "At least 13 people were injured in San Francisco around noontime on Tuesday when a male driver went on a hit-and-run rampage through the Laurel Heights and Western Addition neighborhoods near the center of the city, police officials said."

The driver, was taken into custody by the police about 30 minutes after the suspect ran over his first victim.
He was identified as Omeed Aziz Popal, from Afghanistan. "I can't believe this happened today,'' said Homa Aziz, a cousin who lives in Hayward. "Omeed is not that kind of boy. I don't know what is wrong with him. He is the nicest boy.'' The family believes he just went off the deep end from stress. Maybe so and if that is really the case, then I hope he gets the psychiatric help he needs. No doubt Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar could use some of that mental health help too.

(Doink! - Idea!) Maybe we are going about this so-called War on Terrorism all wrong. Instead of sending in the Marines, maybe we should be sending in teams of psychiatrists with fold out couches? Just a thought, cause you know there's a Lot of craziness in the middleast. Do we even have enough shrinks in the world to handle all the wann-be bombers and nutty dictators and wacky Imams leaders?

Digressing a bit, when was the last time you read that a terrorist act was done by some local Muslims to avenge some unknown Muslims in some far off regional conflict? I wrote about this oddity Aug. 16th, "Getting to the Truth." These were bizzare acts by Muslim radicals of course, not your mainstream nonviolent Muslim... that goes without saying doesn't it? I mean, if you are going to go around blowing up people or running them over with your SUV you have to be pretty darn radical, right? I wonder.... is radical becoming the PC term for saying they're just plain nuts? Which takes us back to the paragraph above...I say send in the shrinks armed with lithium and haldol! Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might be a real nice guy if he was on anti-psychotic meds.

Posted by Post Scripts at 03:53 PM | Comments (30)

STAR TREK WAND A REALITY?

by Tina Grazier
Science fiction writers often predict the future, inventing props and devices for their characters of the future. Now Dr. Alex Kanevsky, an Russian born Israeli physician, has patented a medical device that acts like the wand we first saw Bones use to diagnose patients on Star Trek. In an article titled "Israeli Medicine's Magic Wand" Judy Siegal-Itzkovich says of the device,

"...the device is painless, non-invasive and radiation free. Patients lie fully clothed while a small electrode "pen" is attached to a finger and another to a toe. After an initial reading of the "electrical impedence" of the body's "dermal-visceral zones, " a harmless electric current is passed, and another reading is made. The "pen" is connected to the monitor of a regular computer, and within minutes the doctor is shown graphic data on blood circulation, respiratory system, immune system, airways, the spine and more."

Read the full article HERE

This could be a wonderful tool for the medical profession but I must confess I can't wait for the "Beam Me Up" device myself.

Posted by Post Scripts at 10:33 AM | Comments (0)

August 29, 2006

The Black Hats

by Tina Grazier
Has anyone else seen the video of military parades in Iran and in North Korea or watched the leaders of these nations and not been reminded of the WWII movies of Hitler? I used to wonder how the world could watch his speeches and not get that he was a dangerous

man. I don't have to wonder anymore; I've witnessed firsthand the denial, the excuses, the appeasement, the game of moral equivalency...and now the most chilling reminder of all, the singling out and blaming of Jews. "While denying the Holocaust, [the Iranian president] is openly preparing the next one. Ahmadinejad is behaving exactly like an Islamist Hitler. He is using the same tactics of signaling in advance the act of destruction. That the same thing is happening is one thing, but that the West is reacting in the same way is unacceptable. What is history for?" Former Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, the Spectator, August 12, 2006.

"The most dangerous leaders in modern history are those (such as Hitler) equipped with a totalitarian ideology and a mystical belief in their own mission. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fulfills both these criteria, as revealed by his U.N. comments. That combined with his expected nuclear arsenal make him an adversary who must be stopped, and urgently." Daniel Pipes, danielpipes.org January 10, 2006

And many continue to claim there are no monsters in the closet, no villains in our midst...no men in black hats.

Posted by Post Scripts at 12:33 PM | Comments (6)

August 28, 2006

Weather Forecasting and Mosquitos

by Anthony Watts

As a result of coverage of the West Nile risks in this blog and stories in the ER, it has occurred to me that I can use my forecasting skills and weather stations I've installed at schools around town and at www.bidwellranchcam.com to create a valuable public health service.

Mosquito activity (and thus biting probability)is quite predicable based on:

Temperature
Wind Speed
Humidity
Recent rainfall
Time of day

Since I have donated web enabled weather stations around some CUSD schools now, I think I shall create an automated system that will gather that data, interpret it, and forecast mosquito activity based on conditions measured at these stations. Hopefully, I can provide an automated forecast "widget" that will be inserted into web pages at schools to help adminstrators judge risk for outdoor activity and possibly even the ER's webpage as a central clearing house for the forecasts.

I believe that having a place where you can judge your risk based on realtime local weather data will be valuable for the public.

Comments on this idea are welcome.

Note from Jack: Anthony that is an absolutely excellent idea for the public and perhaps even Butte County Health Dept. I hope Dr. Lundberg will follow up on your idea.

Posted by Post Scripts at 07:18 PM | Comments (2)

Pump Prices From Around the World

Oslo, Norway $6.82
Brussels, Belgium $6.16

Hong Kong $6.25
London,UK $5.96
Stockholm, Sweden $5.80
Rome , Italy $5.80
Tokyo, Japan $5.25
Canada, $4.60
Sao Paulo , Brazil $4.42
New Delhi , India $3.71
Sidney , Australia $3.42
Johannesburg , South Africa $3.39
Mexico City $2.22
Buenos Aires , Argentina $2.09
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia $0.91
Kuwait $0.78
Caracas, Venezuela $0.12 (Nationalized Oil Assets - Communist Gov.)

Posted by Post Scripts at 09:05 AM | Comments (1)

IT'S A REPUBLIC, STUPID-Love It or Leave It

by Tina Grazier

September 18, 1787, a Mrs. Powel anxiously awaited the results, and as Benjamin Franklin emerged from the long task now finished, asked him directly: "Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" "A republic if you can keep it" responded Franklin.

A few years back the democrat candidate for Vice President of the United States used a statement similar to the title of this piece to lecture republican's and warn the nation about things that matter most. Talk at the time had turned to family values and this had apparently stuck in his craw. I have to admit that both the economy and family values are important to me, but lately what sticks in my craw is the relentless undermining of our republic.

Immediately the mind runs to rotten politicians but in reality the trend toward socialist democracy and anti-American activity has been pushed on many fronts. "Democracy" has been used to describe our republic for over seventy years now and not surprisingly the movement toward socialism has run parallel. If we are to preserve our republic

we had better begin to relentlessly reverse this trend. The power to do so rests not with our politicians but instead with the people. Consider these prophetic words from others in days gone by:

"In 1931, England's Duke of Northumberland issued a booklet entitled The History of World Revolution in which he
stated: 'The adoption of Democracy as a form of Government by all European nations is fatal to good Government, to liberty, to law and order, to respect for authority, and to religion, and must eventually produce a state of chaos from which a new world tyranny will arise."

Mao Tse-tung proclaimed in 1939,"Taken as a whole, the Chinese revolutionary movement led by the Communist Party embraces the two stages, i.e., the democratic and the socialist revolutions, which are essentially different revolutionary processes, and the second process can be carried through only after the first has been completed. The democratic revolution is the necessary preparation for the socialist revolution..."

Karl Marx: "...the first step in the revolution by the working class is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class, to win the battle of democracy; abolish private property; wrest, by degrees, capital from the bourgeoisie; centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the State." Communist Manifesto

"The American Founders argued that knowledge, and in particular civic knowledge, was absolutely crucial to the workings and future of republican government. The primary lesson of civic education was that legitimate government is grounded in the protection of equal natural rights and the consent of the governed. The threat to those rights-from government, among other things, or majority tyranny-was the second and most vital lesson..." Mathew Spalding Ph.D.

"Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction." Thomas Jefferson

Terrorism is cause enough at this moment in history to fear our world will fall into an unstoppable "state of chaos from which a new world tyranny will arise". The success of terrorist acts as a means of control and oppression depends, in part, on the weakness of our nation and our nations resolve. We have a republic, it is precious, and we must honor and preserve it.

An article by John Preston and Mellisa Kite titled "Compliant and subservient: Jimmy Carter's explosive critique of Tony Blair" in the Sunday Telegraph demonstrates my point:

Ex-president Jimmy Carter, "I have been surprised and extremely disappointed by Tony Blair's behaviour..."

"I think that more than any other person in the world the Prime Minister could have had a moderating influence on Washington - and he has not. I really thought that Tony Blair, who I know personally to some degree, would be a constraint on President Bush's policies towards Iraq."

"We've never before had an administration that would endorse pre-emptive war..."

No sir, never before in the history of our great nation has an ex-president behaved so arrogantly or rudely. Not only are you no longer in a position of authority for the decisions of the United States of America but you also have not been made Prime Minister of Great Britain. You're words, especially at this point in time, undermine and disgrace our nation.

Posted by Post Scripts at 12:08 AM | Comments (16)

August 26, 2006

Global Geneology Study Tracks Migration by DNA

The National Geographic has embarked on a Genographic Study that uses your DNA to track ancient ancestral migration trails from as far back as 79,000 years in Africa. For a $100 fee, participants receive a DNA testing packet and an analysis of either your fathers or mothers DNA trail.

This process involves swabbing the inside of the cheek and sending the swab samples back to the lab where it's analyzed and the results are then compared to a DNA base of tens of thousands of core samples from around the world. Using DNA markers, these are the small changes in the DNA code that occur naturally over time, they track

the migration of families moving up from Africa and spreading out to all parts of the world as we know it today.

In addition you can also participate in a DNA Family Tree project that uses the test results to determine close family tree information, often leading to the discovery of fairly close relatives. For more information follow this link. The more people that participate the more that can be discovered about your families migratory trail through time.

