January 2010 Archives

http://www.missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_9db5e032-0a22-11df-95bc-001cc4c002e0.html

Yellowstone National Park is shaking again, but jitters seem few so far.

Over eight days, more than 1,270 mostly tiny earthquakes have struck between Old Faithful and West Yellowstone. The strongest dozen or so have ranged between magnitudes 3.0 and 3.8.

That's strong enough to feel - barely. The vast majority have been too weak to be felt even nearby.

Likewise, online chatter about an imminent volcanic eruption in Yellowstone hasn't really picked up compared with the attention that a similar quake swarm drew just over a year ago.

"Perhaps we have done a better job in the past year or so helping the public understand that earthquake swarms are not unusual in Yellowstone," park spokesman Al Nash said Monday.

The largest quakes in the current swarm have included two of magnitude 3.1 and one of magnitude 3.0 late Sunday and early Monday, according to the University of Utah, which helps monitor seismic activity in Yellowstone.

Those who've felt some of the recent quakes include Tim Townsend, a law enforcement ranger at Old Faithful. Most haven't been alarming, he said, although one last week "had me running to cover, for sure."

One of the world's largest volcanoes slumbers at the core of Yellowstone.

The volcano last had a caldera-forming eruption 640,000 years ago and last spewed lava 70,000 years ago. Geologists say Yellowstone could erupt again, although the probability of an eruption within anyone's lifetime is extremely low.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htun/articles/20100128.aspx

In the past, civilian disaster relief workers generally had better gear than the military, because the main source for the civilian relief workers was the commercial market, which moved faster with innovations than the military. However, in the past decade or so, that has changed. The major source of that change has been the U.S. military, which has been increasingly rapid in its adoption of civilian gear and, more importantly, improving and adapting it for military purposes. This has encouraged civilian firms to develop new items for military use, knowing that it was more likely that the military would buy the new gear. For example, a GPS guided parachute system was developed, to provide accurate drops of military equipment. The military quickly bought this one, but the system is also very useful for disaster relief, and even some commercial applications.

I love dinosaurs! This is kind of cool!

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/01/29/big-daddy-new-tyrannosaur-species-discovered/?test=faces

T. rex's family tree just got one member larger. Scientists unearthed bones from a new dinosaur species, including an adult specimen and bones from a "teenager" that lived some 75 million years ago.

Called Bistahieversor sealeyi, the dinosaur lived about 10 million years before Tyrannosaurus rex appeared on the scene. Even so, B. sealeyi belongs to the same dinosaur linage as the famous T. rex.

Fossils from Bistahieversor (pronounced: bistah-he-ee-versor) were discovered in New Mexico back in 1998, and after many years of studying the bones, the paleontologists just announced the findings as a new genus and species, which they detail in the January issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

To the untrained eye, Bistahieversor looks like most of its tyrannosaur relatives, but many subtle features, especially in its skull, set it apart.

"When we take all these features together, it's clear that we have something different than what's been seen before," said Thomas Carr, a professor at Carthage College in Wisconsin, who studies tyrannosaurs and co-authored the paper.

http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archive/2010/01/a-gaza-power-crisis-you-didnt-see-vigils/index.shtml

No, no staged candlelight vigils for this power crisis. Why? Because there are no Israelis to blame, though the power crisis is much worse. This time it's just good old fashioned corruption and, on an even more interesting level, the rot that the Palestinian Arab welfare culture has wrought upon itself.

The very basic outline is this: The European Union pays the fuel bills for the Gaza power plant (welfare...or aid if you prefer), by giving money to the Palestinian Authority which makes the payments.

In November the EU cut off the spigot. The PA was supposed to go out and get more people to pay their bills -- collection is a big problem since most people know that it's all subsidized anyway -- and the Hamas government in the strip was also supposed to up their collection efforts and pay back the PA. Little of this has been happening, although Hamas seems to be collecting money, it's not going anywhere: Blackout in many Gazan regions due to lack of funds

So, even with all the medical aid having been sent to Haiti, we are still sending bad cases to the US for advanced care. To a system that the President will not send funds, just patients. He wants the State of Florida broken so that He can step in with billions of Federal aid and rescue them.

