Victims Of Terrorism Hit The Road

New York City has found an inventive way to honor the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks; by using their bones to fill potholes and pave city roads.

Court papers filed a few weeks ago stated that the city of New York hadn't done enough to search for remains at Ground Zero, denying victims a proper burial.

The lawsuit filed for proper burial states that the remains of about 40 percent of the victims were never recovered, and hundreds of bone fragments have been discovered in and around Ground Zero in the last six months.

Don't think it would be too difficult to find the remains of the victims, seeing as the crime scene was pretty well localized, but leave it to city bureaucracy to mess that up.

Construction employees at the Fresh Kills (love that name) landfill, where the rubble was taken to from Ground Zero, say that the process of sifting through the debris was rushed, and the debris (with a side dish of human bones) were subsequently moved onto tractors and trucks to use for road construction.

Some relatives of the 2,749 people who died in the attacks on the Twin Towers have opposed any effort to rebuild on Ground Zero, calling it "sacred ground" and that it would "disrespect those who perished there."

Sure, because a big gaping hole in the middle of Manhattan is the perfect memorial for people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, as they went about their lives.

Not to say that the world doesn't feel sorry for those who died there (I do, and I'm not an American), but wouldn't leaving Ground Zero as a heap of nothing be the best way to show those responsible for the attacks that they are winning.

One would think that moving on and showing them that they can't hurt America is the best way for the general population to go about supporting the War on Terrorism...

Leaving Ground Zero as it is today would send a message that the United States is permanently crippled by the attacks, possibly initiating more such attacks.

Instead of being the big tough guy at school who starts to cry once someone punches them in the face, America needs to be the the solid fortress that doesn't crumble as soon as the first crack appears in the wall.

Then again, maybe putting the bones of the victims of the attacks in to the city's roads maybe isn't the best way to go about honoring those who died...

Sources:
9/11 remains possibly used on roads: court papers - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070323/ts_nm/sept11_remains_dc

Terrorist School Bus Drivers

The FBI has issued an "informational bulletin" to state and local officials, warning them to watch out for terrorists trying to earn licences to drive school buses.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, "some school districts have reported an increased number of foreign nationals seeking school bus driver positions and a number of other unusual events."

"...a number of other unusual events."? That passage seems to indicate that foreign nationals seeking school bus licences in an "unusual event". In that phrase seems to lie an underlying assumption that whenever a foreign national seeks a job that brings them close to the American people, they are suspect in having evil deeds.

The FBI memo did suggest that "most attempts by foreign nationals in the United States to acquire school bus licences to drive them are legitimate." in addition, a FBI spokesman told FOXNews: "There is no plot. There is no threat. And parents and children can feel perfectly safe."

So, um, why the warning if there is "no threat"? Did the American people begin to seem like they felt safer, and the FBI just had to up the ante and give a bogus "warning"?

"Warning, your kids could be the next target of terrorists. We have no leads on the matter, and we're just making this up to give you a little scare. Don't worry, we're just incapable of making logical conclusions from random data. We just like to keep you on your toes at all times. Stay tuned for the next installment of Things To (Not) Worry About, courtesy of yours truly, the FBI. Now go back to your bomb shelters to wait for whatever we come up with next."

Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing went a bit further on the "threat" and suggested several other "threats" and how the American population should prepare for them. [link: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/03/19/fbi_terrorists_might.html ]It's quite an interesting read, not just for the entertainment, but it also gives a slightly frightening unspoken suggestion of how deeply the "terrorist scare" could scar the civil liberties and social framework of the United States. In the worst case scenario, of course.

Sources:
Boing Boing: FBI: terrorists might drive school-buses, but they probably won't
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/03/19/fbi_terrorists_might.html
Schneier on Security: Terrorist Bus Drivers
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/03/terrorist_bus_d.html
FOXNews.com - FBI Puts Local Officials on Notice About Extremists Trying to Sign Up to Be School Bus Drivers
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,259168,00.html

Terrorist Bananas

Chiquita has admitted in court paying terrorist organizations in Colombia to protect one of their most profitable banana-growing operations. Between 1997-2004 Chiquita paid the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) $1.7 million for protection.

