Spectre's Blog

In this day and age with endless cameras, especially traffic CAMS, it will only be a matter of time before the horrific scene is shown on TV and/or the Internet.  In one respect, it will be useful for the forensic engineering analysis of the collapse, but I feel bad for the family & friends that will re-live the deaths of their loved ones, (reminiscent of 9/11).

Given this recent development at the U.N. (it’s about time); let me AX a question that has been nagging me for a long time.  The political Left in America has been urging the President to send troops to Darfur, (remember the commercials & Hollyweird crowd)?  I find this paradoxical given the fact that the Left is constantly whining that Iraq is a civil war, when clearly the situation in Darfur is a civil war.  Thoughts?

Former Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong,  appears in superior court for a motions hearing in Durham, N.C., Thursday, July 26, 2007. Nifong acknowledged Thursday there is "no credible evidence" that three Duke lacrosse players committed any of the crimes he accused them of more than a year ago, offering for the first time a complete and unqualified apology. 

 Looks like disbarred former D.A. Mike Nifong has changed his looks, (colors?) and although this is clearly a face of contrition, frankly, “I’m saw-wee boyz” just doesn’t seem to cut-it!  Even O. J. Simpson was afforded the presumption of innocence!  From the beginning, the case was dubious at best, but Nifong used this travesty of justice to gain political capital in the Black community in his successful re-election campaign.  Remember the pompous, bathrobe-clad arrogance Nifong exhibited in the face of significant exculpatory evidence?  Where do the Duke Lacrosse players go to “get their good names back?”  I say in addition to disbarment, he joins the ranks of other criminals....behind bars!

Well I guess John Edward's needs to reconsider his WOT Bumper Sticker statement.....I know, I know this is some type of "Bush" Administration ploy.......

Hmmm so far we have the Fort Dix SIx and now this!

Saturday, June 02, 2007

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• PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION

 FNC

Sketch of Russell Defreitas

NEW YORK —  Four Muslim men were foiled from carrying out a plot to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods, authorities said Saturday.

Three men were arrested and one was being sought in Trinidad on Saturday. In an indictment charging the four men, one of them is quoted as saying the plot would "cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks."

Authorities said the four were motivated by a pattern of hatred toward the U.S., Israel and the West.

One of the suspects, Russell Defreitas, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and retired JFK employee, said the airport was a symbol that would put "the whole country in mourning."

"Anytime you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the United States," he said on a recording made by a police informant. "They love John F. Kennedy like he's the man ... It's like you can kill the man twice."

The plot, which the men code-named "Chicken Farm," never got past the planning stages, authorities said.

• "The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable," U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf said at a news conference, calling it "one of the most chilling plots imaginable."

The men tried to reach out to a Trinidadian radical Muslim group, Jamaat al Muslimeen, which launched an unsuccessful rebellion in 1990 that left 24 dead.

Defreitas, a 63-year-old Brooklyn resident, first hatched his plan more than a decade ago when he worked as a cargo handler for a service company, according to the indictment. He was recorded saying he "wanted to do something to get those bastards."

He was arraigned Saturday afternoon in federal court and was to be held pending a bail hearing scheduled for Wednesday, prosecutors said. He did not enter a plea at the arraignment, and a phone number for his lawyer could not be located.

Two other men, Abdul Kadir of Guyana and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad, were in custody in Trinidad. A fourth man, Abdel Nur of Guyana, was still being sought in Trinidad.

The suspects believed explosives could ignite the pipeline at JFK and destroy the airport and parts of Queens, where the line runs underground, according to the indictment. In

The pipeline, owned by Buckeye Pipeline Co., takes fuel from a facility in Linden, N.J., to the airport. Other lines service LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.

Kadir, a former member of Parliament in Guyana, was arrested in Trinidad for attempting to secure money for "terrorist operations," according to a Guyanese police commander who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Kadir left his position in Parliament last year. Muslims make up about 9 percent of the former Dutch and British colony's 770,000 population, mostly from the Sunni sect.

Isha Kadir, the Guyanese suspect's wife, said her husband flew from Guyana to Trinidad on Thursday. She said he was arrested Friday as he was boarding a flight from Trinidad to Venezuela, where he planned to pick up a travel visa to attend an Islamic religious conference in Iran.

"We have no interest in blowing up anything in the U.S.," she said Saturday from the couple's home in Guyana. "We have relatives in the U.S."

Investigators received information about the plot in January 2006, according to the indictment.

Buckeye spokesman Roy Haase said the company, which moves petroleum through pipelines in a number of states, had been informed of the threat from the beginning, but he declined to detail the company's security measures.