While people might die without the aid, I can understand the case of Florida and their reluctance to spend millions on people who are not in the system paying taxes to subsidize their care.

With the 200,000 other Haitians being given work visas, ie put on the US dole, Florida should be broke before California or Michigan if the President pushes hard enough.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100130/ap_on_re_us/us_medical_airlift_haiti

The U.S. military has halted flights carrying Haitian earthquake victims to the United States because of an apparent cost dispute, though a doctor warned that some injured patients faced imminent death if the flights don't resume.

The evacuations were temporarily suspended Wednesday, said Capt. Kevin Aandahl, spokesman for U.S. Transportation Command. The flights were halted a day after Florida Gov. Charlie Crist asked the federal government to help pay for care.

However, Dr. Barth Green, a doctor involved in the relief effort in Port-au-Prince, warned that his patients needed to get to better hospitals.

"We have 100 critically ill patients who will die in the next day or two if we don't Medevac them," said Green, chairman of the University of Miami's Global Institute for Community Health and Development.

At a temporary field hospital at Haiti's international airport, set up with donations to Green's institute, two men had already died of tetanus. Doctors said 5-year-old Betina Joseph faced a similar fate within 24 hours unless evacuated to a U.S. hospital where she can be put on a respirator.

http://www.homeland1.com/homeland-security-products/emergency-weather-meteorological-services/articles/750097-ark-emergency-management-officials-gear-up-for-intense-winter-storm/

Emergency management officials on Tuesday geared up for the expected arrival Thursday of freezing rain, sleet and snow.

Weather forecasters suggested the wicked system will have a tough time matching the intensity of last January's ice storm, which caused nine deaths, knocked out power to 350,000 Arkansas homes and businesses, downed thousands of trees and left north Arkansas communities critically short of water.

However, this round is expected to bring 3-5 inches of freezing rain, sleet and snow and up to a half-inch of ice accumulation that could be heavy enough to drag down power lines.

"It's looking like it's going to be dicey somewhere," said meteorologist Kenneth Jackson with the National Weather Service office in Tulsa. "The exact zone is tough to nail down." Tuesday's bull's-eye was on Washington County, but the prediction was so far ahead of the storm that the most severe weather could actually occur 50 miles north or south of there, Jackson said.

Dave Maxwell, director of the state Department of Emergency Management, said forecasters gave conflicting reports about where the worst weather will whack Arkansas.

One forecast showed the 15-18 counties stretching across the northernmost part of the state would see ice accumulations of a quarter-inch to a half-inch, while another forecast suggested the freezing rain and ice would slip farther south and the state's northernmost counties would be blanketed with heavy snow, Maxwell said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35072269/ns/us_news-security/

Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, draws on his knowledge of classified case files to argue that al-Qaeda has been far more sophisticated in its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction than is commonly believed, pursuing parallel paths to acquiring weapons and forging alliances with groups that can offer resources and expertise.

"If Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants had been interested in . . . small-scale attacks, there is little doubt they could have done so now," Mowatt-Larssen writes in a report released Monday by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/branchburg_police_arrests_virg.html

Somerset County investigators seized a cache of weapons including a grenade launcher and hundreds of rounds of ammunition today from the Branchburg motel room of a Virginia man, who also had maps of a U.S. military facility and an out-of-state civilian community.

Lloyd Woodson, 43, whose last known address was Reston, Va., today faces multiple offenses, including second-degree unlawful weapons possession and fourth-degree possession of prohibited weapons, Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest said.
Read the update: Virginia man had weapons cache, grenade launcher stashed in N.J. hotel roomAt the time of his arrest, Woodson was wearing a military-style ballistic vest with a reinforced steel plate and carrying a .223-caliber assault rifle that had been altered to fire .50-caliber ammunition, Forrest. He was also carrying four loaded magazines with hollow-point ammunition, Forrest said.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1145015.html

Iran is serious about developing a nuclear bomb and has the ability to produce a primitive, truck-sized version of the bomb this year, the German magaziner Der Spiegel reported on Monday.