Representatives of Chiquita told the court that the company was forced to make the payments and was acting only to ensure the safety of its workers. Sure, yet between 2001 (when the U.S. Government designated AUC as a terrorist organization) and 2004 (when Chiquita sold the plantation for $43.5 million), Chiquita paid $825,000 in illegal protection payments, whilst earning $49.4 million in profits from the operation, making it the company's most profitable unit.

Chiquita also paid the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), as control of the company's banana-growing area shifted. Both groups have also been designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S..

Chiquita looks to get away from the ordeal with a fine of $25 million in a plea deal with prosecutors.

No word on the possibility of Chiquita working with terrorist organizations to build Banana Bombs, as of yet...

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070319/ap_on_bi_ge/terrorism_bananas

Enlisting Bugs To The War On Terror

First it was dolphins and sea lions protecting the United States, now it's bugs.

The Pentagon and its Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), as well as several other companies, are planning to employ the help of bees, fish and cockroaches to sniff out chemical toxins and biohazards in buildings and subways, to decrease the risk to humans doing the same job. This is because nature's sensors and tools are more finely tuned than anything humans have engineered. I wonder what kind of work benefits there bugs will get? Oh, and the next time you step on a cockroach in the subways, you might be killing an employee of the Department of Homeland Security.

Source:
Bugging Out on Homeland Security - Popular Science
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/243434a70e131110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

US Intelligence Hot On Bin Laden's Trail, Again/Still...

Armed with fresh intelligence, the CIA is moving additional troops and equipment into Afghanistan and Pakistan in an effort to find Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al Zawahri, playing down doubts that the trail for bin Laden has gone cold.

Wait, haven't they been "hot" on his trail for over 5 years now?

It seems that concerning Bush's War on Terror, a bin Laden, alive and well, taunting the United States from some cave in a far off land is more beneficial to the terror doctrine than a bin Laden rotting in jail or six feet under. It's the classic comic book superhero/archnemesis scenario: On one hand you have the superhero, protecting society from evil; on the other hand you have the supervillain, the superhero's archnemesis, who the superhero persistantly engages in battle, fending off his minions all the time; at times the archnemesis sits back to plan his next move, whilst the superhero spends everyday fighting evil, be it small crooks or other supervillains; the archnemesis strikes at those closest to the superhero, which makes the public beg for the superhero to come and save the day; before the final battle, the public loses love for the superhero for his methods and behavior; the superhero can't attain victory over his archnemesis and the public until the very end of the saga.

Now let's translate that into today's world: Bush is the superhero, Osama is Bush's archnemesis; The War on Terror drags on relentlesly; The United States and Bush battles Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups all the time; Osama has been in hiding for years; The Bush Administration engages in battle everyday against insurgents, terrorists, as well as rogue states and their leaders such as Iran and Ahmadijaned, and North Korea and Kim Il Jon; Osama attacks American soil, American troops around the world as well as American targets, not forgetting Bush's allies; the public rallies behind Bush, sending his approval rating up after the 9/11 terrorist attacks; the ensuing and faltering wars in Afghanistan and Iraq pull Bush's approval rating way down; the hunt for Osama bin Laden continues as time begins to run out before Bush's tenure in office is over.

With Bush's second and final term in the White House drawing to an end, it's time for the superhero to catch his archnemesis. With the known capabilities of the US intelligence agencies and military forces (in addition to the capabilities the public isn't aware of), one would have thought that finding one man wouldn't be too difficult. Maybe it's not time to find him yet. Maybe the Bush Administration has a really good, solid idea of where Osama is at any given moment. Catching Osama right before the 2008 Presidential Elections would be a giant victory for the Republicans, rallying more support and votes, as well as saving Bush's legacy, making him forever the man who caught Osama bin Laden, the devil himself. If Osama is caught by US forces within the next few years, especially around the summer of 2008, the long and arduous hunt for Osama bin Laden will have been a mere political game. Think about it. It makes sense.

By the way, although Osama bin Laden might really be a supervillain, Bush's archnemesis, I am not suggesting George W Bush is a superhero in any sense of the term.