In my case, prior to our families immigration to the USA in the early 1700's (based on my own family records), my closest DNA match, 12 of 12 markers...that's pretty close, were from Europe in places I never expected. Those tell tale markers frequently appeared in segments of the English population. I knew we had a lot of relatives in England, but I didn't know about the groups in Germany, Scotland, Russia (Ukraine), Poland and Czechoslovakia. The DNA trail through time links me to the Russian Cossacks (based on a study by one distant relative I found (thanks to the Nat'l Geographic study) and to a group of people living in Eastern Iran as well...which reminds me, I need to speak to cousin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and see how our uranium enrichment is going.

You infidels have a nice weekend and check out that National Geographic site, it's pretty interesting.

Posted by Post Scripts at 02:54 PM | Comments (4)

August 25, 2006

BushCo's Policies Alienate Civilized World

By Libby X,

Re: The What IF Speech (see below)

Well, it's sort of cute, but it's also sort of petulantly "neener, neener." We're supposed to be grown-ups.

And I feel compelled to remind everybody that most of our foreign aid budget finds its way onto the books of assorted American corporations. I'm tellin' ya, if the U.S. government goes bust, Bechtel goes bust the week after. The groady third worlders do get the benefit of the "public work", whatever it is, but those senior partners at

Bechtel make out very nicely too. Did you know that Bechtel is not a public company? So it's not even like a taxpaper can buy some shares and get some of their own back. I disapprove.

And BushCo's policies have so alienated the rest of the civilized world, it really isn't a question of us taking our toys and going home ... at this point ... nobody will play with us anyway.

This is really huge, when you think about it, think about how the middle east thing is going. I want it to be 50 years from now, so I can see how it turns out. I mean, thanks to BushCo's assorted childish ineptitudes, Iran is making out famously, foreign influence-wise, foreign aid-wise. They're looking beneficent and civilized, and we're looking, well, there's murderous and then there's inept. How's that for a combo?

Posted by Post Scripts at 04:17 PM | Comments (17)

And Another One Bites The Dust....

by Jack Lee
Book Review: "Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11" Thumbs down...throw him to the lions! I say this with all due respect to my fellow Christians, whom this wacky author purports to represent, but in fact only represents his own ultra-minority view.

Professor emeritus, Dr. David Ray Griffin, Claremont School of Theology in California, known for his liberal rants, has really tarnished his career this time by publishing another good-for-nothing conspiracy book on 9/11. Griffin used an in-house Presbyterian book publisher, apparently because no other publisher would touch it. Griffin, accuses the Bush administration, "... of carrying out the attacks on 9/11 as a pretext for expanding America's "demonic" imperial power."

7500 books were published and almost none have been sold. Well, imagine that? Actually, I'm surprised that Iran didn't buy them up. In this book for the terminally naive, Griffin claims that the U.S. military could have intercepted the four hijacked jets if it had wanted to and that the hijacker accused of slamming an airliner into the Pentagon lacked the flying skills to do so. He also claims charges were pre-positioned in the WTC to make sure they came down when the jets crashed into them and it gets much worse.

Griffin makes wide-eyed liberal rhetoric look like kindergarten talk. He likens his (Bush's) foreign policy to the Imperial Roman Empire and says, he doesn't believe in literal evil spirits, but such empires as the USA and Rome have "demonic" power to do great harm.

It's no secret the 2.3 million-members of the Presbyterian Church has been struggling financially, suffering from declining membership at a time when the General Assembly made a controversial vote to open the door to ordaining gays and gay marriages. Then, just when many thought it couldn't get any worse, Dr. Griffin's book come out and to no ones surprise, it's a total flop. But, it brings more controversy to the Church at a time when they have plenty already.

Those who are not laughing at the book are absolutely furious over it...and at Griffin...and the Presbyterian Press...and the General Assembly that seems to be intent on ruining the good name of the Presbyterian Church. And how has this firestorm of controversy affected Dr. Griffin? He has lost all credibility among his peers, except for the crazies and the Bush haters found in dark caverns of the Internet like Moveon.org. Davis Perkins, president of the publishing company, said the book's stances are not those of the corporation or of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Too late for that disclaimer Dave...the words out and you can't back away from heat so easily.

My suggestion for Dr. Griffin is, take a sabbatical and don't come back.

Posted by Post Scripts at 04:00 PM | Comments (1)

Miami Based Terrorists Were Caught On Tape

Remember how the families of the men arrested in Miami were so outraged by the governments charges? The government said they were terrorists plotting to blow up buildings and looking for a sponsor, the families said they were not even Muslims and they were very peaceful, nice guys. Well, the FBI has released part of the tape where these characters are caught on camera talking about waging Jihad and blowing up buildings. They are also shown pledging an oath to Al Qeada. Take a look, just follow the link and watch!

Posted by Post Scripts at 12:27 PM | Comments (1)

August 24, 2006

Going Around in Emails...

Submitted by Toby S.

WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT TO TURN ON THE TV AND HEAR ANY U.S. PRESIDENT, DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN GIVE THE FOLLOWING SPEECH? ...

My Fellow Americans: As you all know, the defeat of Iraq regime has been completed.

Since congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our mission in Iraq is complete.

This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all American forces from Iraq. This action will be complete within 30 days. It is now to begin the reckoning.

Before me, I have two lists. One list contains the names of countries which have stood by our side during the Iraq conflict. This list is short. The United Kingdom, Spain , Bulgaria, Australia, and Poland are some of the countries listed there.

The other list contains everyone not on the first list. Most of the world's nations are on that list. My press secretary will be distributing copies of both lists later this evening.

Let me start by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those nations on List 2 ceases immediately and indefinitely. The money saved during the first year alone will pretty much pay for the costs of
the Iraqi war.

The American people are no longer going to pour money into third world Hell-holes and watch those government leaders grow fat on corruption.

Need help with a famine? Wrestling with an epidemic? Call France.

In the future, together with Congress, I will work to redirect this money toward solving the vexing social problems we still have at home. On that note, a word to terrorist organizations. Screw with us and we will hunt you down and eliminate you and all your friends from the face of the earth.

Thirsting for a gutsy country to terrorize? Try France, or maybe China.

I am ordering the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with France, Germany, and Russia. Thanks for all your help, comrades. We are retiring from NATO as well. Bon chance, mes amis.

I have instructed the Mayor of New York City to begin towing the many UN diplomatic vehicles located in Manhattan with more than two unpaid parking tickets to sites where those vehicles will be stripped,
shredded and crushed. I don't care about whatever treaty pertains to this. You creeps have tens of thousands of unpaid tickets. Pay those tickets tomorrow or watch your precious Benzes, Beamers and limos be turned over to some of the finest chop shops in the world. I love New York.

A special note to our neighbors. Canada is on List 2 Since we are likely to be seeing a lot more of each other, you folks might want to try not pissing us off for a change.

Mexico is also on List 2. President Fox and his entire corrupt government really need an attitude adjustment. I will have a couple extra tank and infantry divisions sitting around. Guess where I am going to put em? Yep, border security. So start doing something with your oil.

Oh, by the way, the United States is abrogating the NAFTA treaty - starting now.

We are tired of the one-way highway. Immediately, we'll be drilling >for oil in Alaska - which will take care of this country's oil needs >for decades to come. If you're an environmentalist who opposes this >decision, I refer you to List 2 above: pick a country and move there. They care.

It is time for America to focus on its own welfare and its own >citizens. Some will accuse us of isolationism. I answer them by saying, "darn tootin." Nearly a century of trying to help folks live a decent life around the
world has only earned us the undying enmity of just about everyone on the planet. It is time to eliminate hunger in America. It is time to eliminate homelessness in America. It is time to eliminate World Cup Soccer from America. To the nations on List 1, a final thought. Thanks guys. We owe you and we won't forget. To the nations on List 2, a final >thought: You might want to learn to speak Arabic. God bless America. Thank you and good night. If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading it in English, thank a soldier.

Posted by Post Scripts at 08:10 PM | Comments (1)

Two Tickets to Paradise...

by Jack Lee

It sounded like a great trip to 21 year old Tom K. and his 19 year old brother Mike, both from Chico. The surfing in October was great, hotels were dirt cheap and there were lots of tourist activities. What else could matter? Apparently plenty, because what they didn't know.... could kill them.

Unknown to the boys at the time and not stated by the internet travel agency that took their money, was a multitude of travel warnings that are being issued from a number of governments, including the UK, Australia and the USA about their intended destination. The warnings have one thing in common, they give it their highest state of alert, advising their respective citizens that Indonesia's terrorist organization known as "Jemaah Islamiyah" is preparing for a large scale attack and their plans may include kidnapping westerners . The warnings are clear: Avoid unnecessary travel to Indonesia and that includes Indonesia's paradise island of Bali in particular.

The Islamic, Jemaah Islamiyah Terrorist Organization, linked to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the deadly bombings of October 12, 2002, in the resort town of Kuta, on the Indonesian island of Bali. Bombs killed 202 people and injured a further 209, making it the deadliest act of terrorism in that hemisphere. The majority of the dead were foreign tourists, mostly Australians, 88 Australians and 7 Americans died.

It began with a bomb hidden in a backpack that ripped through Paddy's Bar and started tourists fleeing into the street. Confused and curious locals and tourists then began to gathered in the street, forming a large crowd of onlookers. The trap was sprung and a huge second bomb detonated. It was concealed in a parked van and was estimated to be the equivalent of a 1000 pounds of TNT.

Then in 2005 another series of powerful bombs went off in the south Bali towns of Jimabaran and Kuta. The blasts were aimed again at popular Western tourist hangouts. 20 were killed and between 101 to 129 injured, including the suicide bombers. 6 Americans were among those injured, another 4 Australians died.

The latest intelligence reports, now passed along by way of U.S. Dept. of State in their "travel advisories" indicate another terrorist attack is imminent. The months of highest alert were August through December. The boys had planned to go in early October, now they are looking to cancel their trip. If they could, the Dept. of State would say that's probably a real good idea too, as they advise all non-essential travel to Indonesia, including the Island of Bali, be halted immediately and Americans already there should plan on leaving as soon as possible.