An intelligence dossier obtained by Der Spiegel shows that there is a secret military branch of Iran's nuclear research program that answers to Tehran's ministry of defense, according to the report.

Officials who have read this document - which is currently under review by the U.S., Germany and Israel - claim that it shows that their nuclear program aimed at producing a bomb is well advanced.

The officials said to Der Spiegel that the truck-sized bomb which they are capable of producing will have to be compressed to a size that would fit into a nuclear warhead for the strategic threat potential they desire.

Der Spiegel also wrote that Israel and the West were alarmed by the dossier's revelations, as Iran could reach the compressed level of a nuclear bomb between 2012 and 2014.

Tehran has consistently denied that it is enriching uranium for weapons, claiming it is exclusively dedicated to the peaceful use of nuclear technology.

http://www.homeland1.com/homeland-security-products/air-quality-testing-gas-detection/articles/747612-app-gives-smartphones-a-nose-for-chemicals/

The smartphone now has a nose. Work at NASA's Ames Research Center, in Mountain View, Calif., has resulted in a sensor and app for the iPhone that gives chemical-sensing capabilities to the cell phone.

When the postage stamp-sized device, developed by physical scientist Jing Li, is docked to an iPhone, the phone is then able to detect low concentrations of such airborne chemicals as ammonia, methane and chlorine. The compact, low-cost, low-power, high-speed device senses chemicals in the air using a "sample jet" and a multiple-channel silicon-based sensing chip, which consists of 16 nanosensors.

"This instrument can be used for environmental monitoring of air pollutants, chemical and fuel leak detection, and homeland security and defense purposes like warfare agent detection, and at airports for explosives trace detection," Li said. Unlike the other lab chemical analysis instruments, the chemical sensor provides a small and portable tool for quick, in-situ chemical measurements, she said.

The device, funded by the Cell-All program of the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate, consumes a mere 5 milliwatts when idle and about 40 milliwatts when actually sniffing for chemicals. A typical iPhone 3G charger consumes about 2,000 milliwatts.

One interesting aspect of Li's early warning invention is that it gives civilians the ability to participate in their own security. Any smartphone owner can now become a pseudo-hazmat monitor during such incidents as suspected or actual gas leaks in the workplace, public venues or their own home.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583705,00.html?test=latestnews

The U.S. Marine Corps wrapped nearly seven years in Iraq on Saturday, handing over duties to the Army and signaling the beginning of an accelerated withdrawal of American troops as the U.S. turns its focus away from the waning Iraqi war to a growing one in Afghanistan.

....

The Marines formally handed over control of Sunni-dominated Anbar, Iraq's largest province, to the Army during a ceremony at a base in Ramadi -- where some of the fiercest fighting of the war took place.

If all goes as planned, the last remaining Marines will be followed out by tens of thousands of soldiers in the coming months. President Barack Obama has ordered all but 50,000 troops out of the country by Aug. 31, 2010, with most to depart after the March 7 parliamentary election.

The remaining troops will leave by the end of 2011 under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact.

But concerns about the success of the election -- and perhaps the loss of hard won security gains that the Marines helped cement -- are on the rise because of a growing political dispute that could see more than 500 candidates blacklisted because of suspected ties to previous regime.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3250647/Photos-emerge-of-SAS-in-action

Victoria Cross recipient Willie Apiata is one of the SAS members photographed in Afghanistan, Prime Minister John Key has confirmed.

Images emerged today of members of the New Zealand Special Air Service on patrol in Kabul shortly after they were involved in a battle in the centre of the Afghan capital.

Corporal Apiata became the first New Zealander since the Second World War to be awarded the Commonwealth's highest military award for his actions with the NZ SAS in Afghanistan.

Mr Key told reporters Corporal Apiata had volunteered to return to Afghanistan.

"We gave Willie Apiata the choice about whether to return to Afghanistan or not and he made it quite clear he did want to return and he was one of the first to return."

