There Are No Terrorists but Islamists, and Saddam is Their Supreme OverlordThe story about Kenneth Berry has me remembering back to late October 2001, and an argument I had with with my brother about the probability that the anthrax letters were sent by a native-born American with something to prove. My brother insisted that I was wrong, and they had to be the work of Arab terrorists because the letters made reference to Allah, were dated 9/11, and besides, nobody else would be so evil and stuff. While my brother gets most of his news from Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, I did a Google search to see if there was anywhere else that he might have picked up his certitude that the letters, which targeted members of the media and Democratic legislators, were from al Qaeda or Saddam or some other brown-skinned foreigner. I found some interesting stuff (which my brother probably wasn't aware of) which demonstrate how some of us thought back then. And, sadly enough, still do. 1. This guy claims that the stamp used on the letters (which looks like a standard pre-stamped envelope to me) is an IRAQI stamp featuring an IRAQI eagle, proving that Saddam was behind the anthrax attack, and probably 9/11 too. He corresponded with Laurie Mylroie about his theory-- she said that the childish block printing used to address the letters looks like that used by the guy who masterminded the '93 World Trade Center bombing. But it wasn't him, because he's in jail. However, the fact that both he and the anthrax letter writer used block printing proves Iraqi involvement in the attacks. 2. Kathleen Parker also arrived at the Iraqi connection, which she outlines in her column from Oct. 29, 2001:
Yup, Russia is our friend (and, as we know, they never sold bioweapons to anybody else), and we ARE America (so nobody here would do such a thing), so Saddam must be behind everything. Besides, he hates the manly George Bush. Q.E.D. 3. In June 2002, Instapundit posted a "chunk" of a memo purportedly sent to the FBI (and presumably written by an Instapundit reader who had cracked the case and wanted to share his findings with the Bureau and Glenn):
The "analysis" consists of reasoning like this:
And Atta knew of the plans for September 11th on September 10th. See how it all fits together! Insty's comment on this memo?
So, Glenn posts a kooky but compelling (to war blogers) theory on his site, saying that it MIGHT be true, but refusing to commit himself to it, in case it's not. So, typical Instapundit. Anyway, that concludes our blast from the past. And those who refuse to learn from it are condemned to repeat it -- or at least condemed to reading TownHall, Instapundit, and Laurie Mylroie for the next four years. 10:38:22 AM |
Prophetic StatementsYou're no doubt aware of this story:
While Berry may or may not have had anything to do with the anthrax letters, I found this quote from a 12 December 1997 Reuters article (which I found at a religious nut site, but a reporter with Lexis/Nexis could probably verify that it's accurate) eerily prescient:
And there was such an attack just four years later! Well, not a MAJOR major one, but one that sure managed to spook a lot of people, coming as it did so soon after 9/11, which had convinced people that Islamic terrorists with hijacked airplanes were our number one national security threat.
But sadly, the federal goverment never made that investment in prevention by awarding Berry's company a contract for his system to detect anthrax, or hiring him to teach emergency medical personnel how to deal with patients exposed to the spores. Of course, in 1999 Berry was arrested in connection with the forged will of a deceased former colleague, which might have caused the feds to think that maybe Berry wasn't on the up and up ... But still, he was right, and everybody else was wrong. You can see why he might come to the attention of the FBI Obviously this story is still "developing," as Drudge probably said, and after the Steven Hatfill situation, the investigation lost a lot of credibility. So, it's probably best to keep an an open mind about anyone's guilt at this point. But speaking of Hatfill, "Berry's father told the Star-Ledger that his son and Hatfill know each other." What does it all mean? Developing . . . 8:39:16 AM |
Nuts o' the Day1. First, let's check in with the NRO Corner's low-rent Peggy Noonan, Kathryn Jean Lopez:
Yup, Teresa WASTES FOOD! Reason right there for you not to vote for her husband. No, you should vote for a guy who doesn't waste food, and, in his "youth," didn't waste booze either. So, join Kathryn in downing half a bottle of American bourbon in honor of George Bush's alcoholism.
Next time: KJL finishes off that bottle of Wild Turkey, then takes a 15-year-old out for some more drinking, comes home and rams through some garbage cans with her car, and then challenges her father to a fist fight. You know, as part of Bush-Cheney 2004's "Party Like the President" grassroots tool. 2. Bill O'Reilly has a new column. It's about how Ricky Williams retired from football because he's hooked on marijuana. Fifty years ago hardly anybody used marijuana.
Fortunately, Bill provides the simple answer: the antiwar movement of the '60s caused white teens to start smoking weed, and the rap music of the '90s is responsible for the drug's use by today's black youth.
Those damned hippies and rap stars are probably responsible for everything that's wrong with our society -- including that darned divisive media that Laura Bush and Bill talked about a couple of days ago.
It's nice when simple minds find simple answers to all of life's problems. 3. Jerry Falwell uses his NewsMax column to urge pastors to speak out about politics (he probably read Doug Giles' series of columns on the subject, and thought that more pastors should sign up for that "don't call me after 9:00, and I'm taking the month of August off, because I'm too busy changing society to worry about your petty problems" kind of ministry). Jerry also invites his fellow men of God to attend his "Super Conference," where they will learn how to stand up to liberal intimidation from the IRS:
And the good news is that Jerry and his sons Jerry Jr. and Rev. Jonathan will help host this gathering! It's a festival of Falwells!
No, I bet they aren't. Even the IRS isn't aware of that fact, since this is what their official guidelines say:
So, I think Jerry must have gotten his tax info from Doug Giles, who, as you will recall, advised pastors that if they lost their tax exempt status it just meant they had to pay sales tax when they bought weenies at Costco. But Jerry has it on good authority that the IRS itself is a bunch of weenies, and it never does anything to errant but courageous pastors:
Really? Then maybe it's time to use Jerry's church as a test case. After all, the law is the law (I think that was the phrase I heard used during the Clinton Impeachment Holy Days). Anyway, the "news" part of NewsMax has more on Falwell and his "speak out for Bush" conference for pastors:
I thought that he said they could so "speak their minds" as long as it didn't constitute a "substantial past" (or "part") of their duties. In any case, Jerry seems certain that you can tell your congregation they have to vote for Bush or they will go to hell, as long as you don't use the missionary fund to do it, and as long as you mix up your lobbying with some study, exercise, and vacation, like Doug recommended.
So, while no church has lost its tax-exempt status for engaging in lobbying activities, there was a ministry that had to pay a lot in back taxes. Interesting indeed. Oh, and what kind of a Christian would want to attend a university (or scarier still, a law school) whose founder and president gave such stupid (and easily disproven) advice to his fellow evangelists? 4. Dr. Professor Mike Adams has his imaginary friend Noah (of ark fame) respond to the reply he got from PETA.
The PETA spokesperson had patiently explained that plants don't have central nervous systems, so PETA doesn't lobby against cruelty to vegetables. But because she didn't laugh at any of Mike's . . .I mean "John's" best lines (the ones we mentioned last time, which were apparently not actually by George Carlin, but instead from a widely-circulated email which "John" must have never seen), "Noah" gives her some verses from Genesis, then lectures her about abortion. But we do learn a few interesting things in the last part of the column:
So, (a) Mike is claiming that "John" is real; (b) Mike is going hunting with Doug Giles; and (c) Mike imagines that Noah has nothing better to do than concern himself with Mike and Doug's attempt to demonstrate their manliness. I can't speak to the truth "a" and/or "b", but I did hear that Noah is not bothered by Mike and Doug's plan to kill innocent deer, since he knows the sportsmen will actually hunt this kind of game: 4:39:12 AM |
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