"You have to take these warnings seriously, so obviously I don't want them to go. But, what gets me is why didn't anyone tell these boys about this before they bought their tickets?" Said their father Richard. " We thought we would be going to paradise, we just didn't consider it could be the one up there." Tom said jokingly as he pointed skyward. The boys both acknowledge they learned a lesson about booking overseas travel. This time it will only cost them a few bucks to cancel the trip. But, it could have cost them a lot more, if they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and Bali at this time is definately the wrong place and wrong time.

For current travel warnings see the attached list or visit the Dept. Of State website
As of this date, the Indonesian government is preparing to hang three of those convicted in the 2002 bombing, adding to the concern that a bombing will follow, possibly as a reprisal.

I'm just curious, but if these were your kids would you have a problem with their travel plans? Would you try to talk them out of it or would you just say they are adults now, its up to them?

Note: This story is based on an actual family event that occurred yesterday. The names and circumstances have been altered slightly to protect their identities.

Current Travel Warnings

Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department recommends that Americans avoid a certain country. The countries listed below are currently on that list. In addition to this list, the State Department issues Consular Information Sheets for every country of the world with information on such matters as the health conditions, crime, unusual currency or entry requirements, any areas of instability, and the location of the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate in the subject country.

Congo, Democratic Republic of the 08/24/2006
Nigeria 08/24/2006
Sri Lanka 08/15/2006
Kenya 08/10/2006
Lebanon 07/27/2006
Israel, the West Bank and Gaza 07/19/2006
East Timor 07/18/2006
Haiti 07/07/2006
Chad 07/06/2006
Burundi 06/23/2006
Saudi Arabia 06/23/2006
Afghanistan 06/22/2006
Philippines 06/16/2006
Eritrea 06/05/2006
Somalia 06/05/2006
Nepal 05/11/2006
Central African Republic 04/20/2006
Yemen 04/13/2006
Uzbekistan 04/07/2006
Pakistan 04/07/2006
Bosnia-Herzegovina 03/30/2006
Liberia 03/30/2006
Côte d'Ivoire 03/03/2006
Algeria 02/15/2006
Sudan 02/06/2006
Colombia 01/18/2006
Iran 12/29/2005
Iraq 12/29/2005
Indonesia/Bali 11/18/2005
Zimbabwe 11/14/2005

Posted by Post Scripts at 01:00 PM | Comments (3)

QUESTION of THE WEEK

Q. Why do you have to "put your two cents in".. . but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going to? Please write your answer on a $100 bill and send it to Jack and Tina at Post Scripts, C/O Enterprise Record, Chico, CA. The winner will be announced next week.

Posted by Post Scripts at 12:32 PM | Comments (2)

August 23, 2006

News From Around the World

"Why shouldn't Iran have nuclear weapons? We have them, so has America, France, Russia, Israel, China, Pakistan, India and possibly North Korea. So why make such a fuss about Iran?" Read on....

student on suspicion he tried to place a suitcase bomb on a German train. The suspect, identified only as Youssef Mohamad E.H., was detained early Saturday in the northern city of Kiel on suspicion he tried to place the bomb on a train July 31. Authorities said Monday that a second suspect remains at large. Officials have said others may have been involved in preparing the attack, which they say failed only because the crude devices didn't explode.

THE QUESTION
by Jack Lee

What did Germany do to cause this? (refering to the story above) They haven't invaded anyone lately, they have no troops in Iraq nor Lebanon. They even tend to support Palestinians when a vote comes up in the UN. So, why bomb Germany?

I think the more you know about terror plots and bombings, the less credibility there is to believe that a change in US foreign policy or US diplomacy could have prevented 9/11 or that a pull out from Iraq would produce peace.

The evidence mounts every day that Muslim fanatics, some that are part of large, well known groups and others that are just acting on their own, independent of the big groups, are all doing it for no other reason than to spread their version of Islam over the world in the spirit of Jihad. It becomes blatantly apparent if you care to review the many thousands of acts of Islamic terrorism over the past few years.

These perpetrators are all motivated by their religion, pitting them against the rest of humanity, a humanity that does not subscribe to their version of Islam. Even the far left that has long defended the causes and motives of Islamic terrorism is now having trouble believing their own rhetoric.

Posted by Post Scripts at 06:04 PM | Comments (4)

FOUND, DUMB BLONDE IN DEADWOOD

by Tina Grazier

I have to cut this chick some slack because she's young and reveals an openness not found in the truly rabid liberal. She claims she is not a man-hating feminist but then goes on to define men with a slanted, "one size fits and that's it!" model that betrays a feminist mindset. The lady's name is Robyn E. Blumner and her article, "U.S. could use more girlie men", compares the war on terrorism and our presidents approach to the problem with the series "Deadwood". Robyn describes the series:

"Set in a South Dakota gold mining camp in the 1870s, it grittily explores the way human beings organize themselves when consigned to a lawless territory that attracts miscreants, varmints and vultures."

I have to admit I have not seen the series. My comments, therefore, are all based on this article and her obser-vations and thoughts. She begins with a couple of absurd remarks:

1. "When the law is determined by the number of gunslingers on your side, women don't flourish. But neither do men, certainly not men of learning or ability. Which is why Deadwood, as its name suggests, is doomed."

2. "I mention this because I've been feeling lately that the world has suddenly gone all male - Deadwood-male to be exact. And this is not a good sign for civilization."

Robyn: 1. you'd be wise to be grateful that you live in a country of gunslingers that are willing to protect and defend all of the women, the children, and the men you prize highly. They love the U.S.A. and think the Constitution and freedom are worth defending as well. Indeed the chance to be a stuck up elitist who deems this kind of man unworthy and that kind of man worthy is guaranteed you...with their blood! and 2. This is the saving grace for civilization. Men understand the violence and destruction that men can do. You and I can only imagine because we,
" ...has (have) two X chromosomes...".

She goes on to say, "Fighting terrorism has steeped us in a social psychology that is palpably different from our 50-year battle with the Soviet bear. There is something more aggressively mano a mano about fighting Islamic extremists."

DUH!!! And then reveals her dumb blondishness once more:

"And that difference has been exploited by our leaders to justify knocking down the rules of civilization, such as the Geneva Conventions, as being too effete."

"Bush likes his enemies in black hats and hiding in the brush. For Bush, justice gets meted out when the good guys take matters into their own hands and don't wait for lawyers with fancy words like "due process."

"But what you never see is that when the hero rides into the sunset, the real work of rebuilding a society is left behind."

Wrong. Wrong! And wrong!! The assertion that this president makes decisions without knowing or consulting with Constitutional and International lawyers or scholars is ridiculous and naïve or patently stupid. As for our enemies, yes sweetie they want to kill you too, Bush would prefer they put away their evil plans to terrorize, kill and
convert others and go home to find a job. The mess left in Manhattan on 911 should have given you an inkling as to the mess we face when we rely solely on "chat". 911 came on the heals of your girlie man prez's eight
year term where "due process" was nuanced by the taking of polls.

She calls on intellectual professorial expertise:

"International affairs professor Gary Bertsch at the University of Georgia - he is also director of the Center for International Trade and Security - puts it forthrightly: 'The Bush administration has relied on hard power (militarism) rather than diplomacy (soft power) and it has been very costly. It is reshaping the view that the rest of the world
has of the United States as a responsible power.'"

Her parting shot:

"Deadwood societies are anti-intellectual havens of selfishness and triumphalism, where warfare and violence are extolled and the feminine ethos of cooperation, understanding and forbearance are disparaged as weak. There is little doubt that many Muslim subgroups fit this mold." Honey, "the feminine ethos of cooperation, understanding and forbearance" is irrelevant to "many Muslim subgroups". No amount of talking will change their minds. They have no respect for girlie men or for women. We live in modern times and they are, unfortunately, very
dangerous times. The "Deadwoods" of the wild frontier were tamed by men, brave men who established the rule of law with a gun and guts. If you want to plunge the entire world into a place "...as bleak as that of the residents of that muddy street in that grimy town in the Black Hills of South Dakota.", keep trashing the men who stand between you and that certain hell, including the Commander-in-Chief.

Source: Robyn Blumners article appeared in the St. Petersburg Times, August 20, 2006

Posted by Post Scripts at 07:25 AM | Comments (9)

August 22, 2006

PREPARING FOR LIFE

by Tina Grazier

I ran across this little news bit today and it struck me how often we miss life's simple lessons because we choose instead to have a bad attitude or we refuse to realize that life is full of clues, signposts and markers and all we have to do is notice and learn. The article appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and was titled "Welfare Recipients Face Piles of Paperwork".

Oh my...a world that requires paperwork?...how extraordinary! Excerpts from the article reveal the burdensome new laws:

"Dahlin, 24, is a Minneapolis mother on welfare who is job hunting and finishing her high school diploma. Changes in welfare laws mean that if she takes a class, someone has to sign a form to verify she attended each day. Ditto for verifying she's doing her homework."

"If she's looking for a job, it may have to be done at an employment agency -- not at her kitchen table -- so her hours can be counted. And if she applies for a job, she'll need someone at the business to sign a paper confirming she's been there."

"Dahlin, whose benefits could be cut if she doesn't comply, said that officials are 'making it far more difficult than it needs to be; it's not like you're some kind of ex-con.'"

No, "Dahlin", it's not like you're some kind of ex-con. It's more like you are a typical businessman or a taxpayer. Welcome to adult life under the liberal government ideal!

Posted by Post Scripts at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)

(Special Edition) WEST NILE in South Chico

by Jack Lee

(Photo on left depicts the swampy area off Fair Street and south of the Skyway)

Larry Mitchell (ER Staff Reporter) and I interviewed Carl Pearson, Regional Supervisor for the Butte County Mosquito and Vector Control District this morning at the scene of the "hot spot" for West Nile infestation. (See sat. photo below). He was inspecting the spraying his office had just done in this unintentional "man-made" swamp, used by the City of Chico to control storm drain runoff.