The New York Times reported earlier this week that the New Zealand soldiers were the only Western troops caught up in an attack by Taleban insurgents.

http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/01/21/en_pol_esp_chavez-says-that-cia_21A3318173.shtml

Chávez says that CIA report is a "declaration of war"

Western Hemisphere
Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez said on Wednesday that the concerns expressed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its report about Venezuela in the World Factbook represent a "declaration of war."

The "CIA World Factbook", which features information about all the countries in the world, considers that Hugo Chávez's Administration "purports to alleviate social ills while at the same time attacking globalization and undermining regional stability."

"The first two things are true," Chávez said at an official event. "We are alleviating the great ills that capitalism left as a heavy burden on (the shoulders) of the Venezuelan people," he stated.

"They say that we are attacking globalization. Of course, we are. We buried the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas, promoted by the United States) in Mar del Plata (an Argentine city)" in 2005, during the Fourth Summit of the Americas, the Venezuelan Head of State added, as reported by AFP.

"What do they mean by (regional) stability? Dominance? Yes, we are undermining the Yankee hegemony, we are weakening it, and we will continue to do so," he said amidst a round of applause.

Chávez considers that the concerns of the CIA are "a declaration of war." "They are sending a signal to the world for it to set its eyes on us," he said.

Among the concerns expressed by the CIA in its report, it also states that a "weakening of democratic institutions, political polarization, a politicized military, drug-related violence along the Colombian border, increasing internal drug consumption, overdependence on the petroleum industry with its price fluctuations, and irresponsible mining operations."

Chávez has said on several occasions that the intelligence agency of the United States is promoting "destabilization" against his government, supported by Venezuelan opposition leaders.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas

Notice that the intrepid ABC theorist fails to ask the company about the reference, fails to find any other reason for the reference. and slanders the military for wanting to be on a Crusade to slaughter Muslims.

With three commentators to write three paragraphs, one might assume some level of excellence and research. Of course, these are journalists. A class of people known to be almost as truthful as politicians on the campaign trail.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-military-weapons-inscribed-secret-jesus-bible-codes/story?id=9575794&nwltr=blotter_featureHed

Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.
Scopes
At the end of the serial number on Trijicon's ACOG gun sight, you can read "JN8:12", a reference to... Expand
At the end of the serial number on Trijicon's ACOG gun sight, you can read "JN8:12", a reference to the New Testament book of John, Chapter 8, Verse 12, which reads: "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." The ACOG is widely used by the U.S. military. Collapse
(ABC News)
More Photos

The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/200452.php

The United States has released a long-secret list of 645 detainees held at a military base in Afghanistan, providing the information as part of a lawsuit seeking details of the government's treatment of terror suspects.

The list was just a small part of roughly 2,000 pages of documents released by the government Friday night related to various lawsuits seeking government records about detainees.

The identities of the detainees at Bagram Air Base had been sought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

ACLU lawyer Melissa Goodman said the government also should provide details of how the inmates were captured and why they are being held.

http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archive/2010/01/afp-discovers-that-gaza-has-two-borders/

It's a small thing, but a positive step forward, and I think we have the Gaza Freedom marchers and Galloway's Viva Palestina to thank for it: No easy riding for Gaza bikers

GAZA CITY -- When Munzer Diyya wants to get away from it all, he sits astride his motorcycle and takes to the open road -- all 45 kilometres of it.

Diyya has the misfortune of being an open road enthusiast living in the Gaza Strip, a tiny territory sandwiched between Israel and Egypt and blockaded by both...

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/200363.php

I suspect children younger than 7 are being groomed for terrorism. Gotta get 'em while they're young.
Telegraph

Children in Britain as young as seven have been identified by police as being groomed for terrorism, with some already talking about become suicide bombers.

Around 10 primary school pupils, aged between seven and 10, have been referred to a Government scheme to help combat the radicalisation of youngsters.

One child was referred to the Channel Project, a national programme run by the police and Government, after shocking his teachers by writing on a school book: "I want to be a suicide bomber."

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/01/brrrr-climate-scientists-say-mini-ice-age-likely-for-20-30-years/

The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world's most eminent climate scientists.

