16 May 2002 Who knew??? Yesterday the President's spokesperson disclosed that the White House had briefings in August about possible hijackings but only shared the information with law enforcement and did not see fit to make a public warning. The President was in Texas vacationing on his ranch during most of the month of August. The warnings of pending hijackings given to the Executive branch, we are told, did not include the possibility of planes being used as missiles to attack high profile locations in the U.S. Prior to 9-11, who could have guessed such an intent?? Apparently the field agent who submitted the case against Moussaui in Minnesota, arrested in August, who described just such a scenario as a possibility. Moussaui was in jail on 9-11 and is currently facing trial for being the "twentieth hijacker." In other news: FOX NEWS broke a story on 14 May 2002 of the arrest by INS of two "Israeli nationals" in Washington state; they were pulled over for speeding May 7th in a Budget rental truck outside Whidbey Island Naval Air Station by local police. The incident happened so close to the entrance of the base that military police were involved in the initial arrest, during which bomb-sniffing dogs detected explosives residue on the men and the truck. It was determined that the residue was both TNT and RDX plastic explosive. The men were taken into custody due to immigration violations, but had not yet been charged with any other crimes, despite one of the men having residue on both his hand and his clothing. Speculation included that the men, claiming to be delivering furniture at 4am, were simply exposed to explosives residue left by a previous occupant of the rental truck. There were no details available regarding the identity of the two "Israeli nationals," one of whom was in violation of his visa and the other without visa. No further info has been available. The investigation is being coordinated by FBI, INS, BATF and local police in Oak Harbor, Washington. In Afghanistan: God help the dear Brits who came to help do the dirty work in Afghanistan, because they seem to have gotten a belly full of it around Bagram. The British-run field hospital there is under quarantine along with 333 British troops due to the sudden occurance of a mysterious febrile illness which includes vomiting, diarrhea and meningitis-like symptoms. A total of eight troops have been airlifted out for additional treatment and the camp is now eating only military rations and avoiding the local and trucked-in produce previously used until more is known of the illness. God bless our troops and allied friends in Afghanistan! Where were the journalists??? The unfolding Enron scandal now includes internal memos that show Enron not only cooked its books with Arthur Andersen serving as sous chef, but also stewed the people of California by juggling estimates of the power supply so as to buy and sell unnecessary blocks of electrical power at inflated, emergency prices to the State of California, and may be the single biggest reason why rolling blackouts occurred there last summer. The blackouts received lots of media attention. Network news and mainstream media seemed satisfied to report the shocking possibility of a sudden imbalance between supply and demand without bothering to learn the mechanics of deregulation. Jimmy Carter hits a homerun: Our elder statesman, former President Jimmy Carter went to Cuba and...guess what...told the truth, on the RADIO, in his own Spanish, and Castro ACTUALLY LET HIM be broadcast live and unedited. Carter informed the Cuban people of a movement towards democracy in Cuba and he encouraged them to lobby the Cuban government for freedom of the press and elections. Carter advocates softening or eliminating our embargo against Cuba and restoration of diplomatic relations, which seems logical if we are to coax Castro et al towards democracy. Castro isn't stupid and he wasn't born yesterday--he is bound to see the future and it is a democratic Cuba. Cubans in Florida aren't too sweet about the whole thing. Personally, I smell really good cigars already... Plan now for a happy, safe Memorial Day weekend. Have a yodalayhey day. ;) |
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