We were pleasantly surprised to discovered the beaver dam that caused water to backup was now gone, removed hours early by a City crew. The small lake of brackish, black water had already dropped about a foot. But, without removing the beaver, any fix will only be termporary. Pearson said the dam could be rebuilt even in a matter of days, and the water would start to backup all over again. He said his office was doing all they could to

control the mosquito population, but for a longer term solution this would require a multi-agency effort. First, the beavers would have to relocated and that is a Fish and Game problem. Next, the City of Chico will likely be doing regular maintenance to keep the drainage point clear and open and his agency will continue to monitor for larva and spray as needed.

For about 3+ years, wild vegetation has been allowed to grow in this drainage area and it now qualifies as a "wildlife habitat" and a whole new set of rules govern it's management. Beavers are a protected species and whatever is done now to control them or any wildlife in this area, comes under the control of Fish and Game, as well as a number of environmental ordinances.

5 years ago this was just a big field with a ditch running through it, then the City created the catchments ponds to control neighborhood flooding in winter.

According to Pearson, the Culex pipiens mosquito, also known as the northern house mosquito, is the culprit here. Larva sampling has confirmed their presence, in abundance. It is a known carrier for encephalitis and is responsible for the transmission of the West Nile virus to humans, birds and other mammals. It is mostly brown in color with white markings on its legs and mouthparts. The female is a persistent biter, requiring blood meal to generate healthy eggs and prefers to attack at dusk and after dark. From eggs to biting mosquitos requires about 15 days, Pearson said.

Anyone in the Chico area with a mosquito problem should report it to Butte County Mosquito District, 533-6038 or 342-7350.

For additional information please read Larry Mitchell's articles on West Nile in today's paper and tomorrow's edition.

Posted by Post Scripts at 12:27 PM | Comments (2)

Surveillance Woes and Foes

by Tina Grazier

We may never hear the last word on the National Security Agencies' surveillance program. An article in the New York Times, Experts Fault Reasoning in Surveillance Decision by Adam Liptak, points out that even scholars who agree with the ruling judge find herdecision shakey. As one blogger, Howard J. Basham, a lawyer from Pennsylvania put it:

“It does appear that folks on all sides of the spectrum, both those who support it and those who oppose it, say the decision is not strongly grounded in legal authority.�

A former Clinton administration official said the program is legal yet commented on the poorly thought out opinion:

“It’s hard to exaggerate how bad it is,� said John R. Schmidt, a former Justice Department official...

According to the New York Times John Schmidt...

"pointed to Judge Taylor’s failure to cite what he called several pertinent decisions, including one from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review in 2002 thatsaid it took for granted that Congress 'could not encroach on the president’s constitutional power' to conduct warrantless surveillance to obtain foreign intelligence.

Personally, I'd rather see the courts tied up on this one for the duration than see the program eliminated by silly judges playing politics, but that's just me.

Posted by Post Scripts at 08:03 AM | Comments (2)

August 21, 2006

More on the West Nile Story

by Anthony Watts

A call to Mosquito Abatement today confirmed that this pond "is" stocked with mosquito fish, like Teichert Ponds.

But, they say there's a problem, some shallow water areas aren't getting the fish into them because of blockage by, yes, you guessed it, low water levels due to the beaver dam.

And, mosquito abatement can't get to some areas because of overgrowth. They also can't dislodge the beaver dam without Fish and Wildlife approval.

The dilemma is this; A man-made drainage pond has now become wildlife habitat due to poor maintenance allowing overgrowth. The pond has also now become a public health nuisance due to modification of the pond by the wildlife allowing mosquitoes to breed outside of normally applied controls, i.e. “mosquito fish�.

So the question becomes; What is more important, solving a public health issue or protecting wildlife in a man-made environment where no wildlife is supposed to be?

Our thanks to Mr. Anthony Watts for his post and special contributions to helping inform the people of our area on this very serious health problem. Hopefully, fish and game will be just as motivated and this situation will soon be resolved in favor of people and not the mosquitoes that could potentially carry West Nile disease.

Posted by Post Scripts at 07:34 PM | Comments (0)

HURRAY FOR HOLLYWOOD!!!

By Tina Grazier

I have a long and enduring love for the movies and so was very pleased last week to discover a list of people in Hollywood who have taken a personal and public stand condemning terrorist acts. I would like to offer a public statement of appreciation and gratitude to the 85 people in the entertainment industry who placed a full page ad in last Thursday's Los Angeles Times. The ad features the following quotes: "We the undersigned are pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas," "If we do not succeed in stopping terrorism around the world, chaos will rule and innocent people will continue to die." "We need to support democratic societies and stop terrorism at all costs." The list of prominent luminaries include actors Danny DeVito, Nicole Kidman, Sylvestor Stallone, William Hurt, Bruce Willis, Michael Douglas, Don Johnson, Kelly Preston, James Woods, Patricia Heaton,Dennis Hopper, William Hurt and directors Riddley Scott, Tony Scott, Michael Mann, Dick Donner and Sam Raimi. They were joined by the head of Paramount Pictures Sumner Redstone and Mr. Haim Saban.

Quite often it is Hollywood that puts the defining face of our nation in front of the world. This invites added responsibility in matters pertaining to our image in world events and purposes. Perhaps this is unfair but it is nonetheless true, for better or worse. The ad in the Los Angeles Times is a wonderful gesture that allows me the chance to say, "Thanks for the memories and thanks for speaking out in defense of freedom," ...now, would somebody please pass the popcorn.

Posted by Post Scripts at 01:44 PM | Comments (2)

August 19, 2006

Is This the Source of Recent West Nile Infections?

by Jack Lee

The above aerial photograph shows the rain runoff ponds, situated between the Skyway and Fair Street, less than two blocks from Enterprise Record. Many wonder if this is the source for mosquitoes carrying West Nile?

According to one area resident, he was told by the City, this area would be dry during the summer, however beavers have built dams restricting the water drainage. As a result this area has become a sort of urban swamp and heavily infested by mosquitoes. OUr source tried to get the city to do something about draining this rain water catchment area, but was told the City had tried, but currently their hands are tied until Fish and Game decides how to handle the beaver problem.

The resident then contacted Public Health and left a message, 5 hours later, he finally got a call back. The Health Dept. said by law they could NOT confirm the address/addresses of those infected by West Nile and couldn't currently say any particular area around Chico was more prone to West Nile infestation than another.

The resident was a little take back by this and suggested it would be in the publics best interest to know if they are living in a hot spot for West Nile or not and at this time he had information to suggest it was! The official reportedly said something to the effect, "Then he knew more than they did." and "They didn't want to alarm anyone when this "hot spot" has not been confirmed nor place an emphasis on one area of over another as this might give some people a false sense of security, if they were not living in the area of concern. "

The resident argued that IF two people within a very short distance of his home had become ill with West Nile and a number of dead birds found in the area tested positive, this should be a clue they have a problem in our area, so why not just tell people to extra becareful?

He strongly felt the health department should warn people whenever they find a "hot spot" for this disease. That, it just seems like common sense and the responsible thing to do. Then the official alleged quipped, "We don't have time to contact 90,000 people," apparently referring to the entire population of Chico. But, he wasn't talking about all of Chico, he was talking about a few dozen people that lived near this swampy area off Fair Street. The Health Official allegedly said, if he felt that strongly about it, then he should warn his neighbors. The resident said , Warn them of what? You won't confirm anything and I only have my suspicions. He didn't want to sound like an alarmist if the information he had could not be confirmed by the Health Dept.

In closing, the resident said he was told by this Health Dept. Official, "I just don't think we can do any more for you then." "This statement implies they actually did something for me!" The resident sounded more than a bit frustrated.

This appears to be a bureaucratic mess, with one government agency stalled while waiting on another, compounding the problem is an overly strict privacy law that denies the public's their right to know by limiting what the Health Dept. can say about this deadly disease. It's not like we are talking about STD's here where disclosure might embarass someone or ruin a marriage, we are talking about disease spread by mosquitoes and I think in such cases people need to know if they are living in a problem area...it could save somebody's life.

As of this time, we have no independant confirmation this area of Fair St. and Paseo Campeneros could be anymore infested than any other area around Chico. The responsible thing to do is follow the suggestions of the Health Dept. for preventing mosquito bites, report dead birds to Animal Control or the Health Dept. and prevent long term standing water around your house where mosquitoes could breed . For more information see today's story in the ER, but Larry Mitchell.

Posted by Post Scripts at 10:35 AM | Comments (14)

N. Korea Planning Nuclear Test

Q. Could NK rig up a electromagnetic pulse (aka EMP) bomb in conjunction with normal explosives to mimick the EMPs coming from a nuclear blast?

A. In late September 2001, Popular Mechanics published an article outlining the possibility of construcing an e-bomb. The article focused on flux compression generator bombs (FCGs), which date back to the 1950s. This sort of e-bomb has a fairly simple, potentially inexpensive design, illustrated below. It is simple enough that North Korea could probably pull it off.

This conceptual bomb design comes from this report written by Carlo Kopp, a defense analyst. The design concept has been widely available to the public for some time. NOTE: Nobody would be able to construct a functioning e-bomb from this description alone.

The bomb consists of a metal cylinder (called the armature), which is surrounded by a coil of wire (the stator winding). The armature cylinder is filled with high explosive, and a sturdy jacket surrounds the entire device. The stator winding and the armature cylinder are separated by empty space. The bomb also has a power source, such as a bank of high density capacitors, which can be connected to the stator. Lately, hi-density capacitors on the order of an entire Farad or more have become widely available to the public from those skull crushing stereo systems used in hip-hop cars for Richter-Scale bass note reproduction...they could be used for a device like this.

It's basically just a high explosives driven electrical generator.

Here's the sequence of events when the bomb goes off:

A switch connects the capacitors to the stator, sending a huge instantaneous electrical current through the wires. This generates an intense magnetic field. A fuze mechanism ignites the explosive material. The explosion travels as a wave through the middle of the armature cylinder. As the explosion makes its way through the cylinder, the cylinder comes in contact with the stator winding. This creates a short circuit, cutting the stator off from its power supply. The moving short circuit compresses the magnetic field, generating an intense electromagnetic burst which travels down the length of the barrel. This device can actually be aimed.

