Fun in the Sun with ETA

The Spanish interior minister announced that French police helped Spain dodge a big one:

Their last big block party got kind of out of hand....

Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said armed separatist group ETA had planned a deadly car bombing on either Tuesday or Wednesday with the 140 kg (300 lb) of explosives and two detonators found by French anti-terrorist police in the van.

Three suspected ETA members were arrested with the vehicle and another two were detained in Paris later....

Rubalcaba told journalists the type of explosive French police found had a very short shelf-life, meaning ETA planned to use it "immediately, probably yesterday or this morning".

Spain said on June 21 it found a car packed with explosives near tourist resorts on its southern border with Portugal. That raised fears ETA could again target coastal holiday spots during peak season as it did prior to its March 2006 ceasefire.


C'mon, guys, where's your beachwear?

It's got to be tough for the ETA murderers. Al-Qaeda is stealing all their thunder by committing terror attacks in Europe, and the IRA is making them look bad by holding to a peace deal in Northern Ireland. A good truck bomb would have been just the thing to cheer them up -- and now the French, of all people, have gone and spoiled it for them. I shed a bitter tear.

But he was in a Prius, so that makes it okay

Dad's focused on carbon emissions, Mom's focused on obscenity emissions, but no one is worried about what's going INTO little Al Gore III.

The 24-year-old son of former Vice President Al Gore was arrested for drug possession on Wednesday after he was stopped for allegedly speeding in his hybrid Toyota Prius, a sheriff's official said.

Al Gore III -- whose father is a leading advocate of policies to fight global warming -- was driving his environmentally friendly car at about 100 miles per hour on a freeway south of Los Angeles when he was pulled over by an Orange County sheriff's deputy at about 2:15 a.m..

A subsequent search yielded a small amount of marijuana, along with prescription drugs including Valium, Xanax, Vicodin and Adderall, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. There were no prescriptions found, he said.

Here's a suggestion, Mom and Dad: tell little Al that his behavior is encouraging smoking, emitting CO2 and particulates from his marijuana smoke, and padding the profit margins of Big Pharma. That oughta wake him up to the dangers of the path he's on.

And even though it's good publicity for Toyota to show California drivers that a Prius can do 100, don't pat him on the head for that -- it's not exactly conducive to highway safety.

How to cripple an industrialized economy - no bombs required

A suspicious package forced the closure of a terminal at Heathrow Airport and cancellation of over 100 flights.

The departure lounge has been partially evacuated

Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4 has reopened after a suspect bag sparked a security alert.

The Metropolitan Police said it was dealing with the item which was found at the terminal just before midday.

But thousands of departing passengers are facing long delays as airport officials begin re-screening them.

All international flights from the terminal were cancelled until the evening while all European flights have been cancelled until further notice.

The alert comes after failed terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow....

A spokesperson said: "We have had to cancel 108 flights in total.

"Our flights to and from Terminal 1 at Heathrow are operating, but with some delays."

Isn't that swell? But wait - there's more!

Earlier on Tuesday a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspect device near Hammersmith Tube station.

During the morning rush-hour the station in west London and surrounding roads were closed when a suspect device was found at about 0825 BST.

There was an unconfirmed report the suspect objects had turned out to be three abandoned fire extinguishers.

Up to 8,000 commuters were forced to find alternative routes into work as Hammersmith and Barons Court stations were closed for an hour.

There were also severe delays for motorists as Hammersmith Broadway was closed between King Street and Shepherd's Bush Road as well as Hammersmith Bridge.

What does it all mean? Well, it means that all the Islamofascists have to do to shut down Britain's capital is to leave knapsacks and briefcases casually unattended in airport terminals and at Tube stations. No bombs required: the extra precautions that these suspicious packages will trigger will shut down transport and cost the economy billions of pounds.

More on the impact of "agrofuels"

The Transnational Institute sounds like the kind of "progressive" group that I personally tend to distrust. However, they make a few good points in a report on the impact of "agrofuels."

