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- Mousaoui admits that he was to
hijack fifth plane
- *permanent headline* More die in Iraq
- Senate moves to legalize illegals
- Debt clock running out of time, space
- Investigators smuggle dirty bomb
materials easily through borders
- More 9/11 related mail
- Scalia give finger to reporters in
church
- Bush breaks law by signing bill not
passed by house, never watched
School House Rock on TV
- Italian PM, Berlusconi, is going crazy
- Air travel to suck even more
- Tiny company that has never made a
profit to soon rule the world
- Ex-Liberian president and war
criminal Taylor vanishes
Richard Reid, were to pilot 5th hijacked plane. What do you conspiracy theorists
have to say about that?
Excerpt:
In stunning testimony yesterday, Zacarias Moussaoui told a federal jury that Al Qaeda's original
plan called for him to pilot a fifth plane into the White House in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts He also said that Richard Reid, who
was later convicted of trying to use a shoe bomb to destroy a trans-Atlantic flight in December
2001, was to have been a member of his crew.
These guys did not place the 28 million pounds of explosives necessary to blow up the Twin Towers. Face
it, people, the plan was simple, hijack planes, crash planes and the federal government didn't give two
shits about it until it was too late.
First, the agent that nabbed Moussaoui claims that he repeatedly told (over 70 times) his superiors that
Moussaoui was connected to something bigger, possibly the hijacking of American passenger jets, and
they paid no attention. Then, FBI guy's boss takes stand and admits that he paid no attention to his
underlings memos on the subject and slapped his head on when the events unfolded on September 11th.
What Bush and his cronies have been trying to cover up is the fact that their policy of ignoring terrorism
endangered the American people and killed thousands. Their job is first and foremost to protect the
American people and they did not. They failed us. Whether it was through incompetence and not heeding
the advice of the outgoing administration, or negligence in not caring, or outright opportunism in letting it
happen to profit from it; they failed us.
By embracing the tinfoil hat arguments that was black ops, Jews, missiles, CIA ninjas or what have you that
are really responsible for that tragic day you are avoiding what has really gone on in the time since 9/11.
Also, you make our side, the left, look like a bunch of crazy wack-jobs.
37 dead after a raid by US and Iraqi military at Shiite mosque,
governor of Baghdad refuses to cooperate with USA from hence forth.
Excerpt:
Iraq’s ruling Shia alliance accused the Americans of trying to foment civil war today after a joint
US-Iraqi raid on a Baghdad mosque in which 16 people were killed.
The US military said that the raid, by Iraqi special forces backed up by US advisers, had targeted
a terrorist cell. It denied that troops entered the mosque.
Iraqi ministers have however accused the troops of tying worshippers up before shooting them
in cold blood. One minister put the death toll at 37.
The row overshadowed a suicide bomb attack that killed 40 men queueing up outside an army
recruitment centre near the northwestern city of Mosul. That "blessed operation" was claimed
by a group affiliated to al-Qaeda, which said that it had been carried out by a Saudi volunteer.
As angry Shia Muslims buried those killed in last night's operation in the northeast of Baghdad,
the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the Shia coalition which holds the largest number of seats in the
new parliament, condemned the raid.
Jawad Maliki, number two in the Dawa Party of Ibrahim Jaafari, the Prime Minister, read a
statement which said: "US forces and Iraqi special forces committed a heinous crime by
attacking the Mustafa mosque in the neighborhood of Ur. It is a serious crime with grave
political and security implications which aims to provoke civil war in the country.
"Killing a large number of followers of the Prophet’s house after having bound and tortured
them is unjustifiable. It is an attack on the dignity of the Iraqis and destroys the credibility of
slogans of liberty and democratic and pluralism brandished by the US administration."
...And Bush wonders why the good news isn't getting out of Iraq?
We have rebuilt zero roads that are not strategic for the purpose of our military. We have rebuilt zero
infrastructure like sewage systems, power stations or water works that are not primarily intended to feed
US and allied military interests in Iraq. And, we have rebuilt one bridge in the 3+ years we have been
there. What work that is being done is not utilizing Iraq's already skilled and out of work population. We
send Americans over there pay them obscene amounts of money, pay their private security forces
obscene amounts of money and then have the population go wooly on us because they have no say in
their own land.
The Iraq war was and still is a lost cause...
a new guest worker program
Excerpt:
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved sweeping election-year legislation Monday that
clears the way for 11 million illegal aliens to seek U.S. citizenship, a victory for demonstrators
who had spilled into the streets by the hundreds of thousands demanding better treatment for
immigrants.