This type of weapon would affect a relatively small area -- nothing on the order of a nuclear attack -- but it could do some serious damage and mimic an EMP pulse from a traditional fission bomb. But then there's the release of all sorts of hi-energy particles that would be missing, so its still possible that our satellites would not verify a successful fission device test.

Our thanks to Mr. Anthony Watts for submitting this information.

Posted by Post Scripts at 10:19 AM | Comments (1)

August 18, 2006

West Nile - Chico

Five of the seven known cases of West Nile in Butte County are linked to persons residing n Chico, although five of those persons suffered no adverse effects, one has died. We have credible information to say that a second person may now be hospitalized in serious condition with West Nile. Anyone in Butte County should always take normal precautions to avoid mosquito bites, see below. I obtained this from the Bayer site:

Apply insect repellent sparingly to exposed skin. The more DEET a repellent contains, the longer time it can protect you from mosquito bites. A higher percentage of DEET in a repellent does not mean that your protection is better—just that it will last longer. DEET concentrations higher than 50% do not increase the length of protection. Choose a repellent that provides protection for the amount of time that you will be outdoors.
Repellents may irritate the eyes and mouth, so avoid applying repellent to the hands of children.
Whenever you use an insecticide or insect repellent, be sure to read and follow the manufacturer's DIRECTIONS FOR USE, as printed on the product.
For detailed information about using repellents, see the Insect Repellent Use and Safety questions.
Spray clothing with repellents containing permethrin or DEET since mosquitoes may bite through thin clothing. Do not apply repellents containing permethrin directly to exposed skin. If you spray your clothing, there is no need to spray repellent containing DEET on the skin under your clothing.
When possible, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants whenever you are outdoors.
Place mosquito netting over infant carriers when you are outdoors with infants.
Consider staying indoors at dawn, dusk, and in the early evening, which are peak mosquito-biting times.
Install or repair window and door screens so that mosquitoes cannot get indoors.

For more informatio, please read Larry Mitchell's articles, starting in todays paper. More information will be out shortly.

Posted by Post Scripts at 06:34 PM | Comments (0)

Sign of the Times

by Jack Lee
Almost 20 years ago I was at the home of a Chief Inspector in the UK with a few other police officers. We were just socializing, when I asked them if they would rather carry a firearm, like I did in my job? Their collective answer was a resounding NO! No weapons! They said it would be a liability more than a help, besides the public was not that much of a threat. As you know, the UK has total gun control, firearms in public ownership are extremely rare and are generally kept under lock and key at a license gun club. These officers couldn't imagine a time or circumstance that would warrant a police officer to carry a pistol. Only special shooting teams did that and they were almost never called up. I found this sentiment every place I travelled in England... officers didn't want to carry guns! Back at home, I generally carried several weapons, depending on the situation. When things got really heavy or a drug raid, I carried my personal H-K 93 automatic rifle, with a 30 shot banana clip.

By the way...the Metro Officer in the photo above is carrying an H-K MP5 with a 30 shot banana clip, very similar at first glance to the HK-93 with folding stock ,the only difference is he is using a small 9 mm round and I was using .223 (2x as powerful, same round as M16 takes).

Posted by Post Scripts at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)

Terrorist Bomber Released!

JAKARTA, Indonesia — An Islamic militant jailed for the Bali bombings that killed 202 people was released from prison Thursday as part of Indonesia's independence day celebrations, and 11 others linked to the blasts had their sentences reduced.

Posted by Post Scripts at 11:14 AM | Comments (1)

U.S. District Judge Strikes Down Wire Tap

"(washingtontimes.com) A federal judge ruled today that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it. U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor (Jimmy Carter appointee) in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the..."

Posted by Post Scripts at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

Bizzare Flight With A Raving Lunatic

by Jack Lee

On the flight from London to Washington, she ranted in veiled threats, paced the isles and told stewardess' she had something in her carry on bag that the air marshals might want to look at. She said she was associated with a group that had two words, but couldn't say what those two words were, because the last time she did, it got her kicked off the flight. Later, as she began pulling down her slacks, she was finally restrained by several passengers with handcuffs, provided by the flight attendant.

The woman was identified as, Catherine C. Mayo, 59, from Vermont. She lives part time in Pakistan and was charged yesterday in federal court with interfering with a flight crew. Now get this: She is a journalist and she writes about her unique "American" perspective in the Daily Times of Pakistan. A news account said, "... in the past Mrs. Mayo criticized President Bush -- calling him "a president not elected by the people"-- and responsible for the war in Iraq."

Here's an example of her writing, "The folksongs of the 1960s will never be written again because of President George Bush. He has hampered the liberties of my country in the name of September 11. Songs now can only talk of patriotism they cannot mention peace,...."

You need to read the whole article about this one... see what they found in her carry on bag, that's an eye opener too! (See link above)

God only knows how long Mrs. Mayo has been teetering on the edge of insanity while she spewed out her anti-American rhetoric to a gullible public that she had to go all the way to Pakistan to find. Now, mercifully, she's self destructed. Sorry, no sympathy here. I think there's more than a few like Mayo roaming around loose in the media, being taken as responsible jouranlists when they are in reality just borderline skitzos. Remember the title from Dr. Michael Savage's recent book, "Liberalism is a mental disorder? It talks about why the crazies seem to gravitate to the left. Wonder if Mrs. Mayo ever read it?"

Posted by Post Scripts at 09:53 AM | Comments (2)

August 17, 2006

TGIF HUMOR

Did you hear about the blonde that named her Rottweilers "Rolex" and "Timex"?
When asked why -- she said, "They're watch dogs."

They were 85 years old, and had been married for sixty years. Though they were far from rich, they managed to get by because they watched their pennies. Though not young, they were both in very good health, largely due to

the wife's insistence on healthy foods and exercise for the last 2 decades.

One day, their good health didn't help when they went on a rare vacation and their plane unfortunately crashed, sending them off to Heaven.

They reached the pearly gates, and St. Peter escorted them inside. He took them to a beautiful mansion, furnished in gold and fine silks, With a fully stocked kitchen and a waterfall in the master bath. A maid could be seen hanging their favorite clothes in the closet.

They gasped in astonishment when St. Peter said, "Welcome to Heaven. This will be your home now."

The old man asked St. Peter how much all this was going to cost. "Why, nothing," St. Peter replied; "remember, this is your reward in Heaven."

The old man looked out the window and right there he saw a championship golf course, finer and more beautiful than any ever-built on Earth.

"What are the greens fees?" grumbled the old man.

"This is heaven," St. Peter replied. "You can play for free, every day, any time of day that you want."

Next they went to the clubhouse and saw the lavish buffet lunch, with every imaginable cuisine laid out before them, from seafood to steaks to exotic desserts, free flowing beverages. "Don't even ask," said St. Peter to the man. "This is Heaven, it is all free for you to enjoy."

The old man looked around and glanced nervously at his wife. "Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol foods, and the decaf tea?" he asked.

"That's the best part," St. Peter replied. "You can eat and drink as much as you like of whatever you like, and you will never get fat or sick. This is Heaven!"

The old man inquired, "No gym to work out at?"
"Not unless you want to," was the answer.
"No testing my sugar or blood pressure or..."
"Never again. All you do here is enjoy yourself."

The old man glared at his wife and said. .
"You and your bran muffins. We could have been here twenty years ago."

Posted by Post Scripts at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)

N. Korea Appears to Be Preparing for Nuclear Test

Aug. 17, 2006 — There is new evidence that North Korea may be preparing for an underground test of a nuclear bomb, U.S. officials told ABC News.

Posted by Post Scripts at 10:21 PM | Comments (4)

Is This JonBenet Ramsey's Killer?

American John Mark Karr sits as he is shown at a police news conference at Immigration office in Bangkok, Thailand Thursday, Aug. 17, 2006. The head of Thailand immigration police said Thursday that Karr admitted to the killing after he was arrested at his downtown Bangkok apartment Wednesday night. Karr arrived in Bangkok on June 6 from Malaysia to look for a teaching job, Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul told The Associated Press.

Posted by Post Scripts at 09:14 AM | Comments (0)

August 16, 2006

Suspect Arrested in JonBenet Ramsey Murder

Thursday, August 17, 2006

BOULDER, Colo. — A former schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey — a surprise breakthrough in a lurid, decade-old murder mystery that had cast a cloud of suspicion over her parents. See Fox News story.

Posted by Post Scripts at 10:05 PM | Comments (1)

Getting to the Truth

by Jack Lee

So, I'm at the gym late last night, running make-believe laps on a tread mill and normally I wouldn't watch Christiane Amanpour on CNN, but since I'm there running, running and running for what seems like the entire evening and this one TV monitor is my only viewing choice, I watch her do an interview with a Muslim leader in the UK (sorry, forget his name Al somebody) and he happens to know many of the "alleged" suicide bombers and their family. Turns out the interview was far better than I expected. If you missed it I thought you might like review parts of it, so I will try to paraphrase a few of the better Q & A's for you.

OK, predictably, this guy was very careful about his words and several times he invoked, "I don't want to discuss any specifics about this case." He took a very measured and defensive position from the first question, but again that's understandable as he was being protective of his friends.

Amanpour asked, "It's said the Aug 10th arrests resulted from a tip in the Muslim community, do you see that as a positive thing? (Then she added quickly) The 7/7 (train bombing) information also came from a Muslim informant, so do you think he is a hero or a villain?" Muslim leader's answer, "If it (the tip) leads to the death of a person then you must consider that as well." Interpreted by me to mean: Villain.