The rush for ‘biofuels’ is already causing serious damage. Far from being sustainable, the spread of what are more accurately called ‘agrofuels’ – liquid fuels produced from biomass grown in large-scale monocultures – is compromising biodiversity and fuelling human rights violations. As the industry expands, it is encouraging intensified, industrial agriculture, providing a new promotional vehicle for GM crops, and posing a serious threat to food sovereignty. The argument that these ‘biofuels’ will mitigate climate change is unproven – indeed, the destruction of rainforests, peatlands and other ecosystems to make way for agrofuel plantations may well accelerate global warming.

I happen to be less worried about genetic technology that TNI is. However, they're on the mark when they point out the folly of cutting down forests to grow sugarcane and maize for ethanol fuel production. As I've mentioned before, there are tree crops like peach palm that can over high yields of fuel value from sustainable harvests while maintaining much more of a forest ecology -- they are, after all, how humankind survived in the Amazon basin for many thousands of years before European diseases decimated the population.

Life imitates High Noon

NATO is fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban attack and then hide among civilians. NATO counter-strikes, killing the Taliban but also killing civilians. And, predictably (since this is the objective of the Taliban tactic), politicians call on NATO to rein in its strikes.

The rising toll on civilians is putting pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai -- who like the NATO chief was in Rome for a conference on the rule of law in his country -- in the bloodiest period since the Taliban government fell in 2001.

In a major incident this weekend, Afghan officials said 45 civilians had been killed by an air strike, though the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force put the toll lower.

"Our opponent mixes and mingles with innocent civilians. They are in a different moral category," De Hoop Scheffer said.

"We do not intentionally kill; they behead people, they burn schools, they kill women and children. Let us not forget."

Civilian deaths have sparked demands for the expulsion of foreign troops and Karzai's resignation. An Afghan rights group said this week that foreign air strikes had recently killed more civilians than the Taliban.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, also at the Rome talks, said he had told De Hoop Scheffer privately that "civilian casualties (are) not acceptable".

In a speech, he said both Afghan and international forces had to "act strictly in accordance with international humanitarian law" to avoid discrediting their campaign.

"However difficult this may prove against a shadowy and unscrupulous adversary, we simply cannot hide from the reality that civilian casualties, no matter how accidental, strengthen our enemies and undermine our efforts," Ban said.

Reminds me of the classic Western High Noon. Marshall Kane knows that the bad men coming after him must be confronted -- but the politicians in the town all have reasons to avoid fighting. The ones who hate Kane and want to see him dead are at least honest -- but the mayor, who claims to be Kane's staunchest supporter, simply doesn't want to see bloodshed in his town because it might give Eastern investors an impression of the town as a lawless, uncivilized place. Kane knows, and his Quaker wife comes to know, that the only thing worse than the collateral damage from confronting evil is the terrible destruction of letting evil go unchecked.

The situation in Afghanistan is war. The Afghan people have to be given a stark choice: stop letting the Taliban mingle in your communities, or die alongside them. Only when they understand this fact will they have the motivation to stand against the Taliban, if only to give themselves a slightly better chance of self-preservation.

This is hella confusing

The car parked outside a Glasgow mosque "did not constitute a threat." But the police blew it up anyway?

Officers investigating failed car bombings at Glasgow airport and London were called to the Forth Street Mosque at about 2230 BST on Monday evening.

Strathclyde Police confirmed the car was linked to the airport attack but said there had been "no specific information" that it was a threat.

There was no sign that the vehicle had contained any dangerous materials.

Superintendant Stuart Daniels, of Strathclyde Police, said the bomb squad had been called in as a precaution.

He added: "The car did not constitute a threat and we will shortly move into the phase where we will start the forensic examination, firstly with the car in situ, and then later the car will be removed for a full forensic examination."

Seems to me it must have been a threat of something to somebody -- otherwise, why set off demolition charges?

That's gotta sting, a little

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won't let Oliver Stone make a movie about him.

"I sent a negative answer by Ahmadinejad to Oliver Stone," the Fars agency quoted Mehdi Kalhor, media adviser to the president, as saying Sunday. "It is right that this person is considered part of the opposition in the U.S., but opposition in the U.S. is a part of the Great Satan."

The term the "Great Satan" dates back to Iran's late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who first called the United States that after the 1979 Islamic Revolution overthrew the country's U.S.-supported shah.

