Iraqi official at 9-11 plot meeting?

Hmmm...Interesting.

Recently translated documents captured by U.S. forces provide new evidence of a direct link between Saddam Hussein's regime and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

Noting the volume of evidence, the (Wall Street) Journal said, "One of the mysteries of postwar Iraq is why the Bush Administration and our $40-billion-a-year intelligence services haven't devoted more resources to probing the links between Saddam's regime and al-Qaida."

Yes...interesting indeed.

Happenings at the Airport

There's a lot of things going on over at the airport today. This evening, it seems that a plane headed to Boston had to land in Nashville because of a bomb threat.

From Boston.com:

An American Airlines jet flying between Dallas/Ft. Worth and Boston was diverted to Nashville on Thursday after a flight attendant found a note in one of the bathrooms saying there was a bomb in the cargo hold.

The 129 passengers on Flight 306 safely exited the plane and were taken by bus to a nearby terminal, where they were being rescreened by the Transportation Security Administration and FBI.

"They're currently looking at a suspicious package," Ronald Roberts, a spokesman for Nashville International Airport, said Thursday evening. He did not know where the package was found.

People on the scene said that the package ended up being nothing.

I'm sure that the Secret Service was not very happy about the situation as the President still hadn't left.

I attempted to get a few pictures of the situation, but the camera I was using is complete trash (I didn't have any good cameras with me). Ah well...

Sign on a Mosque

I got this image today for Bill Hobbs' post. Head over and read it.

Air Force One

About as good of a picture as I could get of Air Force One:

I did get a glimpse of the Presidential motorcade as it was pulling out, but I wasn't in a good enough position to get a picture.

Bush Visits Nashville

President Bush is in Nashville today. I haven't seen Air Force One yet, but I did see a couple of C-17 Globemasters at the airport.

Update: Ah...I hear on the radio that he's arrived.

Rumsfeld

From a friend of mine up in Pittsburgh:

From: Mary
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 12:03 PM
To: Blake M. Wylie
Subject: Rumsfeld

This morning on the radio they were talking about a moveon.org commercial that keeps coming on during the breaks: they're urging people to call Santorum and complain about Rumsfeld, and they give the phone number for Santorum. Well, someone called in who had talked to a secretary at Santorum's office, and said they had fielded 100's of calls from people who support Rumsfeld. It's having the exact opposite effect from what they'd wanted. Pretty funny.

Heh...yes indeed.

The Day After Tomorrow

Last year, I saw the early teasers for "The Day After Tomorrow." I actually enjoy apocalyptic movies with the possibility of part or most of the human race being wiped out (I guess that says something about me...I don't know). I enjoy post-apocalyptic movies even more. This movie, from its teaser, seems to show that it would be a little bit of both of those.

The movie is essentially a story about a drastic change in the weather patterns around the globe along with the Gulf Stream shutting down all leading to another ice age. At the end of the teaser, you see the skyline of New York buried in ice and snow with people walking up looking for survivors.

Now, I'm not even sure if I'll go see the movie because of the environmentalist groups that have jumped on board and are using this movie as a banner for their movement saying global warming is leading to this type of disaster. Al Gore is even using it as a propaganda tool.

Yes, I'm sure that global warming brought on by all those factories, cars burning fossil fuels, people using hair spray, etc. cause the last ice age as well.

Anyway, I found a good story linked from Drudge by Patrick Michaels that rips into the movie and the global warming groups. It's a good read...go check it out.

Picture of the Week

Photo of the Week...this one comes from Rome.

I guess I'll just start posting some random photography here every now and then...if that's ok with everyone. If not, then...I'll do it anyway. lol

Toughest Sheriff in America

Well, it seems the toughest sheriff in America (of Davidson County in North Carolina) has had his "hand in the till."

For nearly a decade, Gerald Hege was both loved and loathed as the larger-than-life embodiment of law enforcement in Davidson County. Then his career fell apart. Facing 15 felony counts in a corruption and abuse investigation, Hege pleaded guilty last week to two counts of obstruction of justice in a deal that kept him out of prison.

Gerald Hege...flamboyant law enforcement officer. Famous for pink cells and deputies in paramilitary uniforms. Check out his website.

Yes, it's good and all to be tough on crime, but I have news for you...Law enforcement officers aren't the armed forces...nor should they even be pretending to be. You think we aren't a police state? Look around...it's becoming more and more common to see officers in fatigues and paramilitary uniforms. This in of itself should be a warning sign that we're already on the doorstep of becoming a full-fledged police state. Hege's story is a perfect example that when someone gets too much power, they become corrupt.

Just think about it...and beware...

Yes, indeed:

Image taken from Hege's Website.

Gun Control Movement

What's happening to the gun control movement? I don't know...maybe...common sense?

Mark Lancaster Sentencing

I attended the sentencing hearing of Mark Lancaster on Friday. He was facing 30-37 months for his "crime" of possessing unregistered machineguns. If you read the post in March about his last sentencing hearing, you would have seen that there was a lot of effort to get a downward departure in the sentence. That effort was "successful." He was sentenced to twelve months and one day.

The hearing was pretty much non-eventful, and a bit anti-climatic to the entire episode. BATF Agent Hand didn't seem as arrogant as last time (I wonder if he saw this post...I do know for a fact that people with the BATF did read it), but the government still objected (although not as prevalent) to a downward departure.