The death he was referring to was Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes. He dashed out of one of the apartments near a suspected hideout and led police on a wild foot chase, refusing to stop. Eventually the pursuit led to the rail station where Menezes dashed onto a passenger car, was tackled, then resisted police officers trying to grab his arms. One of the armed officers feared Menezes was a terrorist trying to set off a bomb and shot him once in the head. Sadly, turns out it was all just a hoax, Menezes didn't have a bomb and was not armed. I'm sure this "runner" expected to look like a hero to his buddies back at the apartment complex - luring the coppers into a big chase only to find out he was an unarmed Brazilian, except he played his "bomber" role too aggressively and perception became a reality... in his death.

Alright, now here's where it got really interesting: Amanpour asked the man, "Why do you think educated, decent young men, who certainly were not poor and had no history for terrorism, could suddenly be motivated to take innocent lives, even in their own country?" Muslim leader: "They identify with the struggle of Muslims everywhere against Israeli and United States aggression, in Lebanon and Iraq, everywhere we see Muslims being attacked, on TV news, anywhere in the world where it happens and they want to fight back. Because they feel its just as if they or thier family is being attacked." Amanpour: "So they see themselves as Muslims first and not as citizens of the UK?" Muslim leader: "Yes, they are Muslims first...so are Christians..." Amanpour: "Then how do we stop this? Obviously people don't always have a say in their governments foreign policy?" Muslim leader: "Osama bin Laden once said people in democracies elect their government and that makes them just as culpable as their government. If their government wages war on Muslim people then they are equally responsible."

Amanpour: "So they see this is a war they are fighting?" Muslim leader: "Definitely. They are fighting a war. It doesn't matter where in the world Muslims are being attacked, Muslims are as one fist and they will respond. This is why Muslims born in the UK could become fighters for a cause in Lebanon or Palestine." Then he added, "The "back door" was left open to influence the young men and this is something the Muslim community could consider, meaning meeting places like Mosques and leaders like their Imams. (He was vague, but Amanpour pressed him) He explained, "Radical elements do exist in any religion and it could be that this element encouraged something. It is possible that some were allowing this influence in and they were recruiting some people, it could have happened. "

The Muslim leader concluded by saying words to the effect, "There are over 2 million Muslims living in the UK and only a few have been involved in anything, therefore it is not really appropriate to say it is a Muslim problem, these are isolated events that could have happen anywhere to anyone, its not about Muslims or Christians or anyone, it's only something that could happen to anyone, anywhere that's all. Wherever there are radicals, this could happen, that's all I am saying." (Again, I am just paraphrasing as best as I can)

What he failed to say, but was blatantly obvious to me, if even 1% of those 2 million plus Muslims in the UK should feel allegiance to Muslims fighting some war in some far off place against the UK and they chose to become active fighters in that event, they could quickly become England's worst nightmare.

Right now, following tons of plane bomber news, Amanpours interview, and the street interviews with young Muslim men in the UK, it appears top me that the local Muslim community is far from convinced those men arrested on 8/10 did anything wrong at all; just the opposite, they seem to feel the government has not been forthcoming, because they have no case. Two of the Muslim men interviewed repeatedly demanded to know, "Where is the evidence? One added, "We don't think they have any, if they did, why don't they say what it is?" Many in the crowd seemed to echoe those angry sentiments.

Makes one wonder, could any western country with a huge Muslim population be at high risk for terrorism and violence for the very same reason laid out in Amanpour's interview? "They identify with the struggle of Muslims everywhere." because they are all part of the Nation of Islam. Look at the French, they've been having their share of ethnic violence and we hear the critics argue France has allow in too many Muslims and their culture is being undermined and their anti-US policies are reflected by that huge Muslim influence. I don't know, it could all be just anti-Muslim hype and terrorist hysteria talking, but over 6000 cars and buildings were burned to the ground by someone recently on the outskirts of Paris and it wasn't the Irish.

Is that old saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," not applicable to Muslims? I say this because a great deal of Muslims seem to be having a difficult time blending in, in whatever country they are in (excluding the Arab nations) and this "failure" often results in violent clashes, initiated of course by the radical Muslims. Case in point was the recent rioting in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, etc., in conjunction with thousands of angry protestors in dozens of other countries over a silly cartoon. How many deaths resulted from a perceived slight against their religion by a cartoon?

Even though we may want to think it, Islam is not just another religion like the Baptists or Catholics. They are THE "Nation of Islam" and they carry that inseparable national identity into the country they happen to live in and become like a separate country within a country. We've seen this happen over and over, in countries like Canada, France, Australia, Denmark and even in the US, that have witnessed one common source for their terrorism trouble...and its always radical Islam. That makes me ask, does being a member in the "The Nation of Islam" mean they must have only one political loyalty.... to the Nation of Islam and no other? It's just a question - and we must always dare to ask questions, even if they make us uncomfortable. Its better to be said and addressed, than to be thought and left to wonder. Its what we do in democracies, we question things openly, all sorts of things, from religion to politics...anything that concerns us, so we might learn, as human beings, all sharing the same planet. I really believe if this was done more in Islamic theocracies, we wouldn't have near the hostility we have now towards the west and Americans in particular.

In researching this piece, I ran across an earlier interview between Amanpour and this controversial Cleric Abu Qatada (see above) who still resides in the UK. His interview is about a year old, but it is still very relevant to the recent events on Aug. 10th. Amanpour asked this radical Immam, "There have been videotapes that have come out of Afghanistan -- there has been this man Sulaiman Abu Ghaith who is the spokesman for al Qaeda. I am not asking you whether you know him or whether you are linked to him -- I want to know what you think of what he said. He praised the people who did what they did in the U.S. on September 11; he said the world should expect more of that, and he called these people good men, good and faithful men. And he said they are good Muslims. Is that what Islam teaches -- that it is good to fly a plane into a building killing everybody?

Answer, "Listen to me. You have presented to me as a great journalist with the CNN. There is man who lost a sum of money in street No. 1 so he went to look for this in street No. 2. Do you know why? Because street No. 2 was lit. Your problem is over there, don't victimize me. You are dealing with your problem in Afghanistan in your filthy way, which is represented by the American policy and the military. Your problem is not with me and it's not here. Here our role is to teach people and to make a stand as required by our religion. So don't try to find anything here that merits an accusation or a wrong practice."

This was a great interview and I encourage you to visit this CNN site and read the entire transcript, its fairly short, but incredibly informative.

I suggest you read just one more article to pull it all together, "Why Muslims Misjudged Us.

PS Did you know that on Friday, police arrested another 40 suspected terrorists in raids on Muslim gathering places throughout Italy, the Italian Interior Ministry said, according to The Associated Press. The arrests were made in Rome, Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples and other cities, as a follow up to the British anti-terrorist operation.

If anyone has a well reasoned response to this piece and wants page one here for a rebuttal, they got it, just as long as it doesn't violated the ER policy about threats or libel, you will have a wide open opportunity to say what you want..

Posted by Post Scripts at 09:22 PM | Comments (4)

LET THEM PLAY…LET THEM PLAY!

by Tina Grazier

I have to thank Libby for rattling my cage on Post Scripts this evening. She mentioned progressive tax rates and that always seems to do the trick. I started thinking about the envious, petty, uneducated, ungrateful attitude many Americans have toward “the rich�. You know what I mean, the types that are always looking for new ways to soak “Big This� and “Big That�. I’m talking about the way they dismiss the value that these people bring to our nation and our way of life. I went to the Heritage Foundation website to do some research. The statistics on taxes are incredible but they only tell part of the story.

If you consider that:

“…lower tax rates provide greater incentives to work, save, and invest. High-earners respond by creating more wealth…The reverse is also true: Higher tax rates reduce incentives and therefore depress incomes, dropping taxpayers out of the new higher tax brackets.[4]�

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that lower tax rates make it possible for people with money to create more jobs and produce more in goods and services. This makes America the land of opportunity and also creates something called “the good life�. Heavy tax burdens kill the desire to be creative, to expand and grow. If prospering is something we want for ourselves and for others we need to let go of envy toward the rich and…

LET THEM PLAY.

But wait, that’s only the beginning. There’s a good chance that in one way or another you owe the fact that you have a job to some rich guy. The house you live in, the car you drive, the toys you own, are products of an investment made by some rich guy. How about the hospital in your community? To you it’s just there, available for your use, but chances are wealthy folks helped pay for the building and the equipment and they will pay for the expansion when needed. Universities, libraries, charitable foundations, cultural centers, entertainment centers, parks…the list goes on. These things are reason enough to get out of the way and

LET THEM PLAY!

Posted by Post Scripts at 08:10 AM | Comments (12)

August 15, 2006

QUICK NEWS BITS...

****Muslims face extra checks in new travel crackdown "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. "

****"ONE of the terror suspects detained in Britain last week over an alleged plot to bomb transatlantic flights was involved in helping victims of the July 7 bus and tube bombs in London last year."

****Army can't disarm Hezbollah fighters

****People Kill People’ In its latest airline security restriction, the FAA has banned all people from flights.

Posted by Post Scripts at 06:18 PM | Comments (0)

Cable News Race

CABLE NEWS RACE, AS OF MON., AUG. 14, 2006

VIEWERS:

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 2,059,000
FNX BRIT HUME 1,614,000
FNC HANNITY/COLMES 1,496,000
FNC GRETA 1,485,000
FNC SHEP SMITH 1,179,000
CNN LARRY KING 805,000
CNN COOPER 798,000
CNN DOBBS 678,000
CNN ZAHN 669,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 456,000
MSNBC INVESTIGATES 451,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 363,000
CNNHN GLENN BECK 354,000
CNNHN NANCY GRACE 335,000

Posted by Post Scripts at 06:14 PM | Comments (1)

High Cost of Security

From the Wall Street Journal...Delayed and cancelled flights could result in losses in excess of $570 million dollars. "At London airports Tuesday, passengers were allowed to take a single, briefcase-sized bag as a carry on and were also permitted to have mobile phones, laptops and other electronic devices. Cosmetics, gels, toothpaste, liquids and sharp objects remained forbidden. (CONT-)

As the immediate security threat at British airports wanes, airlines are beginning to count the multimillion dollar cost of the terrorist alert -- and consider who should pay. A joint compensation claim against the British Airports Authority, which operates seven airports around Britain including London's Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick, could run as high as £300 million ($570 million), based on analyst estimates of the airlines' daily losses. Many carriers claim the BAA was ill-prepared for the emergency that led to hundreds of canceled or delayed flights."

