:
Fr Nov 10 -

GOOGLE PRESSURE -

A notice appears on my
dashboard just now that:
your new blog is ready
for you to switch to.

It says that it
requires a Google account.
I am not happy about this.

I don't like to be pressured into opening accounts with anyone. I am not certain about how I will deal with this.

I'll have to think about it.

...

:
Fr Nov 10 -

AL FERKIN PRESENTS:

You Bet Yer Caliphate ! -

# Nibras Kazimi comments on the terrorist audio tape by Abu Hamza al-Mujahir, Al-Qaeda chief in Iraq, referred to below in the previous entry.
========================
# Jeffrey Imm gives a point-by-point on the Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir, aka Abu Ayyub al-Masri, tape with related links.
========================
# Also . . .
peeing on their shoes
right now in Iraq: three Al-Qaeda militants (probably foreign) and a large weapons cache were captured in Western Iraq in Rawah, Anbar province, according to AP's Christopher Bodeen.
========================

# *Truck driver Iyman Faris, 37, of Columbus, Ohio, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after admitting in a plea bargain that he conspired with al-Qaida on an aborted

plot to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge by cutting its suspension cables.*

Whatta sweetheart!

========================
# And Mark Lynch aka Prof Aardvark will be on NPR's On the Media this weekend to discuss the "Arab reaction" to the US midterm elections.
...

:
Fr Nov 10 -

Iraq:
NEW TERRORIST TAPE -

New audio message from
the Qaeda chief in Iraq.
Among other things,
he claims to control
12,000 Q-Zombies there.

:: SITE Institute ::

...

:
Fr Nov 10 -

Baghdad:
DEADLY PACHINKO -

As far as I can tell from reading the bloggers still in Baghdad, the (Sunni) Adhamiyah neighborhood has been receiving intense mortar fire.

# 3 terrifying days in Adhamiyah

# Mortar missiles are falling on my district for about a week....at the rate of 15 mortar missile per day...lots of killed innocent people...lots of injuries from the people of the district...

# In his Nov 10th entry, ToB relates e-mail he has received from his friend Ahmed who appears to be in the (Sunni) Adhamiyah area where he has observed clashes with what he believes to be elements of the (Shiite) Mahdi Militia which is associated with Muqty al-Sadr. Ahmed seems to indicate that some US forces have tried to intervene, but notes that the American soldiers are very nervous. Ahmed also mentions "random" shooting which may help to explain why the Yanks are nervous. There's about a week's worth of this posted.
...

:
Fr Nov 10 -

UK CRYPTO UNIT SHUT -

Britain has closed its X-Files desk, a former director complains. Nicholas Pope, who was in charge of investigating UFOs and similar mysteries between 1991-1994, decided to speak out on this issue after resigning from his post at the Directorate of Defence Security at the MoD this week.

The U.S. FBI continues to maintain its X-File desk which is supplemented by numerous volunteer groups around the country. The FBI also now maintains a user-friendly internet "tag board" in its website on which people can leave tips.

"Eye-in-the-Sky" facilities has vastly improved over the past couple of decades, resulting in much better surveillance of airspace.

:: UK Daily Mail ::

...

:
Th Nov 9 -

ANOTHER CARTOON FUSS -

ELAPH is reporting a kerfuffle over a cartoon in the Saudi Gazette with calls to dismiss the Editor-in-Chief, Mohamed Shawkani.

The online version of the English-language edition gives an uncommon window into life inside the still mostly secret Kingdom, including an especially outstanding police blotter which is better than many in the U.S.

There are often controversies about cartoons if only because graphic art is subject to individual interpretations. And editorial cartoons are supposed to be thought-provoking.

:: ELAPH ::
-- via GoogleTranslate --
...

:
Th Nov 9 -

DEMON INSIDE THE MACHINE -

His name is Adrian Ringland. He was a Derbyshire internet predator who "haunted" the computers of young school girls in the UK and in Canada

One of the youngsters said his power over her PC reminded her of the cult science fiction film Matrix. Another told police it almost seemed as if he was actually in her house.

He has been sentenced to prison for 10 years.

:: UK Mail ::

...

:
Th Nov 9 -

OBIT: COMMIE SPY -

Markus Wolf, the notorious
East German spymaster,
has died at 83.

After the reunification of Germany, he was charged with treason, but later ended up with a suspended sentence; he called his autobiography Man Without a Face.

His father was Jewish, so the family fled the Nazis, settling in Russia for the duration of World War II, after which he lived in East Germany.

:: UK Daily Mail ::

...

:
We Nov 8 -

JAM THE VOTE -

...Laura Ingraham gleefully encouraged her listeners to jam a Democratic Party voter helpline...This wave of vandalism can be traced back to a case in New Hampshire that resulted in criminal prosecution... Among those who executed the scheme was one James Tobin... Although Mr. Tobin was sentenced to 10 months in prison, his former supervisor, Terry Nelson, is still at large and is currently in charge of R.N.C. opposition research.

:: Joe Conason ::
-- NYObserver --

* * * * * * * * * * *

:: Election Dirty Tricks ::
-- Andrew Gumble --
-- UK Independent --

:: Reports of dirty tricks ::
-- Tim Harper --
-- Toronto Star --

:: More Sleaze ::
-- Law Prof UofMiami --
-- DiscourseNet --

...

:
T/We Nov 8 -

IN BLONDE ELECTIONS -

During Tuesday's election process, nationally-syndicated radio talk show host Laura Ingraham apparently directed her listeners over the air to violate the law. She was recorded saying:

"Tell me if you think I’m crazy. This is what I’m thinking. I think we all need to call 1 888 DEM VOTE all at the same time."

No, I don't think you're crazy; I think you're a criminal and a piece of trash. And I am
not amused.

