In the US, more right wing terrorism

James W. Van Brunn

Yet another right-wing terrorist has struck in the US:

An elderly gunman known to authorities as a white supremacist fatally shot a private security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in downtown Washington today before being wounded by guards who returned fire, officials said.

A law enforcement source identified the gunman as James W. von Brunn, 88. On an anti-Semitic Web site he apparently maintains extolling a "Holy Western Empire," von Brunn says he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, worked for 20 years as an advertising executive and film producer in New York and then became "an artist and author" living in Maryland.

Remember when the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning about potential violence from right-wing extremists? Remember when the pinheads at Fox News and in the wingnuttosphere said that it was just a big plot by the Obama administration to attack the right wing (link link link)? In light of this latest attack and the murder of Dr. Tiller in Kansas, I have to conclude that the critics of the DHS report are a bunch of paranoid morons.

***

I wonder what Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, and the rest of the Muslim haters will say we ought to do about right-wing terrorism. They say that we should jail people who give to Muslim charities, jail extremist Muslim clerics, hold Muslims without trial, and torture suspected extremists in order to prevent attacks from Muslim terrorists in the future. So using their logic, shouldn't we jail people who give to Operation Rescue, jail Randall Terry, and waterboard anyone who's associated with 'pro-life' or white supremacist groups?

***

One phrase in the DHS report that the wingnuts thought was particularly reprehensible was the assertion that “Rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat.”

It seemed obvious to me that extremists would attempt to recruit and radicalize veterans, but the wingnuts claimed that this was a direct attack on the American military. As it turns out, though, James W. van Brunn is a veteran. I guess that just shows that Stephen Colbert was right when he said that "reality has a well-known liberal bias".

***

The wingnuts still haven't come to terms with the latest wave of right-wing terrorism. The idiots at Protein Wisdom mentioned the shooting at the Holocaust memorial, but reserve the T-word for the latest Fox News idiocy: a theory that terrorists brought down the Air France flight that crashed in May. I wonder how those terrorists arranged for that storm?

By the way, here's how Protein Wisdom describes the Holocaust shooting: Some anti-originalist down with the idea of a Living Holocaust Museum. Funny, huh?

(cross posted at appletree)

The Gitmo Clusterf***

Detainee abuse at Guantanamo continues to shame America

Lawrence B. Wilkerson, chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, has finally admitted the obvious. Many of the detainees at Guantanamo are innocent:

Wilkerson, who first made the assertions in an Internet posting on Tuesday, told the AP he learned from briefings and by communicating with military commanders that the U.S. soon realized many Guantanamo detainees were innocent but nevertheless held them in hopes they could provide information for a "mosaic" of intelligence.

"It did not matter if a detainee were innocent. Indeed, because he lived in Afghanistan and was captured on or near the battle area, he must know something of importance," Wilkerson wrote in the blog. He said intelligence analysts hoped to gather "sufficient information about a village, a region, or a group of individuals, that dots could be connected and terrorists or their plots could be identified."

In his posting for The Washington Note blog, Wilkerson wrote that "U.S. leadership became aware of this lack of proper vetting very early on and, thus, of the reality that many of the detainees were innocent of any substantial wrongdoing, had little intelligence value, and should be immediately released."

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney fought efforts to address the situation, Wilkerson said, because "to have admitted this reality would have been a black mark on their leadership."

How could this have happened? Apparently, the incompetence that marked the early stages of our invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan extended to the taking of prisoners:

Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel, said vetting on the battlefield during the early stages of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan was incompetent with no meaningful attempt to discriminate "who we were transporting to Cuba for detention and interrogation."

Wilkerson told the AP in a telephone interview that many detainees "clearly had no connection to al-Qaida and the Taliban and were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Pakistanis turned many over for $5,000 a head."

Some 800 men have been held at Guantanamo since the prison opened in January 2002, and 240 remain. Wilkerson said two dozen are terrorists, including confessed Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was transferred to Guantanamo from CIA custody in September 2006.

To summarize, only about 3% of those who have been held at Guantanamo (and only 10% of those still being held) are terrorists. And most of the information that was coerced from the innocent detainees was probably false and counterproductive.