Posted by Post Scripts at 01:51 PM | Comments (1)

August 14, 2006

Hezbollah's Town Mayor is US Citizen

Excerpted from Front Page Magazine:

The Lebanese town of "Bint Jbeil's Mayor, Haj Ali Bazzi, is a U.S. citizen, with a Michigan Driver's License and an American passport. Even though he cannot speak English, he spent a short time in Dearborn and--voila!--American

citizenship was served up. Bazzi told an ABC News TV crew that he "would defend Dearborn against invasion by another state." Of course, he would--it is Little Bint Jbeil. But would he defend America against a foreign invasion? Not likely, judging from many of his relatives in Dearborn, open supporters of Islamic terrorist groups.

Shi'ite Muslim Nurse Ratchet

In October 2004, one of them, Najah Bazzy, announced--at a Michigan CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) event--that she is "embarrassed to be an American," even though she claims she is a second- or third-generation American. We're embarrassed she's American, too.

Shia Muslim Najah Bazzy: "Embarrassed to Be an American"

The Shia Muslim Nurse Ratchet, Najah Bazzy served as the head Muslim transcultural nurse at Oakwood Hospital, also in Dearbornistan. During her tenure, the hospital was raided by the FBI for providing tax-paid Medicaid deliveries to pregnant, foreign Muslim women with fraudulent social security numbers. All of those kids are now U.S. citizens, and their American birth certificates can be sold in the Muslim world's black market. Bazzy is one of the women featured in an exhibit in the tax-funded Arab American National Museum to which she donated an anti-Israel video by a fringe nurses group."

Posted by Post Scripts at 11:00 PM | Comments (2)

IMAGINE

by Tina Grazier

The American economy is not perfect and life in these United States is far from perfect, but as places go, you couldn’t ask for a more hopeful place to live. We are the only country defined and created in a simple basic truth, that human beings have rights given by God. This context has given us freedom and freedom has spawned the spirit and possibility to pursue whatever our imaginations can render. It has also freed us to fail, to become complacent. We don’t have to worry too much about tomorrow’s meal or how we will make it through the cold winter ahead. Too many of us have allowed in our blessing the space to become spoiled. We have forgotten the substance and fundamental basis of our good fortune and we have failed to pass the heritage on to our
children.

Imagine a place where:

*(y)our average income is $15 a month. Your meat ration is 3.3 pounds a month. Owning a car is forbidden unless you are among the ruling elite. Computers are illegal. So is Internet access.

The prices of the basics you need to live on are low. A decent-size urban apartment rents for $10 a month. But everything is also extremely scarce – -food and gasoline to bicycles and bank loans. To get by, you must
supplement your income by moonlighting, working in the black market…bath soap, shampoo and chicken are luxuries.

One political party…runs the government, owns everything of importance, sets wages and prices, controls all the media, makes all the plans, writes all the rules, puts up all the candidates, wins all the elections and kills or jails
the dissidents.

Fundamental human freedoms -- to speak, act, own property and trade -- are paper promises or nonexistent in… (this) paradise of government-coerced equality and shared misery. In a form of apartheid, … (you) are forbidden to
mingle with tourists.

There are many places like this on our beautiful planet. None of them are modern democracies. Modern democracies vary in how they are structured, they are not carbon copies of each other. All, however, afford the good citizens a level of freedom and opportunity and peace that the place above denies all but the elite. In modern democracies citizens have a chance to reach for the brass ring. Joe Average today might tomorrow become Bill Gates. It’s just as possible to live a simple life in a small town and be content. Modern democracies are also places of peaceful co-existence, we do not make war on one another. We settle disputes and problems in various ways, hrough negotiations and legal means, shunning, cooperative efforts, or simply taking our ball and going home. We also come to each others aid in times of trouble. It’s not paradise but it works in a world where good and bad things can happen.

And this is why we must win this war against murderous oppressors and why we must continue to spread the gift of democracy and freedom. The place described above isn’t a terrorist nation but it operates under the same oppressive kind of government. It’s a country whose leader would love to see America fall, just as the terrorist intend. It’s a picture of America's future that dictators and tyrants gleefully imagine.

* My thanks to FrontPageMagazine.com and the article by Bill Steigerwald titled “What It’s Really Like In Castro’s Cuba�

Posted by Post Scripts at 10:31 PM | Comments (2)

DRAMATIC EVIDENCE OF FRAUD

Must see media fraud, just click this link and you are in for a shock!

Posted by Post Scripts at 10:30 PM | Comments (0)

Is this Beyond the Limit of Free Speech?

Recent rally in UK...and you wonder how all those bombers could conspire to bring down all those airliners? I hope this answers the question. My question to you is, should we tolerate this in the USA under the protection of our first ammendment, or is this something more in the realm of an act of treason and insurrection?

MORE PICTURES ON SECOND PAGE....

Posted by Post Scripts at 02:14 PM | Comments (14)

August 13, 2006

FAVORITE BUMPER STICKER COLLECTION

IF YOU CAN'T FEED EM, DON'T BREED EM!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Constipated People Don't Give A XXXX.
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If You Can Read This, I've Lost My Trailer.
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Horn Broken... Watch For Finger.
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The Earth Is Full - Go Home.
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I Have The Body Of A God - Buddha.
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So Many Pedestrians - So Little Time.
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Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult.
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If We Quit Voting, Will They All Go Away?
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Eat Right, Exercise, Die Anyway.
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Illiterate? Write For Help.
~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Honk If Anything Falls Off.
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Cover Me, I'm Changing Lanes.
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He Who Hesitates Not Only Is Lost, But is Miles From The Next Exit.
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You! Out Of The Gene Pool - Now!
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I Do Whatever My Rice Krispies Tell Me To.
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Fight Crime: Shoot Back!
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(Seen Upside Down On A Jeep)
If You Can Read This, Please Flip Me Back Over...
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Stop Lights Timed For 35 mph
Also Are Timed For 70 mph
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If Walking Is So Good For You, Then Why Does
My Mailman Look Like Jabba The Hut?
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Ax Me About Ebonics.
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Body By Nautilus; Brain By Mattel.
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Boldly Going Nowhere.
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Caution - Driver Legally Blonde.
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Heart Attacks: God's Revenge
For Eating His Animal Friends
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Honk If You've Never Seen
An Uzi Fired From A Car Window.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Posted by Post Scripts at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)

AIN’T NOBODY’S BUSINESS

By Tina Grazier

"If you have 10,000 regulations, you destroy all respect for the law."
—Sir Winston Churchill

The New Deal offered welcome change for many Americans. At the time it was considered to be the definitive answer to a lot of problems if not a spiritual answer to daily and nightly prayer. Over the last sixty plus years the answers have become the problem. The role government plays in our everyday lives has grown and taken a costly toll, the relinquishing of property, autonomy, responsibility and personal choice.

The money we earn is our property. It belongs to us, yet government agencies and layers of law now determine how much of our money we keep and how much can be taken from us. They also determine how that money
will be spent. To the degree that we surrender our dollars we also surrender the right to direct those dollars. We relinquish direct participation.

Consider the various social and legal arguments of the day. School choice, welfare reform, same sex marriage, universal healthcare, corporate welfare, social security, and others are all issues of money and choice. We dress

them up a bit and make them look like important needed change but in reality we are just rearranging how and where your dollars will be used. Should the government continue to decide what we do and have or should those
decisions be made by individuals and families? Should business be required to survive on its own, or should it receive subsidies and bailouts? Is it better that these issues are a matter of personal business or a matter of the collective?

The left is committed to the collective idea. I believe this collectivism is helping to create animosity, division and failure in the country. If these issues did not include an element of government funding or subsidy they
might very well resolve locally or disappear. America is no longer a place where a few giants of industry do well and the rest barely scrape by. Education and opportunity have yielded a huge and growing middle class. Even the “poor� are well off within the context of the worlds poor. Schools are failing, in part, because we have surrendered local control. Issues, like gay marriage, if decided by individuals in each community, would likely result in diversity of communities and might eliminate the push for federal mandate and law.

The Constitution created a framework that addresses our basic rights and makes provision for settling differences. If we are to preserve this precious document we must return to a context of individual responsibility. To live free
we must be willing to take care of ourselves and our families. We must be willing to live a charitable life. We must teach our children the value of these things. And, yes, we must accept the reality that others may choose to live as
selfish misers. Will the arguments go away? No, not completely, but removing government subsidies and handouts would eliminate many of the reasons for argument and return the power of self-determination. When citizens act
responsibly, the choices they make in their lives “ain’t nobody’s business� as the old song goes. The reward would be a healthier, more contented populace.

"State control is fundamentally bad because it denies people the power to choose and the opportunity to bear responsibility for their own actions. Conversely, privatization shrinks the power of the state and free enterprise enlarges the power of the people." —Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

Posted by Post Scripts at 11:48 AM | Comments (7)

August 11, 2006

DUMB & DUMBER RUN AIRPORT SECURITY

by Jack Lee

We always close the barn door after the horse is out, I've seen this happen dozens of times in my police career...its like an obsession with management. Consider this, the UK spends several months investigating a terrorist plot using an undercover agent, they net 28 total suspects, including 24 alleged suicide bombers and they are seeking 1 more in Pakistan. As a result of that big take down, on this side of the pond Gov. Schwazenneger

authorizes the National Guard to go to airports at OAK, SFO and LAX and stand around with empty automatic weapons..waiting for uh, what, Plan B, an Al Qeada ground assault?

You don't have to be a security expert to wonder, what practical anti-terrorist role are these soldiers going to have by simply standing around the airport? What connection does standing around in a army uniform have to do with foiling a plot to carrying a liquid explosive inside a Gatorade bottle on to an airplane, as was the plan in the UK? This sort of wasted, good for nothing, military response is exactly what we might expect from a politician catering to the perceived low courage of the public, just to garner a few more votes Its a feel good effort, its window dressing and nothing more and we always do this kind stuff after the crisis is over.

