:
Bookish: BRIEF GLANCES (2#) -

Fall Books Previews from a
couple of more offbeat sources:

:: NY Observer ::

:: NY Sun ::

They're pretty quick
and superficial.

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:
CUCKOO CLOCK CARACAS -

"Welcome to Caracas... The time is...

We are not quite sure. Please move your
watches half an hour forward. Actually, no,
sorry, move them half an hour back. Thank you."

David Usborne on Venezuela's

:: Time Confusion ::

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:
BACK AT CAVE CENTRAL (6#) -
... whassup and hooznooz ...

As Sahab and the rest of the propaganda machinery for Al Qaeda have been taking advantage of the Ramadan TV Mosalsalat Phenomenon to run their own multi-part mini-series of videos and tapes. Some relevant links follow.

# Great op-ed by Victor Davis Hanson:
Recommended: What Does Bin Laden Want?

# About the New Al Qaeda Video [csmonitor]

# Zawahiri calls for restoring Spain to Islamic world;
Al-Qaeda Number Two calls for cleansing Spaniards,
French from Maghreb. [meo]

# The FoxNews ::Recap::

# "Come to Jihad" is addressed to
the People of Pakistan. Do you really
have to read the whole thing?
In case you think you have to:
::: Transcript ::

# Douglas Farah compares As Sahab to Radio Venceremos. Yes, I agree with the comparison. Why couldn't they take RV down? What I remember most vividly about RV is that they used to put their radio transmitter on the back of a flatbed or similar truck and then during the night they would move it around to different locations. A bit of nostalgia for those inclined.

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:
THE TASER VETO (4#) -

... some followup to the
Andrew Meyer incident ...

# Nat Hentoff comments about
the FA and "the heckler's veto" [vvoice]

# Author Greg Palast comments on the incident
and provides a link to the embargoed topic. [blog]

# His college's student newspaper covers the story.

# This morning, Rob Griscti, Meyer's lawyer, was
interviewed on the Today Show for a few minutes.

+ I caught that interview and thought Griscti
was superlative, unruffled, and firmly grounded.

...

:
Florida: UNMENTIONABLES -

This situation has been causing quite a buzz on the net, but is still somewhat difficult to sort out:

Andrew Meyer, a student who was attending an assembly at a college in Gainesville FL where John Kerry gave an address, took to the questioner's podium and asked Kerry if he knew that he was in Greg Pallast's book, which Meyer displayed in his hand. Kerry responded quietly that yes, he knew, since he, too, had read the book. The exchange went pleasantly enough until Meyer brought up a topic which is very touchy in the state of Florida: the disenfranchisement of voters. Immediately a group of security guards tackled the student, tasered him, and dragged him out of the auditorium.

The video which is being shown locally seems to be just an excerpt which starts in the middle of the occasion. For my part, I'm still not very clear about the whole situation.

A lot of people are finding it entertaining to watch, but I don't think you should jump to any snap conclusions yet. Let's wait and see what emerges.

:: Tallahassee Update ::

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:
BLOGGING NOTES -

Didya' miss me?

I've been busy doing
some computer maintenance.

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:
THE 3rd AL QAEDA VIDEO (2#) -

Al-Tanzim (not as Sahab) has released a third video which reportedly advocates the spread of terrorism as a sort of social disease. There seems to be a threat to "exterminate" us, but we'll have to wait for further details to be released.

+ The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta has specialized computer programs which are designed to track epidemics and map vectors of disease.

::MEO:: and :::aki:::

...

:
LIKE GIN & TONIC -

...improbable but inevitable encounters...

In light of the recent rhetoric displayed in the Al Qaeda video called The Solution, I found this dispatch from Christopher Hitchens even more interesting than usual:

At a literary festival in Lombardy, Christopher Hitchens encounters Tariq Ramadan who "possesses a command of postmodern and sociological jargon... and... a smooth way with euphemism."

...

:
GOOSE CREEK CASE DEEPENS (2#) -
... with martyrdom on his mind ...

*Ahmed Mohamed has admitted that he is the person heard explaining on the video that such a detonator could "save one who wants to be a martyr for another battle."* [ch-net]

***********************************
Ripped from the Front Page:

*After weeks of silence, the U.S. Attorney's Office opened up about its case against two University of South Florida engineering students facing explosives charges.*

:: More details from Abbie VanSickle - sptimes.

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