Sources:
CIA Rushing Resources to Bin Laden Hunt - The Blotter
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/03/cia_rushing_res.html (via Digg)

http://digg.com/world_news/USA_hot_on_Bin_Laden_s_Trail

Beware Of Terrorists On BICYCLES!

The newest and hottest this spring in the terrorist gadget line, all the way from Pakistan: Bicycle Bombs! What next, terrorist teenagers with skateboard bombs?!

Biking militants die when bomb explodes prematurely - CNN.com ( http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/02/24/pakistan.bomb.ap/index.html )

McDonald's Bombing: Terrorists or Hooligans?

By now everyone's probably heard that a bomb went off in a McDonald's in St. Petersburg, Russia yesterday. Sure, this happens every now and then, what with McDonald's being a symbol of American capitalism and all. There was one thing in the news reports which I've read online that caught my attention. In today's world, the word "Bomb" is always coupled with the word "Terrorism" or "Terrorist", unless used in the sense of military bombs. For example, "the bomb that killed x number of people in the market square was believed to be the work of so and so terrorists", or "the bombing of the train is being investigated as an act of terrorism". In this bit of news, the Russian Police are investigating the bombing of the St. Petersburg McDonald's as "an act of hooliganism" and have opened a criminal case "under the article of the Criminal Code of attempted murder of two and more persons" and the police doubt that this was an act of terrorism. They're not looking for terrorists, but young vandals and hooligans, in other words, criminals. Had this bomb gone off in a McDonald's in let's say France or the UK, the police would most likely be treating it as an act of terrorism. What if it had happened in America?

The only reason I can think of in this difference of thinking and labelling is that maybe the Russians can differentiate between a strong criminal act and an act of terrorism, something that the western world is having problems with. One has to take into consideration that Russia is better aware of terrorism than the western world, especially America, and has dealt with it in the past on numerous occasions. Maybe America and it's allies don't yet know what the true definition of terrorism is...

Sources:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/02/19/russia.blast/
http://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/artikkeli/1135225215438

What Happened on September 11th, 2001: Videos of Alternate 9/11 Theories

Some time ago I heard of a documentary that someone was making, demonstrating evidence that 9/11 was an inside job, among others discrepancies within the events, undermining their validity. I finally found the video on YouTube and DailyMotion. (not that I've really been looking that hard.) The documentary makes a lot of good, solid, and absolutely valid points, provoking one to actually think "what if?" There are plenty of these videos, short clips and full feature documentaries. "Loose Change" is the one I've heard most about, but there are several other really interesting ones. "9-11 Mysteries-Demolitions" and "Improbable Collapse : The Demolition of our Republic" both focus on the collapse of the World Trade Centers. The reason I preferred "Loose Change" is because of it's entertainment factor. I will not state whether or not I believe in the 9/11 conspiracy theories, or if I believe that the US Governement was behind the acts of terrorism. The reason I'm posting these videos is to provide another side of the news. Which one is the correct interpretation of the events of September 11th, 2001, that's for you decide on your own. You know the official story, here's another version or two.

I've embedded the three parts of the documentary "Loose Change, 2nd Edition" in this post. Alternately, you can watch them on YouTube, (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), or watch the entire video on Google Video or on DivX Stage 6 (download available).

Loose Change, Second Edition, Part 1


Loose Change, Second Edition, Part 2


Loose Change, Second Edition, Part 3


There are MANY MANY websites devoted to September 11, 2001, hundreds of which are devoted to trying to uncover the truth behind 9-11. I'm only listing the ones which I browsed through whilst looking at these few videos.

Videos:
Loose Change, Part 1 (YouTube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGEb40o17yE
Loose Change, Part 2 (YouTube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOVWBQKUpsU
Loose Change, Part 3 (YouTube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtV1uxYnu0w
Loose Change, Full (Google Video)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7866929448192753501&q=loose+change+recut
Loose Change, Full, High Quality (DivX Stage 6)
http://stage6.divx.com/Louder_Than_Words/show_video/1005782
9/11 Mysteries - Demolitions (Google Video)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6708190071483512003
Improbable Collapse : The Demolition of our Republic (Google Video)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4026073566596731782

Websites:
http://www.truth911.net/
http://www.improbablecollapse.com/
http://www.loosechange911.com/
http://www.physics911.net/