With a bipartisan coalition in control, the committee also voted down proposed criminal
penalties on immigrants found to be in the country illegally. It approved a new temporary
program allowing entry for 1.5 million workers seeking jobs in the agriculture industry.
"All Americans wanted fairness and they got it this evening," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy,
D-Mass., who played a pivotal role in drafting the legislation.
One thing we need to do is help Mexico control their own resources and create a workforce that is paid
better than just a living wage. Mexico needs to be allowed to be a nation that can stand on its own, one
that its people don't want to leave to find work in our fields. A nation they want to stay in and help move
into the first world.
The first thing that needs to happen to make this possible its to legalize drugs. To much political
corruption South of the border is due to narcotics trafficking. If we eliminate the less desirable from the
business or help them make the transition to a legitimate aspect of the global economy so many problems
would be solved. Just imagine the $50 billion we currently spend on the wasteful War on Drugs going
towards outreach and treatment, education and research. The tax money collected off of drugs could fund
so much more and give Mexico and the rest of Latin America a resource to use in their rebirth as equals.
landmarks. Sounds good, but try doing it at 400 mph in a plane whose cockpit you've never
occupied before.
The guy who tested the 747 for the first time was fired because he did a barrel roll in it on the
inaugural flight. He had never been in the cockpit before that moment. Why, is it easier to
needless program a missile to make a 270° turn through a couple thousand feet of elevation?
Or did a CIA operative volunteer for a suicide mission and pilot that plane into the Pentagon?
Do you realize how stupid the options are that are left if it wasn't the al Qaeda hijackers that did
it?
Every pilot, my brother included, will tell you that flying a plane is the easy part. It is the taking
off and landing without killing yourself that is hard. Considering that the hijackers intended to
kill themselves while landing it must not have taken that much skill. I suggest you go and buy
Microsoft Flight Simulator and try it out for yourself. It's not that hard to make a circle that is a
few miles in circumference. I know that you are going to say something like, "Microsoft Flight
Simulator is not the same as being in an actual plane." Well, in that case you should enroll in
flight school like the hijackers did and learn to fly passenger jets like the hijackers did.
.
Re: the building chunk which exploded. It had turned to dust long before it hit the ground.
Why? Some new law of physics - a body in motion tends to turn into dust. That makes sense.
A body in motion tends to turn to dust when it collides with 78 bodies that are at rest beneath it.
SAy the building weighed 1 million tons, that's 909,091,000 kilograms. There were 110 floors in
each tower, that is 8,246,460 kilograms per floor. Now if we count the floors above the impact
zone in Tower 2 that would be 32 floors (the entire height of the Madrid tower by the way) or
264,462,720 million kilograms. When the 78th floor gave way and those 32 floors fell the twelve
feet (4 meters) the energy of the impacting force on the 77th floor and the 79th floor would be:
E = 1/2mv^2
Which is [0.5(264.5 million kilograms)( 5 meters per second)^2 = 3,305,780,000 Joules
In other words the exact same force as the jet slamming into the tower in the first place but
repeated 76 more times at greater and greater velocities, thus greater and greater energies
each time. That is why those floors turned to powder. That makes sense. Heck, it's more
energy than passed through many steel buildings that have been destroyed in major
earthquakes.
I don't know who you are or what your motivation might be, but investigative journalism
requires more than posting a picture of Mr. Kool Aid busting down a wall. Mmm - KoolAid ! I
think you already had some.
Edward Strauss
Oakland, CA
My motivation is that I am a physicist and bad physics pisses me off. Instead of the Kool-Aid guy
should I have posted a picture of a picture of a 1,500 pound Fiat that broke through a brick wall?
becomes an oxymoron.
Excerpt:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday hears a challenge by Osama bin Laden's former driver to
President Bush's power to set up military tribunals in his war on terrorism.
The arguments could lead to the most significant ruling on presidential war powers since the
World War Two era.
At issue are special war crimes tribunals Bush established shortly after the September 11
attacks for trying prisoners held at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The case could further define the balance of power between the presidency and the judiciary
after Supreme Court rulings in 2004 that put limits on Bush's powers in the war on terrorism.
If the Supreme Court does it's job I think the feds will lose. Just because someone isn't born here doesn't
mean they aren't entitled to the same unalienable rights endowed by our creator that we are.
Clock that can go to $100 trillion
Excerpt:
NASA on Monday resurrected an ambitious mission to explore two of the solar system's largest
asteroids, just weeks after budget woes killed the project.