But, it gets worse: Suddenly, with absolutely no warning, Homeland Insecurity decrees every liquid shall be banned from every airport in the USA. At the Oakland departure gate a 60 year old lady from Oroville is asked to surrender her .5 oz of perfume, she's not a Muslim, she's not even Arab and she's not between 17 and 35. She has a sealed, unopened gift bottle of perfume. The TSA says, toss that $75 bottle or she can't board the plane. This scenario is repeated in various forms, hundreds of thousands of times, at every airport in the USA. Long lines form, flights are cancelled, flights are delayed, tons of expensive liquids are dumped into the trash. Commerce is disrupted and millions are lost in revenue...for what? Not one single incident of an explosive liquid was found by anyone at any airport.

In the ER today, a story reads, "Harold Gilbert praised the federal government's action to bar liquids because it would be too easy to smuggle items aboard. " I wonder if Harold would be praising them knowing that the federal government was made well aware of this sort of chemical threat 5 years ago and did absolutely nothing about it until something happened in the UK? Same thing happened pre-9/11 when many flight crews complained cockpit doors were not secure and this was a big security problem...nobody listened until after 9/11.

Now back to todays dumb decision: How much mental reasoning or leap of logic would it take to say, "Ok, now before we rush out a new nationwide policy, lets consider we knew the date of departures of the bombers in the UK and it was about a week from now. We know it was a terror cell and that all were captured in the UK, save for one in Pakistan that is still at large. We know there was no link found to anyone in the USA during the two months of surveillance and we know that every person involved was of one ethnic origin, Pakistani. Given this information, what say we will announce that effective in 24 hours no liquid will be allowed on US flights. We ought to do this in order to avoid the long lines, the cancelled flights and the loss of millions in commerce, not to mention the impact on the public that has carried liquids every day since 9/11, when we were first made aware of this potential threat."

Would that be too big a risk now to give the public 24 hours of lead time before we ban all liquids and create a massive log jam and exspense? No, of course not, but then the bureaucrats that made the wrong decision were caught up in the "what if" hysteria that takes over as a big plot is disclosed. Their first worry is not about the public, its about their arces being on the line "IF" something should go wrong by giving the public a 24 hour notice for the banning of all liquids, one in a billion odds are just too great for these no-risk takers.

By the way, how long will the 300 National Guard troops (with their unloaded weapons) remain at OAK, SFO and LAX? A week, a month and then what, crisis over...lets all go home now, mission accomplished? Yep, thats exactly whats going to happen and its back life as un-usual here in California.

Posted by Post Scripts at 07:35 AM | Comments (4)

August 10, 2006

Islamo-fascist Airliner Plot Foiled

by Jack Lee

BREAKING NEWS: U.K. police foiled a plot to blow up airliners bound for the U.S. in a series of terrorist bombings that might have been as costly as the Sept. 11th attacks on New York and Washington.

Lets assume you now know all about the above story. Well, true to our name at Post Scripts there is this deeper and more reflective part of this news story that ought to be addressed. It begins as we consider what this war on terrorism is really all about and where's it leading us? It may even cause us to question our past decisions and involve reconsidering how far we will go to preserve our Constitutional freedoms, which ones would we abandon in order to survive or what qualifies as a religion and warrants Constitutional protection?

The actions of the radical factions of Islam begs us to ask, is every religion free to operate here without question, qualification or oversight? Should we seek to define what is a lawful "religion" from one that is operating inconsistent with our national security? And what should we do about a deadly religious sect that seems bent on terrorism? Our founding fathers were never challenged to consider a religion becoming a source for anything except the personal enhancement of one's life, beliefs and eternal soul. They never had to ask themselves, "What do we do if a religion becomes a force for the overthrow of our government; or when it becomes a cult of death; or where members can be easily persuaded to commit suicide or murder? Those questions and more, may be forced upon us, unless their is a dramatic change in the course of current events.

Reflecting back on today's story for a moment, it's incredibly disturbing to hear that 24 otherwise rational, law abiding individuals could conspire to murder their countrymen and believe, without question, they had the absolute moral authority to do it because it was the will of God!

These people did not arrive at this insanity by sheer coincidence, nor did the thousands of others that died doing much the same thing recently. They all failed to think rationally and they all belonged to a religious sect that preaches hate and values death more than life. This, more than anything else, was the cult-like powers that short circuited all their usual rational adult mechanisms for moral behavior, including the most universally accepted moral belief that murder of innocents is the ultimate wrong. (CONT-)

Only the most naive does not know there are Mosques that preach hate and contempt if you are not a Sunni Muslim, or that preach hate and contempt if you are not a Shiite Muslim, or that preach hate and contempt for anyone that is not of their particular Muslim beliefs, this has been ongoing for a thousand years. And then more recently, there are those religious schools, mostly confined to the Arab world, that teach Wahabisim, a fundamentalist form of Islam that instructs their students on the Koran, and teaches them justification for not only the hating and bigotry, but for the slaughter all "obstacles" in their way to the spreading of Islam across the world! This is totally inconsistent with our western values and the universal values in a rational world.

In the United States we have about 1.2 million people here of Arab ancestry. Combined with all others who consider themselves Muslim by birth or by conversion, we have a total of somewhere between five and eight million people in the USA. This is a considerable number for influence, be it for good or for evil. Currently, there is every reason for us to believe that this segment of our society could be our very best defense against radical Islamic terrorists, but unfortunately that is something that has yet to be established, yet we remain hopefully because to consider otherwise is just too unthinkable on a number of levels.

However, to be a moderate Arab or Muslim is to be just another obstacle to the fascist side of Islam. In the simplest of terms, they share the same risks as everyone else here in the U.SA. For that reason alone, we should be standing together against a common enemy. We've made this appeal before, but for a multitude of reasons, American Muslims aren't jumping up to join the fight in any meaningful numbers. Actually, they have been fairly silent in denouncing the terrorists to any credible degree, save for a very, very few. And that is a very big problem that could only create deeper divisions within this society and that will not serve their religious or ethnic interests nor will it be good for those of us trying to keep this nation united in shared ideals and goals.

Of course it's only my humble opinion, but I feel many moderate Muslims, (certainly not all) do not feel the same degree of threat that the rest of us do from Islamic terrorism, because they DO share a religion with the terrorists, albeit from differing interpretations and because they see certain controversial political issues from a unique perspective, by their background. And that, unfortunately, tends to isolate and alienate them from the mainstream opinion, a further division that isn't anymore helpful that being a fence sitter and maybe worse.

However, time and circumstance dictate they can't sit on the fence forever. Obviously, if the terrorists continue gaining momentum they will insist they either help out or face the consequences. To a lesser degree, this sentiment will be echoed by their fellow Americans, this is almost a given. And this is why I feel, the moderate American Muslim community is in a real bind and they are fast approaching that time when they will be forced to make a choice and in the most declaritive way possible. Hopefully, that will mean they become a leader as an activist partner against radical Islamic terrorism and those who support them.

They didn't ask for this situation, they didn't want to be drawn into it, but then what victim of terrorism ever did? Yet, here they are and every Islamic related terror actt pulls at them and calls for an answer. Either support the side of the fundamentalists or support the side of reason, freedom and justice. It's becoming like a moral mandate they be involved.

The moderal Muslims need join our fight if only to protect their religion from usurpation by those who have perverted and polluted it. It is also in their best interests to stop the stereotyping and animosity towards Arab and Islamic people we see growing worldwide. To take this positive stand early on will do the most to protect their religious freedom by helping to preserve and protect the nation that embraces and protects them. It's just that simple. Let's see some of that Muslim outrage get directed at the terrorists that are bringing down their religion. This would go a long way to answer some of the questions that began this article.

Posted by Post Scripts at 11:31 AM | Comments (11)

August 09, 2006

Institutions of Higher Learning Part Deux

by Tina Grazier
If the Academic shenanigans occurring in colleges around the country weren’t enough to chew on this list of the top ten books used to instruct our K-12 teachers should knock your socks off.

Top texts used to instruct future teachers of K-12:

1. Freire, Paolo, Pedagogy of the Oppressed-bible of the social justice curriculum movement by a Brazilian Marxist
2. Ayers, William., Hunt, J.A., & Quin, T. (eds), Teaching for Social Justice: A Democracy and Education Reader-Ayers is a political radical and the unrepentant former leader of the Weatherman terrorist cult

which bombed the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol in the 1970s
3. Ladson-Billings, Gloria and Tate, William F. (eds), Education Research in the Public Interest: Social Justice, Action and Policy-advocates that education professors engage in research and scholarship that promotes social justice teaching.
4. Gutstein, Eric & Peterson, Robert (eds), Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers-provide lesson plans showing how elementary and high school teachers can indoctrinate students in political radicalism in math classes.
5. Kozol, Jonathan, On Being a Teacher-shows how to use stealth in introducing left wing political advocacy into the classroom. A typical chapter, “Disobedience Instruction,� shows teachers how to inculcate skepticism of authority.
6. Barton, Angela Calabrese, Teaching Science for Social Justice-Argues that traditional science education emphasizes “corporate values at the expense of social justice and human dignity" and shows teachers how to bring left wing politics into science classes.
7. McClaren, Peter, Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and The Pedagogy of Revolution-argues for bringing Che’s “revolutionary pedagogy� into the K-12 classroom.
8. hooks, bell, Teaching to Transgress: Education as The Practice of Freedom-a leading radical feminist and Marxist, who argues that K-12 teachers must constantly educate students about the pervasiveness of sexism and racism in American society.
9. Darder, Antonia, Baltodanao, Marta and Torres, Rodolfo. (eds), The Critical Pedagogy Reader-A collection of readings by the major theorists of social justice teaching, widely used in graduate education schools
10. Reading and Writing the World with Mathematics-Eric Gutstein is a