This is no minor crime. Remember that Bush and his cronies wanted to hold these men (and boys) without charge for the duration of the war on terror. In other words, Bush wanted to lock up hundreds of innocent men for life, just to avoid trials that would demonstrate that many had been abused and most were innocent.

As one might expect, many of those in the Department of Defense who are responsible for this sorry state of affairs have been pushing back. The most recent attempt to deflect attention from their crimes came in the form of a report which alleged that 62 former Gitmo detainees later "returned to the battlefield" to fight American troops. Predictably, the report was quickly debunked.

It's time for the Obama administration to release or charge all detainees in American custody. Obama seems to be on the right track so far, announcing plans to release more detainees from Guantanamo and continuing a program, initiated by the Bush administration, to release detainees held in Iraq. But that doesn't go nearly far enough. If the US is to stand once again for justice, then the Obama administration has to initiate an aggressive investigation to find out who was responsible for imprisoning innocent men for years at a time, who gave the orders to torture the detainees, and who tried to cover up these crimes.

***

Just last week, terrorists in Afghanistan assassinated a former detainee who had been released when it was determined that he was not a terrorist. Jawed Ahmad, 23, had worked as a journalist for Canadian media outlets and as a translator for American military forces, which is probably the reason he was killed.

Meanwhile, the glorious democratic government that the US is propping up in Kabul sentenced a journalism student to 20 years in prison for the crime of blasphemy. Parwez Kambakhsh had asked questions about women's rights during class. Earlier, Kambakhsh had been sentenced to death, but Afghanistan's Supreme Court decided that the lesser sentence was more appropriate. Kambakhsh was not represented by a lawyer during his trial.

I wonder whether the Afghan justice system was modeled after Bush's detainee policy, or if Bush modeled his detainee policy after Afghanistan's justice system.

(cross posted at appletree)

Special message promise to cowardly, cretinous, muderous 'Real IRA' terrorist retards ...

We're they're 'you know who' is going to get you cowardly, cretinous, murderous (already brain dead), bastards for this.

You'd better believe us.

This time, absolutely everyone is determined to. Everyone. Everywhere.

Nobody's with you, or for you, or going to help hide you.

Nobody. Nowhere. No how. No way.

Never. Ever.

Not In the Republic. Not in Ulster. Not in England. Not in Scotland. Not in Wales. Nor anywhere else, either.

Nope, you shit-head, scum-bag, no-marks ~~ not anywhere at all.

And you know it. And we know you're already pooing your pants, aren't you?

Anyway, suckers, see ya!

Wouldn't wanna be ya!

British 'Special Forces' active again in Northern Ireland ?

Hmmmmmm.

We honestly can't decide whether we've got good news or bad news today.

Moreover, nor can we decide whether it's genuine "leaked" type "learned by the BBC" information -- or purposely (professionally), planted Machiavellian mischievous misinformation -- and/or diabolically deliberate disinformation.

Read this remarkably surprising report and see (and say), what you think.

We say again, hmmmmm.



Don't you just hate being damned well undecided?

*(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai, India : Direct Online Mainstream Media Link

Since things are moving a million times faster than we could ever even dream of typing, for those who like learning from those at the scene, those on the ground and those in the know, we're strongly suggesting helping yourself.

MUMBAI - India - Direct Online Mainstream Media Link.



(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

Big-Bad-Brother Britain : Poxy Plots and Ploys Proliferate

Yes, we know, mister (unarguably) unelected UK leader, (and super-smarmy sidekick, Ms 'smart arse' Jacqui Smith).



You know where we live.

Right?

But what about how you'd have us live, if you had your way?

Police may get more data powers

[British Home Secretary] Jacqui Smith said intercepting communications was 'vital'

Jacqui Smith has set out plans to give the police and security services more powers to gather phone and e-mail data.

The home secretary said police risked losing the ability to fight crime and terrorism without new laws.

The government is considering creating a giant database to store details of every UK phone call and e-mail sent.

Ms Smith stressed the "content" of conversations would not be stored but she wanted a national debate on what new powers should be introduced.

And she warned that without increasing their capacity to store data, the police and security services would have to consider a "massive expansion of surveillance".

Plans to collect more data on people's phone, e-mail and web-browsing habits are expected to be included in the Communications Data Bill, due to be introduced in the Queen's Speech in November.