The space agency this month scrapped the Dawn mission to orbit the asteroids Ceres and
Vesta, nearly half a year after it was put on hold because of cost overruns and technical
problems. The project's cost is now estimated at $446 million.
NASA decided to review the cancellation after the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which managed
the mission, made an appeal.
Not only can asteroids provide us with insight on how the solar system formed but it is a smart investment
financially to do so. One Iron asteroid a mile in diameter contains over $4 trillion in precious metals. It is a
good investment. It is time to start making the space program into an investment for our future.
easily you would have thought it was Columbian white-gold
Excerpt:
Two teams of government investigators using fake documents were able to enter the United
States with enough radioactive sources to make two dirty bombs, according to a federal report
made available Monday.
The investigators purchased a "small quantity" of radioactive materials from a commercial
source, according to a Government Accountability Office report prepared for Senate Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican.
The investigators posed as employees of a fictitious company and brought the materials into
the United States through checkpoints on the northern and southern borders, the report stated.
If people are motivated anything can be brought across the borders that can kill Americans. What we
need to do is not piss people off so much that they want to do it.
support HoustonWade.com at the
same time. Thank you.
punches prosecutor and hurls objects at judge. Wow.
Internet community feels warm inside
Excerpt:
Play-Doh is a childhood standard, but in one nursery school program, the play turned naughty.
Parents in the Deer Lakes School District say ninth grade students who helped with a nursery
school program made inappropriate figures with their play-doh.
Parents, give it a rest. It's funny.
Orwellian stooge
Excerpt:
The potential target: an American commercial jet.
The potential weapon: a shoulder-to-air missile that terrorists fire at the jet on takeoff.
Worldwide, at least 24 civilian aircraft have been brought down by shoulder-fired missiles, and
more than 500 people have been killed. And experts say that shoulder-to-air missiles can be
bought for only a few thousand dollars on the black market. But U.S. commercial aircraft still
have no defense system against these portable missiles.
Look out for dudes with stinger missiles!
>doesn't fall under that pretext.”
So, Bush, the President of our nation isn’t a symbol?
He isn't when he is in an anonymous elementary school.
That, and I’m supposed to believe that people who trained to fly small, arguably technically far
easier
I could argue that it is harder to fly, no onboard computer and no power controls.
to fly airplanes for not very long and not very well, we’re told, read a Boeing Owners Manual,
hopped on a 757, plopped down in the pilots seat and was able to maneuver what is comparably
a double-trailer semi-truck (or a fat indy car) at 400+ MPH into any of the three buildings that
were struck that day.
I bet an eighth grader could do it with 1 day of video game experience
But especially the Pentagon. The map you show of the flight path makes it look a bit easier than
it is. If you could see elevation in relation to distance, you’ll see a steep, curving decent
(around 270 or 280 degrees in turn and 5 to 6 thousand feet in altitude), a maneuver that a
trained airline pilot would have difficulty pulling off at that speed. So yeah, I drive a 71 Super
Beetle a few times, I’m gonna go jump in this here Indy car and waddayaknow, I won the damn
thing...
Dennis
Here is analysis from an ex-Air Force Pilot:
But being unfamiliar with flying large airplanes at high speeds, the pilot wouldn't have taken
into account the large radius required to make the turn. This would explain the circuitous 270
degree turn that was made to the impact point.
When he rolled out, he'd simply point the nose of the airplane at the center courtyard of the
Pentagon and dive toward his target. What he wouldn't know without experience is that when
you dive, you accelerate the airplane and the lift increases. This causes the nose to rise,
which would cause him to overshoot the target. In a panic, he would push forward on the
controls and overcompensate, which would account for eyewitness descriptions of the airplane
striking the ground short of the Pentagon.
Excerpt:
Scientists can grow frog and mouse meat in the lab, and are now working on pork, beef and
chicken. Their goal is to develop an industrial version of the process in five years.
If they succeed, cultured or in vitro meat could be coming to a supermarket near you.
Consumers could buy hamburger patties and chicken nuggets made from meat cultivated from
muscle cells in a giant incubator rather than cut from a farm animal.
Home chefs could make meat in a countertop device the size of a coffee maker. Before bed,
throw starter cells and a package of growth medium into the meat maker and wake up to
harvest fresh sausage for breakfast.
Welcome to the future?
Excerpt:
Regulators brought Internet political advertising under the nation's campaign finance law
Monday but declared that all other political activity on the Internet would be untethered by
federal rules.
The three Republicans and three Democrats on the Federal Election Commission unanimously
adopted a rule requiring anyone placing a paid political ad on a Web site to abide by federal
campaign spending and contribution limits.