"Given the nature of Buckeye business and the importance of this transportation network, we have an intense and ongoing communications relationship with the Port Authority, the New York City fire and police departments, the federal Department of Homeland Security and the FBI," he said.

JFK and the area's other airports remained at a heightened state of alert Saturday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said.

Jeanie Mamo, a spokeswoman for the White House, said President Bush had been briefed and updated regularly as the investigation into the plot progressed.

The arrests mark the latest in a series of alleged homegrown terrorism plots targeting high-profile American landmarks.

A year ago, seven men were arrested in what officials called the early stages of a plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and destroy FBI offices and other buildings.

A month later, authorities broke up a plot to bomb underwater New York City train tunnels to flood lower Manhattan.

And six people were arrested a month ago in an alleged plot to unleash a bloody rampage on Fort Dix in New Jersey.

..A culture of cronyism and incompetence has pervaded the federal government since President Bush took office, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told the Monitor yesterday. In a speech scheduled to take place at St. Anselm College in Manchester this afternoon, Clinton will outline a series of proposals designed to restore voters' "faith in government." "There's been such a deterioration in our expectations about our government," Clinton, a New York senator, said in a telephone interview yesterday, on the eve of what her campaign is billing as a major policy address. "We cannot remain a strong leader in the world, nor can we tackle our challenges at home . . . if we don't have confidence that our government can actually perform." Clinton reeled off a litany of what she described as recent government failures: the handling of Hurricane Katrina, no-bid contracts going to private companies for work in Iraq and the outsourcing of work to expensive contractors. In the past six years, the number of private contractors working for the government has increased by 2.4 million, Clinton said....

This just an excerpt of the litany of complaints about the Bush Administration spouted by Shillary this past week, but I was particularly “riled” with her propagation of the lie about Haliburton (KBR) and no-bid contracts in Iraq. *** HYPOCRITE ALERT *** KBR has been a DOD contractor dating back decades, (BC – Before Cheney). Anyone remember Kosovo? It seems that another President’s administration used KBR with exclusive contracts for logistics and construction projects along the lines of their current role in Iraq…….Oh why can’t I remember his name?? It’s right at the tip-of-my-tongue! I think it starts with a C, yes that’s it: President Clinton! First and foremost, there is probably no other firm that can fulfill this mission, but there’s more to the story – read on!

And don't get me started on the Katrina lie...Take a look at Mississippi -- they're taking care of business, while Charlie in the Chocolate Factory (Nagin) and Guvnah Blanco blame each other & FEMA......It's going to be fun to watch Shrillary debate Bush during the election cycle!  (Shhh....don't tell her he's not running again)!

NYC Mayor Bloomberg “stings” then sues Virginia Gun Shops for straw man gun sales.

This story really caught my eye.  NYC’s Republican-In-Name-Only (RINO) Mayor Bloomberg literally conducted undercover operations against Virginia gun shops for their role in illegal guns in NYC.  Thankfully, Virginia is fighting back and the investigators that bought the guns in an attempt to highlight “straw man” sales, might have broken federal laws in their subterfuge.  More troubling is the fact that Bloomberg is targeting legally-sanctioned retailers.  I suspect that most of the illegal guns in NYC are from theft, smuggling rings and the mob, (just like in Puerto Rico).  I understand the equation, 8 million people versus 200,000 cops, but this is not the solution!

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070509/D8P0H7DG0.
html

Uh-oh, here we go again, another Democratic governor playing the Katrina card! Hours after the disaster that struck the quaint community of Greesburg, KS, the Governor, abdicated her role as a leader-in-crises to postulate on “equipment shortages” due to National Guard deployments in Iraq. Of course, Pat “Leaky” Lahey, (D-VT) had to get his “sound bite” for the 6PM newscasts about more concern for Iraqi’s than Americans. How pathetic!