'Vital capability'

In a speech to the Institute of Public Policy Research, Ms Smith said:

See for yourself what this wicked witch has said.

Update:

Whilst we were still typing this, some equally concerned soul, stateside, sent us this.

Time alone will tell, eh?

*(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

Turkey Bombs, Bombs, Bombs Iraq ...

Today, as Turkey grows increasingly sick and tired of the murderous, PKK terrorists' attacks on Turks ...

Turkish warplanes have bombed Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, Turkey's military says.

For the seventh time in the last ten days, adds us at 'This Old Brit'.

So read the rest of this latest report.



Next, make a note of the note in the pic.

Now, see some more re : the PKK crew.

As the World Waves Bye-bye to the Bush Bum ...

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It seems it's time to say so long, George.

We, in the civilised world, wish we could say it's been nice ... but it ain't, so we won't.

(Pretty, pretty photo collage created by ourselves.)

There are days when all it takes is a single speech to illustrate the decline of a world power. A face can speak volumes, as can the speaker’s tone of voice, the speech itself or the audience’s reaction. Kings and queens have clung to the past before and humiliated themselves in public, but this time it was merely a United States president.

Or what is left of him.

So, see the rest of this sad/sorry state of affairs' story for yourselves, courtesy a combination of well written kudos worthy words from Der Spiegel, Al Devito, and R. J. Adams

[See also, Al Devito's "Vineyard Views" -- and see also, Der Spiegel]

*(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

Pakistani fire turns back American helicopters

Recent events have led to a rise in anti-American sentiment in Pakistan

You have to wonder how much military conflict there can be between two allies before they become enemies. Just yesterday, Pakistani units fired at American helicopters when they crossed the border from Afghanistan:

Pakistani security officials said on Monday that troops had fired on U.S. military helicopters and forced them to turn back to Afghanistan. According to the security officials, the incident took place near Angor Adda, a village in the tribal region of South Waziristan where officials have said U.S. commandos in helicopters raided a suspected al Qaeda and Taliban camp earlier this month.

"The U.S. choppers came into Pakistan by just 100 to 150 meters at Angor Adda. Even then our troops did not spare them, opened fire on them and they turned away," said one security official.

While Angor Adda villagers and officials supported that account, the U.S. and Pakistani military denied the report.

Pakistani and American officials have to deny that incidents like this take place, because neither side wants to go to war. But it's unlikely that villagers and Pakistani security forces would conspire to fabricate an incident like this, and hard to see how war can be avoided if Pakistani and American soldiers begin killing one another. Tensions between the two countries have become inflamed recently, thanks to Bush's new policy of allowing Special Forces units to conduct raids against suspected Taliban strongholds inside Pakistan, without the permission of the Pakistani government.

It's possible that the Pakistani government would confine their opposition to raids inside their country if they had been effective. But recent raids have killed dozens of Pakistani civilians and failed to kill any al Qaeda or Taliban leaders. Under these circumstances, there's no way that Pakistan's new government would be able to maintain power while allowing American raids.

This comes at a time when Bush is telling his commanders in Afghanistan that he can only fulfill half of their recent request for more troops, so you might think that Bush would do everything possible to avoid starting yet another war with either Iran or Pakistan. But instead, he seems to be doing everything he can to antagonize those countries. General Jeffrey Schloesser, the commander of American forces on the Afghan/Pakistani frontier, threatened to start "a new kind of war" if Pakistan continues to allow militants to cross to and from Afghanistan. And he's been taking steps toward a blockade of Iran, in what some analysts say is an attempt to lock his successor into an aggressive anti-Iranian policy.

So to recap, Bush is telling his commanders that we don't have enough troops to fulfill their requests. But at the same time, he's engaging in increasingly hostile and provocative actions directed at Iran and Pakistan. That doesn't seem very smart, when you consider the fact that Iran is as large, in terms of both area and population, as Iraq and Afghanistan put together. And Pakistan is the world's 6th most populous country, with 172 million inhabitants. And Pakistan has nuclear weapons.

So this is foreign policy during the Bush era. And John McCain is promising more of the same.

(cross posted at appletree)

Gordon Brown's Government's Great British Gestapo Plot ...