But the rule also updates existing FEC regulations to make it clear that all other Internet
political activity, such as blogging, e-mail communications and online publications, is not
covered by the campaign law.
"Individual online political activity will be protected from FEC restriction regardless of whether
the individual acts alone or as part of a group, and regardless of whether the individual acts in
coordination with a candidate or acts independently," said Commission Chairman Michael E.
Toner.
I think they saw the futility of trying to regulate it. Let the ethically questionable tactics begin!
building instead of accepting blame for creating less than successful
offspring
Excerpt:
The parents of two boys who fell almost 30 feet through a skylight in an abandoned warehouse
intend to sue the owners of that abandoned building.
The parents believe Pan American Sites did not do a good enough job in preventing the boys
from entering the property.
The boys were playing around and jumping on a skylight in the roof of an abandoned
warehouse near Sample Road earlier this month when it gave way, sending them plummeting
onto a concrete floor.
Time to require those parents not to produce any more children.
Excerpt:
Bartels walked into the big box wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. He had his cell phone in case
of emergency, his heart medicine, his bank card, two forms of identification, and nothing else.
He spent the first afternoon watching "Chicken Little," the animated Disney film. He watched it
all. Deleted scenes, interviews, outtakes. Everything.
"They had it on a continuous loop the whole time I was there," he said. "I'd pass through the
department and say, 'Oh, it's about halfway through' or, 'I like this part. I think I'll watch it again.' "
Bartels decided not to buy anything he couldn't carry around the store. He ended up with a
jacket (for storage space), a note pad, some pencils, an electronic voice recorder, a three-pack
of underwear, a comb, a toothbrush and some toothpaste.
He lived off energy drinks, doughnuts, yogurt and Subway sandwiches.
Interesting experiment. Wal-Mart is evil.
Excerpt:
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia startled reporters in Boston just minutes after
attending a mass, by making a hand gesture some consider obscene.
A Boston Herald reporter asked the 70-year-old conservative Roman Catholic if he faces much
questioning over impartiality when it comes to issues separating church and state.
"You know what I say to those people?" Scalia replied, making the gesture and explaining
"That's Sicilian."
The 20-year veteran of the high court was caught making the gesture by a photographer with
The Pilot, the Archdiocese of Boston's newspaper.
"Don't publish that," Scalia told the photographer, the Herald said.
Isn't Scalia just cute and cuddly? Don't just want to take him home with you?
What a douche-bag.
sued over it
Excerpt:
For anyone who took fifth-grade social studies or sang “I’m Just a Bill,” how legislation turns to
law always seemed pretty simple: The House passes a bill, the Senate passes the same bill, the
president signs it.
“He signed ya, Bill – now you’re a law,” shouts the cartoon lawmaker on “Schoolhouse Rock” as
Bill acknowledges the cheers.
But last month, Washington threw all that old-fashioned civics stuff into a tizzy, when President
Bush signed into law a bill that never passed the House. Bill – in this case, a major budget-
cutting measure that will affect millions of Americans – became a law because it was “certified”
by the leaders of the House and Senate.
After stewing for weeks, Public Citizen, a legislative watchdog group, sued Tuesday to block
the budget-cutting law, charging that Bush and Republican leaders of Congress flagrantly
violated the Constitution when the president signed it into law knowing that the version that
cleared the House was substantively different from the Senate’s version.
The issue is bizarre, with even constitutional scholars saying they could not think of any
precedent for the journey the budget bill took to becoming a law. Opponents point to
elementary school civics lessons to make their case, while Republicans are evoking an
obscure Supreme Court ruling from the 1890s to suggest a bill does not have to pass both
chambers of Congress to become law.
How many times is the constitution going to be broken by this administration? This boggles the mind. I
have never heard of something like this happening. Weird, just weird. I am glad somebody caught it
though. I never would have caught it.
If it is legal to sign something into law without having both houses of congress pass it then why have two
houses?
babies
Excerpt:
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, fighting for re-election against a centre-left coalition
which includes the hard left, said on Sunday that communists had a history of boiling babies.
"I have been accused many times of saying communists eat babies," he told a rally of his Forza
Italia (Go Italy!) party.
"Go and read the black book on communism and you'll find that under Mao's China they didn't
eat babies but they boiled them to fertilise the fields.
"They say we look to the past too much, but they forget that in the opposition there are three
parties who proudly call themselves communists."
Berlusconi has often been accused of being obsessed with the "communist threat" in Italy, a
country where during the Cold War the communist party was bigger than anywhere else in
western Europe.