Their predictions - based on an analysis of natural cycles in water temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans - challenge some of the global warming orthodoxy's most deeply cherished beliefs, such as the claim that the North Pole will be free of ice in summer by 2013.

According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, Arctic summer sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, or 26 per cent, since 2007 - and even the most committed global warming activists do not dispute this.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htweap/articles/20100109.aspx

Suicide bombing continues to be the most popular weapon among Islamic terrorists. But it's a much overrated tool. For example, Al Qaeda, and their Sunni Arab allies in Iraq made a major effort using suicide bombers. Nearly 2,000 men, and a few women, volunteered (including a many who were coerced or deceived) to make attacks. About 90 percent of the attacks were against Iraqi civilians or security personnel. The attacks against Americans killed 216 U.S. military personnel. There were three times as many attacks against Iraqi troops and police, and many more casualties (over 2,500 dead). Most of the suicide bomber attacks were against civilians, and over 10,000 were killed.

This effort has become the second largest suicide attack campaign in the last century. The largest was the Japanese use of suicide pilots,

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/200342.php

Combine Hustler's Larry Flynt with Coppola's Don Corleone and what do you get? Siraj Haqqani, the Taliban's Godfather of Porn.

Allow me to set the stage for one of jihad's bravest, most pious Muslim warriors.

Siraj Haqqani is the chief operating officer of the deadliest terror network in the Afhanistan/Pakistan (Af/Pak) theater, the Haqqani terror network. It was established by Siraj's father, the senile Jed Clampett of jihad, Jalaluddin Haqqani. A heretofore remorseless criminal organization, the Haqqanis realized the real growth industry (i.e. money) for the group laid in embracing the jihad. In a stunning come to Jesus, (whoops) come to Allah moment, the Haqqanis magically embraced the war against the Infidel, as well as defenseless Muslims who didn't toe their Sharia line. What many don't know is how much dirty laundry hangs off that line.

When Siraj, who is said to rival Mullah Omar for Taliban leadership, isn't sending his toughest soldiers to roam the bazaars in search of the little blue pills he uses to fuel a thirst for young boys that would have made Michael Jackson blush, he is busy making sure the closet door remains firmly shut on one of the Taliban's most damning skeletons, the Haqqani pornography ring.

The ring features Siraj's physician, Dr. Hassan Duraz as its Ron Jeremy, Siraj's uncle, Ibrahim as the impresario producer/director and Siraj's cousin, Ishak as the auteur cinematographer.

Here's how the Haqqani's horror films "art" movies are put together.

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Religion/?id=3.0.4172408447

Violent clashes broke out between hundreds of Christian Copts and police in southern Egypt on Thursday after seven people were killed in a drive-by shooting, police said. The clashes occurred outside a hospital morgue where the bodies of the Coptic Christians had been taken after the killings on Christmas Eve late Wednesday.

Six male churchgoers and a security guard were shot dead outside a church in Naj Hammadi in southern Qena province as Christians left a late night mass, Bishop Kirollos of the Naj Hammadi diocese said.

Officials said three men in a car drove by a group of worshippers as they were walking out of the Virgin Mary church and opened fire with machineguns into the crowd just before midnight on Wednesday.

The attack is believed to be in revenge for the rape of a 12-year-old Muslim girl by a Christian man in the town in November.

There were five days of riots in the town after the rape of the girl and many Christian properties were torched and damaged.

The interior ministry said it believed the attack was in retaliation for the November rape and that witnesses had identified the lead attacker.

Coptic Christians comprise 10 percent of Egypt's total population of 80 million and many complain of discrimination.

The Coptic Christian church split from the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches in 451 AD because of a theological dispute over the nature of Christ. Its theology is similar to the Eastern Orthodox church.

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.4170212429

An Egyptian soldier was killed and four Palestinians were wounded in a gunbattle during a protest over a new fence on the Gaza border on Wednesday. The violence was the most serious between Egyptian and Hamas forces since Cairo began constructing the underground steel barrier a month ago.