Apparently, lots of us are learning a lot lately about a supposed terrorist type plot against Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

However, how many, we wonder, have as yet even begun to get to grips with the insidious implications of this mean spirited, mendacious miscreant of a man's government's shockingly sinister plot of it's own?

You know, the good old Great British Gestapo Plot.


What a woeful way to goddamn go, eh?

We began by giving Blair, Bush and their respective bunches of bad-ass bandits an inch, and the bastards took a million bloody miles. And when we say "bloody" we do mean "bloody".

Then, Blair buggered off before he was effed off, and we gave the supposed good-guy Gordo a go.

Now, super-snide as he so obviously is, this Brown bum gives us this shit.

Psst. Listen. Hear we now. We kid ye not.

We don't even dare to imagine what this mangy, manic mob of mega-Machiavellian madmen may have headed our way next.

Do you?

(Cross posted at 'appletree')

10 Years On - The "Obscenity" of Omagh ...

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Shown below are 28 faces of 29 mass murder victims.
At their family's request, the face of the 29th victim was never published for 'public consumption'.



Today's post is in respectful memory of the 29 innocent Irish civilians callously murdered in cold blood by cowards, in Omagh, ten years ago today.











Our only comment is this:

Our father came from a Scottish 'orange' Protestant family. Our mother came from an Irish Catholic family. Against the wishes of their respective relatives, they married -- and produced four sons and a daughter, including ourselves of course.

None of us have turned out be terrorists. Nor have any of us become murderers, nor extremists nor even plain old ignorant bigots.

Moral of our personal story?

You tell us.

Is Britain Becoming "a fortress"? Being Built (by proxy) by Foreigners?

An over the top illustration? We know there are plenty of people who'll say precisely that. That's as may be. Every one's entitled to a personal opinion. Though we do have to wonder for how long.



Thanks to one of our regular readers, 'sweet old lady', we were pointed in the direction of this amazing/alarming article.

We believe that everyone should read it.

We don't doubt for a moment that readers will see this piece from entirely opposite perspectives, and indeed, isn't that exactly the kind of thing we mentioned at the outset? Every one's entitlement to personal opinions? And the freedom to voice said opinions?

Anyway, here's tasty teaser or two to tempt you into reading this article in it's entirety.

"Sensing opportunity as the war on terror grinds on, its neoconservative architects have swooped in from across the Atlantic to establish their presence in Britain. With ties to the arms industry and the neoconservative wing of the Israel lobby, the Henry Jackson Society seems to be assuming the role that the Committee on Present Danger played in the United States. Its Israel-centric worldview, as exhibited by its roster of speakers, predisposes it towards perpetual conflict. The support for a militarized ethnocracy is not the natural inclination of a liberal-democratic Britain; it can only be sustained in a context where Israel can be seen aligned with Britain in an overarching conflict against a common enemy."

(snip)

"Fear obscures reason, intensifies emotions and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue... Such fear-mongering, reinforced by security entrepreneurs, the mass media and the entertainment industry, generates its own momentum."

In Britain each of the New Labour government's political missteps has been accompanied by similar fear-mongering. While a terrorist threat does exist, its magnitude is wildly exaggerated. The European Police Office (Europol) released its first report on terrorism last year which listed 498 terrorist attacks for Europe in 2006; only one was attributed to Muslims. The majority - 136 - were carried out by the Basque separatist group ETA; only one of them deadly. When it came to the arrests on terrorism related charges, however, a good half were Muslims.

(snip)

From Beirut, an outraged Robert Fisk wrote:

"Stephenson's job is to frighten the British people, not to stop the crimes that are the real reason for the British to be frightened ...I'm all for arresting criminals...But I don't think Paul Stephenson is. I think he huffs and he puffs but I do not think he stands for law and order. He works for the Ministry of Fear which, by its very nature, is not interested in motives or injustice."

(snip)

On November 18, 1822, the Observer reported that nearly "a million
bushels of human and inhuman bones" had been imported in the previous year from Europe into the port of Hull. Battlefields swept alike of the "bones of the hero and the horse which he rode" delivered their haul to Yorkshire bone grinders who reduced them to granulary state. "In this condition they are sold to the farmers to manure their lands."[8] Two centuries on, the gap between the 'support our troops' rhetoric and reality has yet to be bridged.