In the run-up to winning the 2001 election, Berlusconi said: "I can organise a conference in
which I will prove communists have really eaten babies and done even worse things."
This guy is just a freak. Is it any wonder that he is good buddies with Bush? Have you seen the videos
that have come out staring the beloved Berlusconi? Well here he is humping his chauffeur and here is
one where he eats his boogers in a cafe.
nards. She is awesome!
A 14-year-old girl told Toledo police she was abducted Tuesday by a man with a gun but got away
with help from a hammer.
Police said the quick-thinking teen found it in the man's car and used it to hit him in the groin.
According to police, the man forced the girl into his car while she was walking to her school bus
stop and said he wanted sex. So, she told him she had dropped her ring in the car and went
searching for it. That's when she felt the hammer under her seat.
Police said the girl told them she remembered a lesson from school to always search for a
weapon in that kind of situation.
She was not hurt and ran to her grandmother's house. The suspect is still being sought.
Way to go, Girlie! Kudos to you.
Excerpt:
They're adding back "amenities" - we use this term loosely - but for a fee.
Northwest Airlines put a new twist on the trend this month, announcing that it would sell some
of its aisle and exit-row seats for $15 per flight. Depending on the plane's configuration, an inch
of legroom can cost from $1.15 to $2.50.
It's a fee that only an economist could love, but it's easy to see how Northwest got there.
Old-line carriers, struggling with high cost structures, soaring fuel prices, competition from
discounters and consumers' ability to shop for deals, are looking to turn every part of the flying
experience into a profit center.
You know, Alaska Airlines thought they were saving money by getting rid of their high-paid, union handlers
but are now facing millions in fines and repairs after the unskilled, lowly-paid scabs keep crashing vehicles
into the fuselages of their airliners.
Sort of like how Bush thought he was saving $70 million by not paying for maintenance on the New
Orlean's levees but is now paying some $500 billion for the reconstruction of said city.
about to assume control of the entire tech-market. May I introduce
you to our new overlords?...
Excerpt:
As a corporate ne'er do well, Patriot financed its operations for some 18 years by issuing
millions of shares of stock, which usually traded over the counter for pennies a share. The
company has about 427 million shares outstanding, including warrants, options and convertible
bonds, according to filings with government regulators.
But Patriot's outlook began to brighten last spring, and these days, the biggest question
appears to be just how bright Patriot's future may really be.
The company focused in particular on technology for a specialized computer chip dubbed “Sh-
Boom,” which Patriot acquired in 1994. Patriot concluded that a group of patents covering the
Sh-Boom microprocessor design represented a fundamental innovation that had been
absorbed throughout the semiconductor industry. The industry just didn't realize it.
Patriot moved to correct that oversight, initially by filing a series of patent infringement
lawsuits in early 2004 against some major Japanese computer makers. The company also sent
letters to some 150 other companies, notifying them of potential infringements on Patriot's
patents.
I wish I had known about those penny stocks a short time ago...
of exile in Nigeria
Excerpt:
Liberia's ex-President Charles Taylor, wanted on war crimes charges, has disappeared from the
villa where he lived in exile, Nigeria says.
All of those supposed to have been guarding him have been arrested.
At the weekend, Nigeria said it would let him be picked up, but both Liberia and the US said
Nigeria should send him to a UN-backed war crimes court.
Mr Taylor stepped down as president in 2003 under a deal to end the Liberian civil war, which
he started in 1989.
He went into exile in Calabar, in south-eastern Nigeria.
The BBC's Mark Doyle in Freetown says there are powerful political forces at play over Mr
Taylor's fate.
Let's see how this unfolds.
"It was the funniest thing I ever saw," said Austin, Minnesota Fire Chief Dan Wilson, one of
three to respond to the non-emergency call. "I mean this is Mission: Impossible stuff."
He was referring Sunday's call to an Austin pizza parlor about a boy inside one of those pick a
toy claw machines. The three-year-old apparently got inside by climbing up the toy discharge
chute.
When firefighters arrived, the boy was inside the machine enjoying himself and patrons were
taking pictures with their digital cameras, Wilson said.
"The kid was in there playing, smiling, and laughing. He thought it was fun," said Chief Wilson,
who added, that the child wasn't in any danger, "There was plenty of air in there."
Firefighters pried open the door to the toy compartment and got the boy out. Shift commander
Ted Gilbertson said he's heard of similar incidents in the national news, "It must be easily
done."
Future heist films will be made about this kid
back to check for new pages. Right on.