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration and Kansas' governor started Tuesday pointing fingers at each other over the response to last week's devastating tornado. By lunchtime, both sides had backed down. With President Bush set to travel to now-razed Greensburg, Kan., on Wednesday to view the destruction wrought by Friday's 205 mph twister, Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said she planned to talk with him about her contention that National Guard deployments to Iraq hampered the disaster response. "I don't think there is any question if you are missing trucks, Humvees and helicopters that the response is going to be slower," she said Monday. "The real victims here will be the residents of Greensburg, because the recovery will be at a slower pace." Sebelius said that with other states facing similar limitations, "stuff that we would have borrowed is gone." (AP) Postal inspector Paul Mezzanotte, left, and MSGT Lawayne Smith, right, raise a flag over the... Full Image White House press secretary Tony Snow fought back aggressively. In an approach reminiscent of the blame game played by the White House with another Democratic governor, Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana, after the federal government's botched response to Hurricane Katrina, Snow at first said the fault for any slow response would be Sebelius'. He said she should have followed procedure by finding gaps and then asking the federal government to fill them - but didn't. "If you don't request it, you're not going to get it," he told reporters Tuesday morning. Snow said no one had asked for heavy equipment. "As far as we know, the only thing the governor has requested are FM radios," the spokesman said. Well, not exactly. At Snow's second, midday briefing with reporters, he offered that it turned out that the state had requested several items that the federal government supplied - those radios, and also a mobile command center and a mobile office building, an urban search and rescue team and coordination on extra Black Hawk helicopters. Snow recounted a phone conversation on Tuesday between Sebelius and Bush's White House-based homeland security adviser, Fran Townsend, in which the governor said she was pleased with the federal performance on the tornado and had everything she needed. About the same time, Sebelius was doing her own backpedal from across the country. Her spokeswoman, Nicole Corcoran, said the governor didn't mean to imply that the state was ill-equipped to deal with this storm. Sebelius' comments about National Guard equipment were, instead, meant as a warning about the state's inability to handle additional disasters, such as another tornado or severe flooding, she said. "We are doing absolutely fine right now," Corcoran said. "What the governor is talking about is down the road." Sebelius has long spoken out about the fallout from sending National Guard units and equipment overseas. She says the war in Iraq is damaging domestic disaster readiness, because needed manpower is drained from states and the Pentagon is not replacing equipment at a fast enough rate. Sebelius said she asked the Pentagon in December to replenish lost resources. She also said she spoke about the issue at great length with Bush when he was in Kansas in January 2006, and that Bush assured her that the money for replacements was in his budget. Snow said the president recognizes there is a need to relieve pressure on the National Guard, and that it is one of the main reasons Bush has called for expanding the overall size of the military. But he also said that, regardless, there still are sizable numbers of personnel and equipment around the country ready to respond to disasters. "If you take a look at the way the National Guard units are dispersed, you still have considerable strength in each state," he said. --- Associated Press writer John Milburn contributed to this story.

• My apologies if this has been posted before.  In the context of many of the blogs in this forum that lament what's happening in America, I could not articulate more eloqently the slow demise of our great nation.  Here's a Democrat I could support!

(Former Colorado Governor,  Richard Lamm)

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTIC
LE_ID=50997

Clinton, Obama pull out of Fox debate

WASHINGTON, April 10 (UPI) -- U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will not participate in a Fox News presidential debate in September.

The online group Moveon.org and other liberal activists urged Democratic presidential candidates to skip Fox debates, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Former U.S. John Edwards, D-N.C., had already announced he wouldn't participate in the debate, which is co-sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus. The liberal activists charge that Fox is biased against Democrats.

Obama, D-Ill.; Clinton, D-N.Y.; and Edwards will participate in a debate that the Congressional Black Caucus is co-sponsoring with CNN in January in South Carolina, campaign aides told the Post.

"CNN seemed like a more appropriate venue," Obama spokesman Bill Burton told the Post.

U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., who used to head the caucus, told the Post Obama's decision was "unfortunate."

Well, I guess we know who’s really running the Democrat Party:  Moveon.org!

Just when I think I have a full understanding of the word incredulous…..I’m INCREDULOUS!  Sooooooo, it’s ONLY FOX NEWS that is BIASED then?

I guess this means that all of the ALPHABET soup networks, NYT and the rest of the PRINT media are FAIR and BALANCED right?  In the words of Larry-the-Cable-Guy, “I don’t care who you are THAT’s Funny!”

I really can’t blame Shrillary, Obama, or Edwards.  After all, it’s not fair that FOX would probably have thrown a few FASTBALLS.  Of course the MSM will  bring their SOFTBALLS to their debates.  "Senator Clinton, if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you  be?" 

 This is another BACKFIRE …..mark my words.....not to mention losing the LARGEST Cable News viewing** audience....WUSSIES!

** Watched by Conservatives, Liberals and Moderates

People who know me will say that I’m the ultimate optimist.  My glass is always half-full and if lemons come my way --- it’s free lemonade for all !

The world sees our self-loathing, resents our superpower status and standing and joins the fracas. Politics no longer end at the water’s edge, (eh tu Madame Pelosi?)  I find it rather amusing that as much as the “world” dislikes us, despite our philanthropy and generosity, they would give anything for a slice of the American dream.  Since I work at OIA, I frequently see “folks” from the four corners of the world.  Its fun to watch them “ooh and awe” at the sites in the Terminal and the many benefits we take for granted.