An internal report into the state of the British Military obtained by The Independent on May 11 reveals that soldiers are living in such poverty that they can't even afford food, with many living on emergency food voucher schemes set up by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). "Commanders are attempting to tackle the problem through 'Hungry Soldier' schemes, under which destitute soldiers are given loans to enable them to eat" the paper reported

Read the rest of these remarkable writings right here.

Now, opine away. For the floor is all yours.

(Cross posted at 'appletree')

Today We Talk About Turkey, Terrorism and the Turkish Hizbullah/Hizbollah ...

Whenever we bloggers blog, we invariably hope to hell that somebody, somewhere spends at least some of their time reading what we've written. And whenever we're 'linked' by any brother/sister bloggers we're bound to believe it's 'nice' - and to brag a bit too - to say the least.

It's nicer still when any of those links are from 'foreigners' from far off places.

As for as ourselves, for reasons that should be obvious to all our regular readers, it's particularly pleasing to find ourselves/our work being talked about by Turks ... in Turkey.

And it's nicer still when a subject we had fully intended to talk about in some detail - soon - turns out to have already been done for us ... entirely unplanned and entirely independently.

So, here for personal perusal is a snip from today's "Turkish Blog Count."

Attack on the US Consulate in Istanbul

As noted above, on July 9th an attack against the US Consulate building in Istanbul was carried out.

Three policeman were killed as well as three attackers, the real blog buzz, however, is focused on not only why the attack was carried out, but who was responsible, and how it was handled by the authorities.

Read the rest of that report, right here. And, note that the next clip & paste is the previously referred to reference/link (within that article) to 'This Old Brit'.

In fact, a non-Turkish blog stated that they were convinced the attacks were carried out by Kurdish terrorist groups as well:

Now, nobody should have seriously supposed we were set to leave this very, very interesting topic alone ... before we'd sown some seeds. Well, should they?

So here's what we want to say.

We smell the stink of something fishy. In fact we strongly suspect that somebody, somewhere is setting somebody, somewhere up for something.

And, setting them up for something special. Such as... something as (seriously), special as carrying somebody else's can.

What's more, we'd sincerely suggest we're all set to see & hear said 'something special', pretty soon.

As always though, time alone will tell.


Turkish Hizbullah/Hizbollah.

(Cross posted at 'appletree')

Today in Istanbul, Turkey: Terror Attack on American Consulate

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Merhaba.

Anyone following our humble blog, even on only a semi-regular basis, can't fail to have realised we have an ongoing, passionate love affair with one particular place called Turkey. Or, as almost all British holiday companies and travel agents have long preferred to refer to it as -- "Paradise".



Paradise of course for those who've never experienced, nor witnessed, the dirty work of the Kurdish communist, poxy, terrorist, turds referred to as the PKK.

Okay, preamble over. Here's the horrible headline we're highlighting today.

Attack at US Istanbul consulate

Turkey has seen armed attacks from a variety of groups over the years

Three policemen and three gunmen have been killed in an armed attack near the US consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul, its governor has said.

The identity of the attackers is still unclear, but they began shooting at 1100 (0800GMT). The police are looking for a fourth man seen with them.

Another policeman and the driver of a police tow-truck were injured in the ensuing gun battle, the governor added.

Read the rest of this report right here.

It's only fair to say, by the way, that at the time of typing this, no one is certain that this cowardly cretinous attack is definitely the work of the PKK.

But we'll bet good money that that turns out to be the case. And before anyone begins accusing us of being against the Kurdish people - please pay appropriate attention: what we are (strongly), against is not any entire nation - but any & every terrorist group;whoever, wherever, whatever. Clear enough? Comprendo?

Incidentally, we know for a fact, first hand, that there's always a lot of crap (continuously), talked about Turkey by folk who've never actually accumulated any knowledge (at all) re; this spectacularly sucessful secular Muslim country - other than via (usually), blatantly biased, second-hand hearsay.

For example:
How many reading here were remotely aware of the other face of Istanbul?

Suitably surprised?

We certainly hope so.

(Cross posted at 'appletree')

'This Old Brit' Is Back: Back To The Same Old, Same Old ...