The 21-year-old officer died from his wounds in hospital in the divided border town of Rafah, an Egyptian security official said.

Witnesses said the Egyptians opened fire after about 200 young Palestinians hurled stones at them.

An Egyptian security official said nine police officers were slightly wounded by the stone-throwing.

Meanwhile, around 50 people were injured in clashes between Egyptian police and pro-Palestinian activists who were trying to deliver supplies to Gaza.

Protests reportedly broke out when Egyptian authorities at the port city of Al Arish ordered several trucks to go through an Israeli-controlled checkpoint.

Several hundred activists broke down the gate at the port in Al Arish late Tuesday to protest against the Egyptian decision, eyewitnesses told the media.

The protests were provoked by an Egyptian decision to allow 139 vehicles to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing, but required another 59 vehicles to pass via Israel.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/01/malaysia-church-bombed-by-muslims-over-use-of-the-word-allah-by-nonmuslims.html

A church in Malaysia has been fire-bombed in an attack that gutted its ground floor, church officials said Friday, escalating a dispute over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims.

A fire department official said all stations were on alert for more blazes at religious buildings, ahead of planned nationwide protests Friday by Muslim groups angry over the use of the word as a translation for "God" by Christians.

The three-storey Metro Tabernacle church in suburban Kuala Lumpur, part of the Assemblies of God movement, was set ablaze in the attack which took place around midnight, said church leader Peter Yeow, 62.

"Witnesses saw four people smash the glass and throw incendiaries into the church building. They came on two motorcycles," he told AFP at the scene as fire department forensic officers picked through the wreckage.

There were no casualties in the attack on the church, which occupies the corner lot of a row of shop houses and which Yeow said draws some 1,500 people weekly.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582192,00.html?test=latestnews

Health officials say contaminated heroin may have caused at least a dozen recent cases of anthrax including six deaths in Glasgow.

The rising toll has prompted Health Protection Scotland, the national agency for protecting the public from infectious and environmental hazards, to issue a warning to all heroin users to stop using the drug, regardless of whether they inject it or take it by other means.

Officials told the Times of London that the risk to others, including immediate family members of those infected, remained low.

Police and doctors believe contaminated heroin or heroin mixed with a contaminated cutting agent could be responsible for the cases, which began to come to light three weeks ago.

Anthrax is an acute bacterial infection most commonly found in hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep and goats. It usually infects humans when they inhale or ingest anthrax spores, but cannot be passed from person to person.

Not quite sure what to think of this. Is it offensive or not? Not sure. What do you think?

I am going to put it down as poor taste as leave it alone.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582116,00.html?test=latestnews

DEARBORN, Michigan -- At least nine Detroit area high school juniors are in trouble for wearing sweat shirts bearing a design that evokes the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center's Twin Towers.

Dearborn Public Schools spokesman David Mustonen has told The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press that the shirts the boys wore to Edsel Ford High School on Monday are "offensive" and in "poor taste."

The boys are Arab-American, as are about half the school's 1,700 students.

They belong to the 2011 class. On the shirts, the number 11 resembles two buildings, with the school's "Thunderbird" mascot flying toward them. Printed beneath the image are the words, "You can't bring us down."

The boys are to meet with school officials but suspensions are not planned.

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/200280.php

So much for the National Counterterrorism Center connecting the dots. That's the assessment of an article in Pajamas Media yesterday, "Shock: Government 'de-radicalization' expert was on terror watch list", which follows up on our own reporting last week about Yasir Qadhi of the Al Maghrib Institute.

A CNN report last week revealed that Flight 253 bomber Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab had attended a 16-day conference sponsored by Al Maghrib in Houston and two other Al Maghrib events in the UK. Qadhi claimed he was shocked, SHOCKED! to see a would-be terrorist attracted to their events.

But we observed that Yasir Qadhi's media company, Ilmquest, had been selling more than a dozen CD sets by Al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki even after the Ft Hood shootings inspired by Awlaki. We also noted that Qadhi had been recorded making virulently anti-Jewish statements.