Stone's publicist in New York said the director had not been formally notified that his proposal to make a documentary about Ahmadinejad had been turned down. But in a statement released Monday, Stone said he wished the Iranian people well.

"I have been called a lot of things, but never a great satan," Stone said in the statement. "I wish the Iranian people well, and only hope their experience with an inept, rigid ideologue president goes better than ours."

I shed a bitter tear. And if Ahmadinejad is holding out for other offers like this, he should understand that Stone is at least as big a Left-wing lunatic as Michael Moore or Sean Penn.

He [Stone] has been critical of President Bush. Last year in Spain, he said he was "ashamed" of his country over the war in Iraq and U.S. policies in response to the terror attacks of Sept. 11.

*Sigh* They could have made such wonderful Art together.

Palestinian journalist seeks asylum in Norway

The situation of journalists in Gaza and the West Bank goes beyond the captivity of the BBC's Alan Johnston. Even reporters for Arab media are subject to coercion, assault and worse. One has now fled to Norway.

A prominent Palestinian journalist from the Gaza Strip has sought political asylum in Norway, Palestinian journalists said Saturday.

Seif al-Din Shahin, the correspondent for the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel network, left the Gaza Strip together with his family, they said, noting that he had received many death threats over the past few months.

Shahin's request has yet to be approved by the Norwegian government. Several other Palestinian journalists are also reported to have fled the Gaza Strip out of fear for their lives.

Earlier this year, masked gunmen set fire to the offices of Al-Arabiya in Gaza City, causing heavy damage to furniture and equipment. Although no group claimed responsibility, Palestinian journalists blamed members of Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades.

The group was also responsible for beating Shahin in two separate incidents in 2001 and 2004. The second assault followed Shahin's live broadcast of a rally held on Fatah's anniversary. The report angered Fatah leaders who had instructed Shahin and other journalists to report that tens of thousands had participated.

In 2003 he was arrested by the Palestinian Authority security forces because of his reporting. Al-Arabiya's offices in Ramallah have also been attacked by Fatah gunmen on a number of occasions.

But Fatah is also on the warpath against the other Arabic network, Al-Jazeera.

Muhammad Dahlan, the former Fatah security commander in the Gaza Strip, is said to be spearheading calls for banning Al-Jazeera. Last week he told Palestinian journalists that Al-Jazeera had been doing everything to drive a wedge and encourage schism among Palestinians. "This station has become an organ for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood," he said.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a top PLO official closely associated with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, accused Al-Jazeera of endorsing Hamas and its terrorists. "Al-Jazeera is a partner in the crimes that are being perpetrated by the terrorists of Hamas's armed wing against our people," he said.

Muhammad Hourani, a senior Fatah operative in the Gaza Strip, said Al-Jazeera was no longer an independent and objective source for news. "They are a party to the conflict [between Hamas and Fatah]," he said. He said that Al-Jazeera had refused to cover atrocities committed by Hamas in the Gaza Strip over the past few weeks and was providing a platform for Fatah's enemies.

It doesn't seem to have occurred to the folks in Fatah that they might not look as bad on TV if they (a) hadn't collapsed militarily in Gaza in the face of Hamas pressure and (b) hadn't lost the faith and trust of the Palestinian rank-and-file through corruption and high-handedness.

A key requirement for a functioning democracy is a free press that can shine a light on government malfeasance, corruption and incompetence. Doesn't sound like that's in the cards for the Palestinian Authority anytime in the foreseeable future.

Of stalagmites and prophylactics

You have to believe that the headline writer for News Corp. in Australia had a lot of fun with this story.

'Melting phallus icicle saddens pilgrims'


The Shiva Lingam, an object of veneration for the Hindu faithful

Every year, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims trek through treacherous mountains in revolt-torn Kashmir, along icy streams, glacier-fed lakes and frozen passes, to reach the Amarnath cave, located at an altitude of 3800m.

The phallus-shaped stalagmite is believed to be a symbol of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction and regeneration.

The pilgrimage, one of Hinduism's holiest, is due to begin officially this year tomorrow, although thousands have already visited the shrine.

Parts of the story read like ad copy from a Cialis commercial.