In case you hadn't noticed, we've been away for a bit.

But now, like it or not, we're back.

And, like it or not, here begineth the first two penneth of our own barmy brand of blogging, again.

So. What's one of the very first flippin' things we find out?

Here's what. It's that some sodding things never change.

Never. Ever.

For example, witness what follows:



Our most recently anointed appointed crappy New Labour Home Secretary, Mizz Jacqui Smith, is still as full of shit as she ever was.

And ...... that good old Oregonian guy, Gordo over at appletree, is still as great a guy as he ever was.

But you knew that, already.

Right?

By the way, before anyone blinkin' bothers to bother us by asking us ...

The answer is yes.

We missed you.

Honestly. Really.

Exactly as much as you missed us.



İyi Akşamlar.

Argh!! Today's Afghanistan Attack Against Karzai In Kabul ...

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Shit!

It's quite possible that one of our younger brothers could have been caught up in this. He's over there - among 'foreign dignitaries'. Really.

Karzai unhurt after parade attack

At least two people have been killed and 11 were hurt in an attack on a military parade in Kabul attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Security forces whisked Mr Karzai and other dignitaries away and hundreds fled as shots rang out. Two MPs were reported to be among the wounded.

The parade was a celebration to mark 16 years since the overthrow of the country's Soviet-backed rule.

A spokesman for the Taleban said the movement had carried out the attack.

Read the rest and watch the film footage.

Then please cross your fingers for 'our kid' - and for us - that 'our kid' stays safe.

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Bush Administration Can't Keep Its Story Straight On Threats

Bush and his cronies can't decide which lie to tell next

What a difference a day makes. One day Ambassador Ryan Crocker states the obvious: al Qaeda is a much greater threat in Afghanistan and Pakistan than in Iraq. But that's a bit inconvenient for the Bush administration, because it implies that to the extent that the Iraq War has diverted attention and resources from Afghanistan (and boy howdy, has it!), the Iraq War has helped al Qaeda.

So the next day, the White House makes a ridiculous "correction." The official story is that al Qaeda in Iraq is exactly as dangerous as al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Of course, that's ridiculous on its face. There's never been any danger that al Qaeda and its allies would take over Iraq. They're not even popular among the Sunni minority in Iraq. In contrast, al Qaeda's allies once ran Afghanistan and allowed them to openly operate a recruiting and training base inside the country. Those allies were propped up by the Musharraf government in Pakistan. They still control much of western Pakistan, where they harbor Osama bin Laden himself. In the unlikely (in fact, impossible) event that al Qaeda gained control of Iraq, they would control a vast supply of oil. If they gained control of Pakistan, they would control nuclear weapons.

So it's no contest. Obviously, al Qaeda in Iraq is less of a threat than al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Bush administration is lying. Again.
Read more »

Preemeptive 'St Patrick's Day' Reality Post Regarding Brendan Duddy ...

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Seeing as we've recently been saying so much re; suicides, suspicions, spooks and such ... and seeing as this coming St Patrick's Day (Monday, 17th March) is yet another crumby 'clinic day' for us ... when time so often seems to go on a go-slow and our minds tend to wander while we idle away hours hanging around in waiting rooms ... we're posting this rather revealing, real-life, peace-piece ... 'preemptively'.

That way, we won't have to worry about the real and present possibility probability of forgetting to remember in another two days time.

(Incidentally, if that breath-defying, mouth-full of a premier paragraph isn't Irish enough for you, then you're obviously already in a worse mental state than we ever were.)

Regardless ... read on.

Mr Duddy told the BBC: "The notion that big things happened in the Oval Office in Washington or in the Grand Hall of the Kremlin... actually it doesn't happen that way.
"It happens less formally and simply."

(snip)

"Without that ceasefire there would have been no Good Friday Agreement and no peace today.

Appetite whetted yet?

Then see the full story for yourself.



Brendan Duddy.

See also, Belfast Telegraph.

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A Bit About Bombs, Bikes And Bikers All In Black ...

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Originating outrageous, scurrilous, unsubstantiated, scandalous, cycle related rumours prior to pedalling them around the Internet?

Wow.

Well, bugger us standing up sideways

We really have to wonder - who the heck in the world would ever want to work in such a strange sort of way as that?



