Fires, Fireworks and a man bites a dog

Independence Day is over. Hope ya got all the fireworks shot off and every body stayed safe.

Recently, a 1 hour 34-minute video done by Ayman al-Zawahiri has been released to the Muslim world. According to a terrorist expert, it is akin to a "fireside chat". These radio broadcasts were created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the very rough period of the Great Depression. In the video, al Qaeda's number two guy, al-Zawahiri, called for more young men in Iraq and Afghanistan to join in the jihad. He also rebuked Fatah for not being on better terms with Hamas. He said "We say to you, now that you are in control of Gaza, you should remember two things: One is that being in power is not a goal in itself, but the goal is, rather, to implement the rule of Allah". I think that is an interesting statement. Muslims are not about national territory and identity. Islam has within it a tenet that we are ruled only by Allah and that our earthly governments are only substitutes for Allah. Implying this tenet to another terrorist group is interesting. Also, where the hell do they get off? What, like al-Qaeda is the biggest, baddest terrorist group so they get to tell the other terrorists how to play in the sandbox? Ridiculous!

All right moving on past that hopeless pile of shit. Remember the Russian ex-Spy who died, Alexander Litvinenko? Well, Great Britain is still pursuing the case. Good on them! They requested Russia extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the prime suspect in Litvinenko's murder by radioactive xposure to polonium-210. It took Russia five weeks to conclude that they woulod not extradite the man in question because they feel that no Russian National would tried. Extradition of any foreign citizen is not allowed by their constitution, according to the Russians. Mr. Lugovoi has denied any involvement in the murder and has even made statements that the British secret service is involved in Litvinenko's demise. He says it s more likely that Britain's own MI6, a rival Kremlin opponent or the Russian Mafia was involed. Remember that Litvinenko was investigating the murder of a Russian journalist and that others have also subsequently died and been shown to be exposed to the isotope that killed Mr. Litvinenko. This case continues to build and intrique.

Senseless Violence

Today it seems the world has returned to its nominal behavior: Violence.


Yesterday a standoff began in Chicago. It ended with the gunman, Lance Johnson, 21, killing himself and his two female hostages apparently. He took the two women hostage early Thursday morning.

An armed man in Miami stormed into a Spanish language newspaper called El Nuevo. He believed the paper was not properly run. some people were evacuated before he peacefully surrendered.

And in Sadr City in Iraq, Sunni men have been burnt with kerosene by militant Shi'ites as the Sunnis emerged from Friday services. There has also been a spate of mosque burnings.

If you're like me, you're wondering why today? Is there something in the air? The stars? Who knows. I hope you gave thanks yesterday for your live and its relative peacefulness.

On this day in 1859, Charles Darwin published his earth shattering and agitating book The Origin of Species. To quote Darwin from the text itself: "A grand and almost untrodden field of inquiry will be opened, on the causes and laws of variation, on correlation of growth, on the effects of use and disuse, on the direct action of external conditions and so forth."

Also, on this day, and of local import, the show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (aka, MST3K) premiered on a local UHF band station called KTMA. That was in 1988.

Also, Lee Harvey Oswald was shot today after being apprehended for the possible culpibility in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. If you can't recall the year it was 1963.