“It is melting very fast,” N K Raina, director of the Amarnath Shrine Board, said, adding that when the stalagmite was last measured on May 25 it was 3.5m tall and its circumference was 2.5m.

“Now, it has reduced to almost one-tenth of its original size,” he said, without elaborating on the reasons....

Many Hindus consider the melting as a bad omen.

“Last year, it did not appear, and this year there are reports it is melting fast,” said Rajni Goswami, a 55-year-old housewife, who is due to start for Amarnath tomorrow.

"I think Lord Shiva is angry with us.

“I will still travel to the holy cave and pray for peace in Kashmir.”

Shiv Kumar, a pilgrim from the northern Indian city of Lucknow who visited the cave this week, said he was “deeply saddened” by the “very small size” of the stalagmite.

For a guy, this Shiv Kumar has an amazing empathy with the women who've had virtually identical experiences on dates and wedding nights.

That said, this should be an opportunity for solving another problem facing India.

India, struggling to promote greater condom use among its population, is looking to hire its own "condom man" to follow the example of a former Thai cabinet minister who successfully pushed for safer sex, the Times of India reported.

National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) chief Sujatha Rao said that India needed to find someone like Mechai Viravaidya, famous for getting Thais to talk about sex, condoms and AIDs.

"We are serious about finding India's very own Mr Condom," Rao was quoted as saying after visiting Thailand to study its dramatic increase in condom use over the past decade, which contributed to a sharp fall in new HIV infections.

"He has to feel passionately about the cause as Mechai does ... have a dynamic personality to change both government policy and public perceptions about HIV/AIDS, sex and condoms," Rao said.

Viravaidya became famous in Thailand as the "Condom King" for actions such as taking condoms to World Bank talks as well as for the name of his Bangkok restaurant "Cabbages and Condoms," where condoms are a major part of the decor.

Authorities in India, where many people are hesitant to talk about sex and condoms openly, are trying to push condom use through television, radio and newspapers and by targeting high-risk groups.

Let me get this straight. You can risk your lives on dangerous and arduous religious pilgrimage to see an ice penis, but you can't talk openly about sex and condoms? Come on, people! I see the opportunity for a line of Shiva Lingam condoms, possibly with commercial tie-ins to Thermos ice chests and maybe even Popsicles.

Every little bit helps

Some good news from Pakistan.

The eight-member gang led by former fighters of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group was based in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, a senior police official said.

They used to collect materials and volunteers from the central province of Punjab, the official said, requesting anonymity.

The suspects were arrested in Punjab over the past few days.

The police are crowing.

"During the interrogation they confessed to having carried out a series of suicide bombings and bomb blasts against foreign forces in Afghanistan over the past several years,'' he said.

He identified the gang leaders as Mufti Saghir Ahmed, a veteran of the 1980s war against invading Soviet troops in Afghanistan, and wanted militant Mohammad Safeer.

Both are members of the Jaish group, he said.

Safeer was wanted over an attack on a church in the Pakistani town of Taxila in 2003.

"The suspects were preparing remote-controlled devices for the Taliban in Afghanistan,'' the official said.

"It's a major breakthrough in the fight against terrorism and reflects Pakistan's strong commitment to fight militancy,'' a senior security official said.

But the question remains: if these suspects were known, wanted men, why weren't they stopped last year, or the year before, or the year before that? Who else is doing the same thing in Pakistan and yet won't be stopped this year, or next year, or the year after? I still get the feeling that Pakistan is trying to placate both sides, rather than treating Islamic fundamentalism as an existential threat.

Cartoon hits the mark

Mike Ramirez at Investor's Business Daily.

Another fashion faux pas

Actress Liz Hurley has a clothing line (who doesn't, these days?) and a son from a relationship with "Hollywood millionaire" Steve Bing. Looks like she may have used the former to get a measure of revenge on the latter.

The bizarre image, showing Damian hiding behind giant sunglasses, featured on Liz's official website.


Withdrawn ... Liz Hurley's son Damian pictured in a bikini

The source added: "Liz suggested Damian pose in the bikini. Other people were uncomfortable with it but she insisted."

The shocking snap comes after Liz's leopardskin range was slated by politicians as being too raunchy for kids.