Now the plot thickens. The CNN report also noted that Qadhi had spoke at the 2008 de-radicalization conference put on by the National Counterterrorism Center. I'll let the PJM article pick it up from there:

http://www.pjtv.com/v/2902

http://muslimsagainstsharia.blogspot.com/2010/01/obama-to-offer-deal-to-flight-253.html

Obama to offer deal to Flight 253 jihadist
If you try to commit jihad murder, and you have the right connections, Barack Obama may have a sweet deal ready for you. "Brennan: Deal 'on the table' for terror suspect," from Politico, January 3

The U.S. Government is offering the suspect charged with attempting to bomb an aircraft on Christmas Day, Omar Abdulmutallab, some kind of incentives to share what he knows about Al Qaeda, White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said Sunday.

Asked why Abdulmutallab should cooperate given his right, as criminal defendant, to remain silent, Brennan replied: "He doesn't have to but he knows there are certain things that are on the table... if he wants to engage with us in a productive manner, there are ways he can do that."...

http://www.totalintel.com/content/free-tis-article-week-world-adam-gadahn-releases-we-do-not-kill-innocent-muslims

Free TIS article of the week - World: Adam Gadahn Releases "We do not kill innocent Muslims"


World: Adam Gadahn Releases "We do not kill innocent Muslims"

Highlights

- American Al-Qaeda member Adam Gadhan released a video claiming that al-Qaeda does not kill innocent Muslims

- Video is al-Qaeda's attempt at damage control

- Message suggests al-Qaeda loosing popularity in the Western world

On December 12, 2009, al-Qaeda's as-Sahab Media released a video featuring infamous American jihadist Adam Gadhan on several prominent jihadist sites, including TIS-591985. Adam Gadahn, known as Azzam al-Amriki, is an American born member of al-Qaeda. Since 2004, when he first appeared in a number of al-Qaeda videos, al-Qaeda has used Gadahn to send messages to the English-speaking world.

Gadhan begins the message, entitled "The Mujahideen Don't Target Muslims" by declaring that the mujahedeen are defeating the US in Afghanistan, and that the Pakistani government offensives in Waziristan and Swat are "futile." He boasts that the mujahedeen are dealing "decisive blows to the apostate regimes in Kabul and Islamabad."

Gadhan then launches into a lengthy tirade alleging that the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), andAmerican security company Blackwater are responsible for the recent suicide bombings targeting innocent civilians in crowded marketplaces, schools and mosques. According to Gadhan, these agencies perpetrate the attacks and then blame them on the mujahedeen to discredit them. He denounces global media outlets for propagating this "conspiracy" against the mujahedeen. To support this allegation he claims that the mujahedeen are already so successful at penetrating the highest levels of the Pakistani and Afghan regimes that they have no need for desperate suicide attacks on soft targets like civilians.

Al-Qaeda's Sincerest Apologies

After elaborating on his conspiracy theory, Gadhan implores Muslims to think about who has a stronger motive to kill innocent Muslim civilians--the mujahedeen or the "crusaders." More than just suggesting that the CIA and ISI are responsible for recent suicide attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Gadhan denies that al-Qaeda kills innocent Muslim civilians. He calls recent suicide attacks "brutal, heartless, and unjust," and points out that Shari'a law forbids killing innocents.

Gadhan then offers condolences to the "unintended Muslim victims of mujahedeen operations." We note that Gadhan's apology is likely an attempt to dispel rumors that al-Qaeda intentionally targets Muslims and to renew the group's appeal to Muslims who turned away from the group due to the alleged inadvertent murder of innocent Muslim civilians.

The use of Gadhan to send this message is surprising as most of the Muslim victims are in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Using Gadhan, however, also suggests that the apology is not sincere but rather an attempt to assuage the fears of Western Muslims that the group no longer protects Muslims. The apology is likely in response to a recent report published by the US Military Academy at West Point which concluded that 85 percent of the casualties from all al-Qaeda attacks in 2004-2008 were Muslims.