Most of the session was spent listening to the judge mull through his reasoning and observations while taking long pauses to read through sentencing guidelines. I feel that he was covering himself as best he could so that if the government were to appeal, his reasoning would be plainly visible.

His final reasoning for a downward departure was that there were extraordinary circumstances surrounding this case...ie...the crime was victimless, the guns were for a collection, and they weren't fired unlawfully or sold for criminal purposes. He did mention that the government's recent tactic of collecting names of judges that downward departed added a "chilling effect" to the entire process. I found this to be a bit humorous.

However, what wasn't humorous was the fact that Mr. Lancaster will be spending a year in Federal custody for a victimless crime that shouldn't even be a crime in the first place (I should begin a Second Amendment tirade here, but I won't).

I also hope that the people that turned him in are happy (you know who you are...and so do I). You got your bloody raises in your precious church budget (at least the ones who are still there...the one that beat his wife resigned). Good job. I wonder if you read Publicola's comments on your wonderful Christian conduct:

So because of a church budget battle members of that church ratted out Mr. Lancaster to the feds & he's looking at federal time????? Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus to the Romans & Chief Priests for his own profit. You'd have thought that members & especially leaders of a church would have remembered this story. Not that Mr. Lancaster was the equivalent of Jesus, but that Judas' crime would have been just as treacherous no matter the state of his victim: the betrayal of someone who has done you no harm in exchange for your own profit.

Yes indeed (be sure to read his entire post).

The betrayers got their budget...the wife beater was set free...and Mark goes off to Federal custody. Is this justice?

Blogging

Sorry for my lack of blocking this week and last week. However, Bill Hobbs seems to be churning out a lot of Tennessee news lately. Be sure to give him a read...daily.

Memphis Belle Pilot Dies

The pilot of the legendary Memphis Belle passed away this weekend. Read his obituary in the Washington Post here.

One of many of the "greatest generation" that we're loosing every day.

Freedom Fries

Straight from the King Buffet on Murfreesboro Road here in Nashville:

I couldn't resist...I had to snap a picture.

Distrust

Why do so many people distrust journalists? Here is a great example of why.

Boston residents got more than they bargained for this morning when their copy of the Globe came complete with graphic photographic images depicting U.S. troops gang-raping Iraqi women.

Problem is the photos are fake. They were taken from pornographic websites and disseminated by anti-American propagandists...

The photos accompanied an article about Boston city councilor Chuck Turner, who distributed the graphic photographs yesterday at a press conference with activist Sadiki Kambon. Turner told reporters the photos showed U.S. soldiers raping Iraqi women.

Questions:

1. Why was the Boston Globe so quick to publish faked pictures without checking to see if they were fake?

2. What is a Boston City Councilor doing holding an anti-war press conference while passing faked pictures out?

3. Why is it again that people don't trust or respect journalists?

Mark Lancaster Update

An update on Mark Lancaster's case.

His final sentencing hearing (at least it will probably be the final sentencing hearing) is going to be held tomorrow. I'll be there, so I will give an update on it once I get back. It will be at the Federal Courthouse downtown Nashville at 9:00 in courtroom 874.

Everyone is hoping for at least a downward departure, but we'll see what happens. More tomorrow afternoon...

Seat Belt Law

Looks like the Tennessee General Assembly is continuing its push for the primary seat-belt law. Another example of saving us from ourselves:

Drivers could be pulled over by a law enforcement officer expressly for an unbuckled seat belt under a bill passed by the state House Wednesday.

Under current state law, officers may not pull over drivers for an unbuckled seat belt but may only ticket them for the offense upon stopping the driver for other reasons.

The House approved the bill, sponsored by Rep. John Hood (D-Murfreesboro), 68-30. It will now go to the Senate for approval.

I'll say it again...I wear a seatbelt, but I abhor the idea of the cops using this as a reason to pull a person over. It's not right. Unfortunately it all boils down to money. The state will continue getting those beloved federal funds by having this law and continuing the un-Constitutional "Click-it or Ticket," gestapo-like road blocks.

I wonder how this will affect me when I'm in the MG as the car didn't even come with seat-belts. Most states allow for an exemption of older vehicles that didn't have seat-belts, and hopefully that will apply here as well. We'll see.

I'm Back

Sorry for being away for several days. I'm back...it's time to blog again.

Convenience store owner fights back

Sorry for the lack of updates over the past few days. I'll be picking the pace back up tomorrow.

In the meantime check out a local story here about a couple of local convenience store owners that thwarted a robbery by shooting at the thug that tried to rob them.

Just after 5:00 pm Sunday, a man walked into the Cahal Street Market and demanded money. He started shooting at the elderly man and woman who owned the store. A bullet hit the man in the arm. That's when his wife started shooting back and the suspect took off.

However, Metro Police had the audacity to say that they shouldn't have fought back!!!

They say that victims of crime should think twice before taking the law into their own hands.

Metro Robbery Det. James Arendall said, "We would never say to fire back. Just let them have what they want and hope they don't shoot you and let them go."

WHAT? Hey, Detective Arendall! Get a grip on reality. The owners of that store had every right to fight back! It's your type of attitude that will only embolden criminals to rob even more stores. Maybe you should move to England. Do the very least and get out of MY city with your wreckless attitude toward crime prevention.