While I was in college, I worked part-time at Publix stocking shelves in the early morning hours and occasionally bagging groceries, (honorable work by the way).  To this day, I will always remember a young [East] German teenage girl not long after the fall of the Berlin wall.  She was taken to all of central Florida’s attractions, but you know what her most favorite attraction of all was?  Publix!  She couldn’t believe the quantity and number of selections of food we take for granted.  She actually didn’t believe it and had her family take her back to the store several times – she even took several photos (picture a Kodak moment)!

Secular progressives have changed Christmas break to Winter Break, and words like “gay” and “pro-choice” conveniently mask a hidden agenda.  If I attempt to disagree, they shout me down in the name of free speech, and pervert art by featuring the Madonna in elephant dung.  We offer Muslim studies for cultural diversity, yet the Bible cannot be given similar consideration.  We’ve allowed peace to be defined as the absence of war and are unwilling to make sacrifices like our forefathers during World War II. 

I haven’t given up hope entirely and I’m doing my best to pass along my conservative, Christian religious values to my children.  I am teaching them about the history of this nation, (including the bad times), while instilling a love of country and patriotism.  Fox News, (yes, I’ve used the F-word), has an interesting transition segment, which simply states:  “America has problems, but America is NOT the problem.”  I think that sums up succinctly the crossroads in which our nation stands.  (May God Bless America).  What say you? 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/ar
ticle1600686.ece

Teachers are dropping controversial subjects such as the Holocaust and the Crusades from history lessons because they do not want to cause offence to children from certain races or religions, a report claims.

A lack of factual knowledge among some teachers, particularly in primary schools, is also leading to “shallow” lessons on emotive and difficult subjects, according to the study by the Historical Association.

The report, produced with funding from the Department for Education, said that where teachers and staff avoided emotive and controversial history, their motives were generally well intentioned.

“Staff may wish to avoid causing offence or appearing insensitive to individuals or groups in their classes. In particular settings, teachers of history are unwilling to challenge highly contentious or charged versions of history in which pupils are steeped at home, in their community or in a place of worship,” it concluded.

However, it was concerned that this could lead to divisions within school, and that it might also put pupils off history.

This EXACTLY what happens under a liberal immigration policy....How convenient, they’ve had to drop both the “Holocaust” and the “Crusades” from history lessons to avoid offending children of certain races!  I would argue that since the holocaust happened in relatively modern times (as compared to the Crusades), it’s hard to place these historical events on the same plane.  Folks, if you want a glimpse of the future in America, watch what’s unfolding RIGHT NOW in just about all of Europe!  That goes for taxes, healthcare, religious freedoms, (Islam exempted), marriage and BIG government.  Never mind "those that cannot remember the past.....we're already DOOMED!"

<Excerpted from Drudge>

Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn was the star attraction at a town hall meeting today (03/24/07) in Oakland, where hundreds of people gathered to denounce the war in Iraq and call for an immediate withdrawal of American troops.

Neither Penn nor Rep. Barbara Lee, the Oakland Democrat who has opposed the war since before it began four years ago, offered much in the way of specifics for ending the conflict, and they were largely preaching to the choir. The enthusiastic and occasionally boisterous crowd of 800 or so crammed into the Grand Lake Theatre wildly cheered as Penn excoriated President Bush.

"You and your smarmy pundits -- and the smarmy pundits you have in your pocket -- can take your war and shove it," Penn said. "Let's unite not only in stopping this war, but in holding this administration accountable."

As best as I can tell Sean Penn, another Hollywood political science and world affairs expert graduated from high school, (Ridgemont High?).  Isn’t it grand to have the likes of “Spicoli” lecture us?  I’m 45-years old and since I was 12 in 1973, have followed politics and foreign policy. Throughout my college studies, I took advantage of my interests in political science and history by taking such subjects as electives.  Meanwhile, during this period, Penn’s job was to “pretend” to be someone he’s not, (in other words: acting).  In fact, I found his invective at this rally to be quite amateurish for an Oscar-winning actor. (Then again, Al Gore won an Oscar too).  Speaking of which, other than having Hollywood-types lecture us on foreign policies and world affairs, (subjects that most of them are unqualified to debate), I really dislike Gore’s lecturing me on scientific studies of climate change, despite not having the academic background – especially with respect to his actual science grades in college….

Addendum – In something like 67 short years, Hollywood has gone from being patriotic and pro-America, to a leftist, America-blaming (and hating) group of elitist, socialists.  Where are you:  Tyrone Power, Clark Gable, Mickey Rooney, Jimmy Stewart, and Benny Goodman……???