Severe Damage Control

The video is of poorer quality than those normally put out by Gadhan and as-Sahab, which may suggest that the video was impromptu, produced as a response versus as a typical propaganda film. We believe this is because al-Qaeda deemed it necessary to respond to the West Point report, which was published a few days prior to the release of Gadhan's video.

The ability of jihadist groups to rapidly publish responses to current events generally gives them an advantage at reaching their audience first, before the West has a chance to respond thoroughly. In this case, however, the rapid production of the video is a disservice to the organization as it suggests the group's apology is insincere and only in response to a recently produced report defaming al-Qaeda. As such, we do not believe Gadhan's message will produce the intended results of negating current reports suggesting al-Qaeda does kill Muslims.

Furthermore, we believe Gadhan's message suggests that al-Qaeda is loosing popularity where it counts the most, with its recruitment base. Recent reports by US government agencies suggest that al-Qaeda is loosing financial and practical support. Ultimately, the video appears to be a desperate attempt to offset the murmurings of Muslims who are at least partially sympathetic to al-Qaeda's cause, if not to some of its methods. Al-Qaeda likely recognizes that the increasing number of Muslims killed in the group's attacks, is having a negative effect on those sympathies, something too costly not to address.

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/200234.php

Gunfire reported at the home of Kurt Westergaard, artist known for his Bomb-in-Turban Muhammad Cartoon.

According to the report three men tried to enter the premises but were stopped by police who guard the house 24/7.

One of the 3 perps was shot in the leg.

Police confirm that they now have massive presence at the address.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/31/judge-dismisses-charges-blackwater-guards-baghdad-shooting/?test=latestnews

A federal judge dismissed all charges Thursday against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians on a crowded Baghdad street in 2007.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina said Justice Department prosecutors improperly built their case on sworn statements that had been given under a promise of immunity. Urbina said the government's explanations were "contradictory, unbelievable and lacking in credibility."

The decision throws out a case steeped in international politics. The September 2007 shooting in busy Nisoor Square left 17 Iraqis dead and inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad. The Iraqi government wanted the guards to face trial in Iraq and officials there said they would closely watch how the U.S. judicial system handled the case.

"We're obviously disappointed by the decision," Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said in an e-mail. "We're still in the process of reviewing the opinion and considering our options."

Blackwater contractors had been hired to guard U.S. diplomats in Iraq. The shooting led to the unraveling of the N North Carolina-based company, which has since changed its management and changed its name to Xe Services.

Urbina's ruling does not say whether the shooting was proper, only that the government improperly used evidence to build the case. After the shooting, the State Department ordered the guards to explain what happened.

Investigators promised the men that their statements were to be used only for the internal inquiry and would not be introduced in a criminal case. Such limited immunity deals are common in police departments so officers involved in shootings cannot hold up internal investigations by refusing to cooperate.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/12/31/ancient-earth-carvings-amazon-jungle/?test=latestnews

Environmentalists bemoan the clearcutting of the Amazon rainforests. But an unexpected bonus has turned up: Beneath cleared jungle archaeologists are uncovering mysterious geometric designs carved into the earth.

With the help of satellite imagery from Google Earth, Brazilian archaeologists are finding more and more of the earth carvings, called geoglyphs, in the Amazon rainforest.

According to a story on environmental blog TreeHugger, The geoglyphs are believed to have been sculpted by ancient people from the Amazon region around 700 years ago, though their purpose is still unknown. So far, nearly 300 geoglyphs have been identified, but with advances in satellite imaging -- and increased clearing of the jungle coverage -- scientists are hoping to discover many more of these strange, geometric designs.

The Web site cites leading geoglyph scientist Alceu Ranzi. His latest discovery consists of five sets of geometric shapes, with circles, squares and lines that measures more than a mile from one extreme to another.

Ranzi explained that the geoglyphs are hard to locate from the ground; the advent of Google Earth and ready access to satellite data has greatly facilitated his task.

"You do not see them in the field. There is a difference in the color of grass, but it is very thin. If there were no satellite images, there would be no possibility [of making these new discoveries]."

For more on this discovery, read the full story on TreeHugger.com.