I hope someone complains to the FCC about this incident and demands that she be yanked off the air. And if she's a lawyer, I think she should also be disbarred.

...

:
T/We Nov 8 -

SoFlo Noir:
CYBER VOID -

Secret Service agents seized Keith Wasserstrom's office PC to see if they could find incriminating files linking the suspended city official with a company that, with Wasserstrom's backing, won a 18-million-dollar waste-processing contract with the city in 2004. But the PC's hard drive had nothing on it, and detectives believe the commissioner wiped it clean before the feds could get to it.

:: Prosecutors have statements from Mayor Giulianti and her son, Stacey, who was Wasserstrom's law partner at the time...

...

:
Tu Nov 7 -

DOCTOR OR MONSTER?

Last night at midnight I was watching the Late Evening Edition of BBC's The World when they dropped this bombshell on us:

a physician working in London is being sought for extradition to Rwanda on genocide charges.

I almost fell off my kitchen stool.

:: BBC ::

...

:
Tu Nov 7 -

COURTROOM INTIFADA -

Shabnam Mughal appeared at a London immigration tribunal hearing in her own version of tribal attire with her face masked. When the presiding judge requested that she remove her tribal gear, she refused twice.

The niqab or tribal face mask is implicitly linked to issues of women's safety in remote locations or unsafe surroundings. It is a protective device which can be used when law enforcement is not quickly or easily accessible such as crowded outdoor marketplaces or strange cities affording population density and propinquity where a niqab may discourage molestation, groping, trangressive behavior or even kidnapping. In sum, it does have some legitimate applications. I support a woman's perogative to protect herself in unsafe situations.

But some syncretic cults have created shambolic religious practices which are actually atavistic or downright magical and which communicate that they are engaged in a passive-agressive anti-social campaign.

What if it were her religious belief to
appear in court with bare breasts?

:: UK Daily Mail ::

...

:
Tu Nov 7 -

IRAQI BLOGGERS ON
SADDAM VERDICT -

In Zeyad's entry from yesterday, he quotes from the writing of the popular Iraqi writer Shalash Al-Iraqi which he translates. My favorite line is this:

"We came out of Saddam’s night,
but we fell into a well…
when will we come out?"

Zeyad has compiled some excerpts from the reactions of the Iraqi bloggers to the Saddam verdict.

From Zayad's compilation, the squib that resonates with me is from Sami, who is Kurdish, at An Iraqi's Thoughts:

The irony is I sincerely hoped he would apologise, it may sound childish but I thought maybe somewhere along the line he would say he was sorry for the harm and pain that he inflicted upon the Iraqi people and that if he could go back in time he would do things differently.

Sami says he knows this will never happen. But there is a process that goes with that realization... We wish them well.
=======================
Salam Adil has also compiled some
excerpts which are cross-posted at:
:: Global Voices ::
========================
+ By the way, Mahmood's Den is back up, but, alas, Mahmood says he is "indisposed." At first, I wasn't sure if it was really Mahmood posting the entry, or a govmt agent who had kidnapped him in the course of conducting some plot. But that only happens in movies... right?
...

:
Mon Nov 6 -

INTERNET BLACK HOLES -

*A report detailing a "secret plan" to suppress Bahrain's Shiite majority -- and stir trouble between Shiite and Sunni Muslims -- looms over upcoming parliamentary elections, despite efforts to ban it.*

========================

*The Reporters Without Borders website, which is visited by 200,000 people a month, already has French, English and Spanish-language versions. On 7 November, the organisation will launch an Arabic-language version of the site. Every day, the site will have the latest press freedom news in Arabic.*

========================

+ I tried to visit Mahmood's Den this evening but was unable to get through. I hope the authorities are not blocking him again. I also hope they haven't thrown him into prison.

...

:
Mon Nov 6 -

SADDAM TO LINGER?

What about Closure?

- Adam Boulton writes on his Blog at SkyTV that the death penalty is an uncomfortable issue with PM Blair as well as with the EU and that its execution in Saddam's case may not be a sure bet.

- The BBC's Paul Sykes, a Bagdhad eyewitness, did a walkabout during the curfew when A Man in the Street contended that "Saddam's support will disappear if he dies. It's like a car - if you disconnect the battery, the car can't go."

- There are indications U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad is preparing to leave his post as soon as the end of the year and be replaced by Ryan Crocker, a senior career diplomat who is now ambassador to Pakistan.

...

:
Mon Nov 6 -

REACTIONS TO
THE SADDAM VERDICT -

Baghdad has been relatively peaceful. There was an early morning mortar barrage in the Dora neighborhood and some rocket and mortar attacks on the primarily Sunni Azamiyah neighborhood:

"Nobody dares to go out. Even inside, we stay in the cellar," said one resident, reached by telephone, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals from Shia militiamen known to target Sunni civilians.

Al Jazeera reported some gunfire in the Sunni Adhimiyah neighborhood soon after the verdict was announced and several mortarshells landing near the Sunni Abu Hanifa mosque there.
=======================
- The UK Times' Ned Parker in Baghdad sent in this dispatch which describe a mixed reception to the verdict.

- And AFP's Jean-Marc Mojon collected mixed reactions to the Saddam verdict from around the Mideast. Not much surprising here.
=======================

Some of the Iraqi Bloggers, especially the younger Sunnis, are having a rough time sorting out their feelings about the whole affair.

# Nibras Kazimi reflects on the Saddam verdict and quotes from a period song evoking the fallen regime.

# In light of the verdict, ToB shares some of his personal memories of growing up under Saddam's regime.

# Riverbend seems to think that hanging a cruel tyrant is just a gimmick. She'll get
over it.

# Richard Engel describes his previous contact with Saddam and compares the deposed dictator then and now.
...