Anyway, far be it from fine upstanding fellows such as ourselves ever to finger anyone ... for anything ... but ...

Letters Discounted in New York Blast

(snip)

Police released a private security video showing a figure riding along a traffic island in the glow of Times Square's neon signs at about 3:38 a.m and getting off the bike just outside the recruitment center. About two minutes later, the cyclist rides away. Then the explosion occurs.

The images were too murky for police to get a clear description of the cyclist. But investigators were studying other security videos, including one showing a man exiting a subway station about 10 blocks away, carrying a bicycle, police said. The FBI was analyzing forensic evidence collected at the scene, Kelly said.

The commissioner cited other possible clues: a new bike discovered at about 7 a.m. in a trash bin a few blocks from the blast, and the sighting of a man on a bike near the scene moments before the explosion.

The man caught a witness' attention because he was riding slowly, wearing a backpack and a hooded jacket, Kelly said. The witness, who was buying a newspaper at the time, said the hood "pretty much covered" the rider's face.

The blast bears a striking resemblance to the two consulate explosions.

In October, two small explosive devices were tossed over a fence at the Mexican Consulate, shattering some windows; police said they believed someone on a bicycle threw the devices.

Read the explosive rest of the relevant 'suspicious cyclist' report.

Wow. Holy, high handlebars, hombres!

Bloomin' barmpot bikers and blinkin' bright brake-lights, Batman. What a weird way to go about bombing, eh?

What's next, we wonder?

The Washington war on wheels?

*(Cross posted at Appletree)

So ... We Say Again : Piss Off, Chertoff !!

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When we were first finding our way around the blogosphere, three years ago, we used to go overboard a bit. (What do you mean, we still do?)

In those early days we were still fascinated with the idea of playing around with multi-fonts and multi-colours.

As a matter of fact, at that time we hadn't even learned how to post links properly.

So, please bear that in mind when reading what we wrote re:Michael Chertoff, way back when.

P*SS OFF, CHERTOFF !!!!!!

Sad to say though, the shit didn't do as we asked. The shit decided to say.

Worse still, this same shit is still stirring up all sorts of shit in the USA - as well as elsewhere.

Witness some of the same sort of shit this same shit is saying today.

US fears Europe-based terrorism

One of the biggest threats to US security may now come from within Europe, US Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff has told the BBC.

He said militant attacks and plots in Europe over recent years had made the US aware of the "real risk that Europe will become a platform for terrorists".

Mr Chertoff said it was likely security checks on travellers from Europe would be increased.

Read the rest of today's relevant report on this rat, right here.

So if anyone on the US side of the pond sees this shitty shyster supreme, before we do, please pass on a message from us.

Ask him if he's not yet heard that with each passing day, fewer & fewer Brits (and other Europeans), are remotely interested in even considering setting foot in the US .

Tell him that we all already know better than a lot of Americans do, that modern day Bush-law-unto-himself-America is definitely NOT the place to be.

Tell him to check with US tourism experts if he doubts us. And/or suggest he sit and watch some of the hard-sell commercials we're being bombarded with on Brit TV, on a nightly basis. Absolutely BEGGING us to visit and spend some bucks. While simultaneously offering us some never seen before, cut-throat, knock-down, bloody barmy bargain basement rates.

[Awrh. We simply can't resist saying the same again.
Piss off Chertoff.
Who needs ya? Certainly not many of us over here in Europe. Nope. Not anymore, mister.]

And if someone does accidentally bump into the bum they might also like to ask him why (as uber patriotic as he's supposed to be), he's still not content with holding a regular US passport for himself. And ask him why he still adamantly insists on holding an Israeli one as well.

Dual citizenship/nationality? For a man in such a high (if not the highest), American Homeland Security position?

Homeland security? National security?

Fear? Threat? Real risk?

Er .... helloooo?

Haysoo, Maria and Yusef! The junta must be joking.

Seriously, it's still as crazy a smelly Chertoff kettle of fish as we've ever sniffed. And when we say crazy we mean completely, absolutely crackers.

The whole caboodle is crazy. Chertoff himself must be crazy.

Crazy like a f*cking fox wolf, that is.



*(Cross posted at Appletree)