Detractors accused Liz of exploiting Damian for financial gain, forcing her to take the image down from her website, but I have a different theory. She and Bing had a hugely bitter dispute over Damian's paternity. Since then, maybe he got a photo or two of the lad decked out in baseball gear, as so many American dads do with their sons -- and she's countering with an image of his little man in a girl's swimsuit, plastered all over the Interweb thingy and thus a permanent meme in world culture. Damian will be able to laugh it off later, like everyone does with their goofy baby pictures, but Dad will probably be good and steamed for a good long while.

3,000 potential jihadist youth in Sydney

Australia's Prime Minister John Howard knows that Australia is at risk from homegrown Islamic terrorists -- the Muslim researcher his government hired to study the issue confirms it.

While Australia's security threat level would not be heightened following foiled terrorist attacks in Britain since Friday, the Prime Minister criticised those who sought to play down or dismiss the danger of an attack on home soil.

"What is happening in Great Britain is a reminder to all of us that, despite all the talk on occasions from some that the threat of terrorism is exaggerated in our society, it is not, and we must remain vigilant," he said.

"It is just a reminder again that we can't rest, we have to remain vigilant."

The Federal Government's project looking into the radicalisation of young Muslims is headed by a former member of Mr Howard's Islamic advisory board, Mustapha Kara-Ali, who yesterday warned that Australia's mainstream community should not take comfort in the fact that a terrorist attack has not yet been carried out on our shores.

He praised the efforts of national security agencies in arresting 22 alleged Melbourne- and Sydney-based terrorism suspects in November 2005.

"We're finding out that per capita we've got a huge number of young Muslims (vulnerable to radicalisation) compared to other countries where there's a bigger community but yet relatively the same number of extremist youth," he said.

Mr Kara-Ali - who was given a $200,000 grant by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship in June last year to investigate the radicalisation of young Muslims in Sydney's southwest - told The Australian there were up to 3000 young Sunni Muslim in that region of the state who were part of "ideological sleeper cells" on the brink of becoming radicalised.

"I believe in Sydney alone there's about 2000 and 3000 young Muslims vulnerable to being radicalised," he said.

"There are ideological sleeper cells waiting to be completely radicalised. Because radicalisation ... is to act upon your extremist teachings."

So far, Howard's vigilance has paid off. Let's hope that the streak of Ozzie luck continues.

Sudanese president unclear on the concept

The concept of the carrot and the stick, that is.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Saturday condemned the United States for pursuing sanctions against his country over Darfur, the BBC quoted Sudan TV as reporting.

"We are amazed why USA is continuing with sanctions after a time when we agreed with the U.N. on the heavy support package," he said.

Why? Because agreeing is not the same as following through.

Sudan agreed on June 12 to a combined United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force of more than 20,000 troops and police, but many diplomats doubt Khartoum will keep its word.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week accused the Khartoum government of repeatedly breaking its promises to end the violence in the remote western region of Darfur.

Rice also said Sudan must face "consequences" -- code for new U.N. sanctions -- if it failed to allow the force in.

"Will these sanctions return the displaced and refugees to their villages? Will these sanctions help in providing services to the people?" Bashir asked during a live media conference.

How about, you let the displaced and refugees return to their villages and stop slaughtering them, Mr. President, and then you won't have to worry about the sanctions?

What clues do you need?

The authorities in the UK don't seem to be very imaginative in predicting terror threats.

Strathclyde Police Chief Constable Willie Rae confirmed the attack was being linked to two car bombs found in London on Friday.

He also revealed a suspect taken to the city's Royal Alexandra Hospital was found to have a suspect device on him....

"There was no prior intelligence to suggest that Scotland was going to be the target of a terror attack," he added.

How about this: the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is a Scotsman -- what additional clues would you need to know that Scotland would be a prime target for a terror attack?

As they will do with every change of government in the West, the Islamofascists will test the resolve of the new administration with terror attacks. Clinton was tested with the first World Trade Center bombing and the Mogadishu Black Hawk Down incident, and Clinton proved wholly spineless. Bush was tested with the 9/11 attack, and proved resolute. Spain was tested with the 3/11 attacks and proved spineless. Britain will be tested again and again, and one hopes that they will pass each test.